Within the panorama of quantum technologies, quantum communications hold a prominent place. A satellite-based system is one of the most effective strategies to ensure quantum-secure key distribution at very long distances and the realization of a large scale-quantum network. Such technology pushes the photonics industry to its limits by incorporating state-of-the-art laser systems, optics and photonic detection schemes. This meeting gathers the key players in the related supply chain. Moreover, we will target supporting collaborations and creating business opportunities in the quantum-enhanced communication field.
PhD in theoretical physics, Laurent has worked as System Engineer in quantum telecom at Thales Alenia Space since July 2020. Working on space-based quantum information and quantum cryptography. Before that, he was Software Engineer and Project Manager at ACRI-ST, working on Sentinel-3 mission for Earth and climate studies. He has improved and developed remote sensing algorithms based on radiative transfer models and inversion methods.
Before being an Engineer, he was Assistant Researcher in the field of ultracold atoms and condensed matter theory. His research activities focused on strongly correlated systems in atomic and molecular gases loaded on optical lattices. These systems are governed by extended Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonians which he mainly tackled with exact numerical methods such as quantum Monte Carlo method and exact diagonalization.
Laurent has obtained his PhD at the University Côte d'Azur in 2012 and has pursued in postdoc at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, and at the University of Freiburg (Humboldt Fellow) until 2018.
Dr Emmanuel Fretel graduated in 1997 at the National Institut of Metrology, in Paris. His research was about atomic optical clocks using cold atoms.
He then joins the Neuchatel observatory (Switzerland), where he worked on the Swiss Caesium atomic clock.
After its post doc position, he came back to France and worked at the University Paris-Sud on the early developments of spaceborne atomic clocks using Caesium cold atoms.
Dr Emmanuel Fretl then worked as a project manager at Horiba Scientific in Lille (France), where he developped Raman microscopy and atomic emission specrometers products.
He moved in 2016 to CILAS-Ariane Group as a project manager, working on high energy spaceborne laser amplifiers for earth observation applications.
Since 2022, Dr Emmanuel Fretel has been working at AUREA Technology (Besançon, France) as a space project manager for quantum applications, developping high performances entangled photon sources and QKD modules for the space market.
Martin Wölz has gained a broad experience in industrializing optical semiconductors since he obtained the Diplom in physics from the University of Göttingen in 2002. He had joined Infineon Technologies in the development of power semiconductor packaging and led the first high-voltage SiC diode module project. He then went on to compound semiconductor epitaxy with Veeco Instruments, managing production system installs for the LED and laser diode industry, as well as for satellite solar cells. Martin Wölz earned a doctorate for research on nano-column shaped LEDs at the Paul-Drude-Institut Berlin in 2013. Later working for Jenoptik as an engineering group leader, he explored new markets for high-power laser diodes, such as nuclear inertial fusion and automotive LiDAR. After a learning phase as a systems architect for mass-manufactured opto-electronic devices he is now leading product management at Jena-Optronik, providing space electronics subsystems for satellite quantum communications.
He holds a Ph.D. in Information Engineering with his research focused in fiber and in free-space Quantum Communication systems as well as in experiments at ASI’s Matera Laser Ranging Observatory. He is co-founder of UniPD’s spinoff ThinkQuantum.
