Spyridon Galis has received $440,000 from the National Science Foundation as part of a collaborative cross-institutional research team led by the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics, which is focused on processing quantum information as carried by photons, or particles of light.

Gallis is an associate professor at SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering. He will mentor and guide graduate and undergraduate students to complete the effort.

The overall $2.5 million, four-year research effort aims to explore and develop a multifunctional integrated quantum photonic processor. This processor would be able to take the information from light particles and transfer it between disparate systems efficiently and accurately.

Such a capability could significantly advance computing, sensing, and communication security, according to a release from SUNY Poly.

The research to develop these quantum interconnects is expected to provide the ability to solve real-world data problems on quantum computers faster than can currently be done with classic computing. The technology could have profound commercial impact on the industrial sector, with faster data crunching for sensing applications, or for facilitating greater communications security.