A/ProfNathan Langford

At the end of 2017, Dr Langford joined the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences as a Senior Lecturer and ARC Future Fellow to establish the new Circuit Quantum Science research group (CirQuS UTS), and the Millikelvin Quantum Science laboratory, a state-of-the-art cryogenic and microwave facility for experiments in circuit quantum electrodynamics and microwave quantum optics. His research interests include quantum simulations, quantum computing, quantum tomography, quantum foundations, open and driven quantum systems, quantum chaos and microwave-to-optical frequency conversion. His group will begin with a main focus on developing small-to-medium scale circuit QED quantum simulators using transmons.

Dr Nathan Langford carried out his doctoral studies in experimental and theoretical photonic quantum information with Andrew White at the University of Queensland. His work studied a broad range of different ways to encode, manipulate and measure quantum information in photonic systems, and his thesis was selected as runner-up for the Australian Institute of Physics Bragg Gold Medal for Excellence in Physics. Since completing his PhD in 2007, he continued his work in photonic quantum information processing as a postdoc, first with Anton Zeilinger at the University of Vienna, and then with Ian Walmsley at the University of Oxford. In Vienna, he was involved with a range of projects, including fundamental tests of local realism and noncontextuality, and developing a new nonlinear approach for moving towards deterministic photonic quantum computing. In Oxford, he worked on experiments in quantum memories, integrated photonic quantum circuits, quantum simulations and room-temperature solid-state entanglement.

More recently, after a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Royal Holloway University of London to change directions into the field microwave quantum optics, Dr Langford completed his turn to the Dark Side to work in the superconducting circuit quantum electrodynamics group of Leonardo DiCarlo in QuTech and the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft at the Delft University of Technology. In Delft, focussing on transmon experiments, he was involved in projects ranging from extensible multiqubit control techniques and "remote" chip-to-chip entanglement to digital and analogue quantum simulations.


Research Grants, Fellowships, Consulting Research and PhD Student Funding (total = AUD $6,138,039):

2023, $108,000 (Co-lead CI): Consulting Research for Standards Australia, 2023
2023, $3,000,000 (Lead CI): NSW Tech Central Research and Innovation Infrastructure Fund, Advanced Prototype Packaging Facility, 2023-2024
2022, $148,750 (Lead CI): Consulting Research for Standards Australia, 2022-2023
2022, $17,500: Sydney Quantum Academy Extension Scholarship, 2022-2025
2022, $140,000: UTS Research Excellence Scholarship, 2022-2025
2022, $33,500: Sydney Quantum Academy Top-up Scholarship, 2022-2025
2021, $160,000: Sydney Quantum Academy Primary Scholarship, 2021-2025
2020, $699,664 (Co-lead CI): Australian Research Council LIEF Grant LE210100040, Multifunctional deposition system for advanced superconducting circuits, University of Technology Sydney, 2021
2020, $659,755 (Lead CI): Australian Research Council Discovery Project DP210101367, Pushing the digital limits in quantum simulation for advanced manufacturing, University of Technology Sydney, 2021-2023
2020, $160,000: Sydney Quantum Academy Primary Scholarship, 2021-2024
2020, $35,000: Sydney Quantum Academy Top-up Scholarship, 2020-2022
2020, $35,000: Sydney Quantum Academy Top-up Scholarship, 2020-2022
2018: UTS CPDRF, 2019-2022
2017, $768,000 (Lead CI): Australian Research Council Future Fellowship FT170100399, Simulating complexity: ultrastrong interactions in superconducting circuits, University of Technology Sydney, 2017-2021
2011, EUR 209,593 (Individual Fellowship): Marie Curie Intra-European (Postdoctoral) Fellowship for Career Development, FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, Royal Holloway University of London, 2011-2013


Prizes and Awards:

2023: MaPS Research Award for Excellence in Research Supervision
2012: AOS Geoff Opat Early Career Researchers Prize for contributions to the field of optics, Australian Optical Society
2008: AIP Bragg Gold Medal for Excellence in Physics - Runner up (for the best PhD thesis by a student from an Australian University), Australian Institute of Physics
2007: Dean's Commendation for Outstanding PhD, University of Queensland
2005: OSA Student Travel Prize for best student oral presentation at ACOLS (Australian Conference on Optics, Lasers and Spectroscopy), Rotorua, New Zealand, Dec 2005
2004: ATSE (Australian Academy for Technological Sciences and Engineering) Young Science Ambassador Award
2002: University Medal, University of Queensland


Professional Involvement:

2023: Member, IEC Standards Evaluation Group SEG14 on Quantum Technologies
2023: Member, UTS Faculty of Science Equity and Diversity Committee
2022: Acting Convenor, Australian Mirror Committee, ISO/IEC Working Group JTC1/WG14 on Quantum Computing, Standards Australia
2022: Member, ISO/IEC Working Group JTC1/WG14 on Quantum Computing, Standards Australia
2021: Reviewer, National Science Foundation, Physics Division
2020-2023: Member, Sydney Quantum Academy Technical Advisory Committee
2019: Member, Sydney Quantum Academy Establishment Advisory Committee
2019-present: Member, UTS Faculty of Science Sustainability Committee
2018: Reviewer, Marsden Fund Standard Grant, New Zealand
2018-present: Core Member, UTS Centre for Quantum Software and Information (UTS:QSI)
2014-2017: Reviewer/committee member of the Quantum Science, Engineering and Technology Subcommittee in the Fundamental Science Program of the annual CLEO Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics of the Optical Society of America.
Reviewer for Nature, Nature Photonics, Nature Communications, NPJ Quantum Information, Physical Review Letters, Physical Review X, Physical Review A, New Journal of Physics, Journal of Optics, Physica A and Progress in Informatics.