Jolly Phi    
    Russian Quantum Center      MISiS University     Vigo quantum communication center  
 
   

Hacking superconducting-nanowire single-photon detectors (2024, Münster)

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Roland Jaha, Konstantin Zaitsev, Polina Acheva, and Robin Terhaar in the lab.
Image ©2024 Vadim Makarov / University of Vigo
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Konstantin Zaitsev in the lab.
Image ©2024 Vadim Makarov / University of Vigo
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Konstantin Zaitsev, Connor Graham-Scott, Wolfram Pernice, and Robin Terhaar in the lab.
Image ©2024 Vadim Makarov / University of Vigo
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Test instruments in front of the cryostat.
Image ©2024 Vadim Makarov / University of Vigo

Lab construction (2024– , Vigo)

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Delivery of optical tables: Unboxing a 600-kilogram part.
Image ©2024 Vadim Makarov / University of Vigo
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Delivery of optical tables.
Image ©2024 Vadim Makarov / University of Vigo
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Installation of optical tables in the lab.
Image ©2024 Vadim Makarov / University of Vigo
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Optical tables installed in the lab.
Image ©2024 Vadim Makarov / University of Vigo

Verification of a countermeasure in superconducting-nanowire single-photon detector (2023, Moscow)

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Polina Acheva and Konstantin Zaitsev in the lab.
Image ©2023 Vadim Makarov / RQC
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Roman Ozhegov and Konstantin Zaitsev in the lab.
Image ©2023 Vadim Makarov / RQC
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Polina Acheva, Konstantin Zaitsev, Roman Ozhegov, and Mikhail Elezov in the lab.
Image ©2023 Vadim Makarov / RQC

Certification testbenches for quantum key distribution (2022– )

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Wide spectral characterisation testbench for fiber-optic components.
Image ©2024 Vadim Makarov / University of Vigo
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Detector-control testbench.
Image ©2024 Vladimir Bizin / RQC
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Testbench for source’s state-preparation imperfections.
Image ©2022 Daniil Trefilov / RQC
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Testbench for detector backflash light emission.
Image ©2024 Alexey Shilko / RQC
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Laser-damage testbench with a continuous-wave 1550 nm high-power amplifier.
Image ©2024 Ekaterina Borisova / RQC

Laser damage experiments (2019– , Moscow)

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Guest researcher Friederike Jöhlinger and Charles Bennett at VDNKh exhibit grounds.
Image ©2019 Vadim Makarov / RQC
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Anastasiya Ponosova, guest researcher Friederike Jöhlinger, and Daria Ruzhitskaya in the lab.
Image ©2019 Vadim Makarov / RQC
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Daria Ruzhitskaya, Anastasiya Ponosova, and guest researcher Friederike Jöhlinger in the lab.
Image ©2019 Vadim Makarov / RQC
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Daria Ruzhitskaya, Anastasiya Ponosova, and guest researcher Friederike Jöhlinger in the lab.
Image ©2019 Vadim Makarov / RQC
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Guest professor Anqi Huang and Elena Anisimova in the Kremlin.
Image ©2019 Vadim Makarov / RQC
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Guest professor Anqi Huang in the lab.
Image ©2019 Vadim Makarov / RQC
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Anastasiya Ponosova and Daria Ruzhitskaya in the lab.
Image ©2019 Vadim Makarov / RQC
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Anastasiya Ponosova and guest professor Anqi Huang in the lab.
Image ©2019 Vadim Makarov / RQC
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Anastasiya Ponosova and guest professor Anqi Huang in the lab.
Image ©2019 Vadim Makarov / RQC
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Anastasiya Ponosova and guest professor Anqi Huang in the lab.
Image ©2019 Vadim Makarov / RQC
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Guest researcher Poompong Chaiwongkhot and Elena Anisimova, New Year 2019 at professor’s house.
Image ©2019 Vadim Makarov / RQC
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Laser-damage testbench with a continuous-wave 1550 nm high-power amplifier.
Image ©2024 Ekaterina Borisova / RQC

Lab construction (2018–2020, Moscow)

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Our lab in September 2018.
Image ©2018 Vadim Makarov / RQC
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Our lab in December 2018.
Image ©2018 Vadim Makarov / RQC
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Delivery of optical tables.
Image ©2020 Vadim Makarov / RQC
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Delivery of optical tables.
Image ©2020 Vadim Makarov / RQC

Lab monsters :)

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Lab monsters and guest professor Juan Carlos García Escartín.
Image ©2016 Vadim Makarov
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Lab monster and visitor Marcos Curty.
Image ©2016 Vadim Makarov
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Lab monster and Daria are sharing monster’s food.
Image ©2016 Vadim Makarov

Security analysis of commercial quantum cryptography prototype from ITMO University (2017, Waterloo – St. Petersburg)

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Waterloo testing team on a mushroom picking trip near St. Petersburg.
Image ©2017 Vadim Makarov
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Waterloo testing team and ITMO researchers with their commercial quantum key distribution prototype.
Image ©2017 Vadim Makarov / ITMO
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Vladimir Chistiakov and Vladimir Egorov doing a hacking experiment in Waterloo.
Image ©2017 Vadim Makarov

Guest researchers in our lab (2014, Waterloo)

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Guest researchers Kejin Wei and Feihu Xu work with our PhD student Shihan Sajeed.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Guest researchers Kejin Wei and Feihu Xu in our lab.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov

Radiation testing of single-photon detectors for space-based quantum communications (2014, Waterloo – Vancouver)

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Ready to be shipped to Vancouver: 14 boxes of equipment on three pallets. Brendon Higgins and Elena Anisimova are nearly sleeping.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Lego for big kids. Main hall of TRIUMF cyclotron facility in Vancouver.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Vadim Makarov stands on top of the cyclotron: residual magnetic field chains coins.
Image ©2014 Thomas Jennewein
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Elena Anisimova and Jean-Philippe Bourgoin assemble the test plate with photon detector samples.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Elena Anisimova and Jean-Philippe Bourgoin assemble the test plate with photon detector samples.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Test group of six avalanche photodiodes of three different models.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Test group of six avalanche photodiodes of three different models. Front view.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Test group of six avalanche photodiodes. Back view.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Five test groups of avalanche photodiodes and three photomultiplier tubes are mounted on a chilled plate.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Back of the test plate.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Back of the test plate with electrical cables attached.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Manager of the proton irradiation facility and Jean-Philippe Bourgoin align the covered test plate at the beam position.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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The test bench is ready to irradiate our samples.
Image ©2014 Thomas Jennewein
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Proton beam dump, made of clear plastic visibly deteriorated by radiation.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Door lock panel ensures no one is inside the test room when the proton beam is running.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Brendon Higgins presses the radiation start button.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Exposure count is ticking as our samples are being irradiated by high-energy protons, simulating years in orbit in a matter of minutes.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Safety first: Louis Piche checks residual radiation level after irradiation.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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All clear: the residual radiation level here is less than a person receives when flying in a jetliner.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Label on a storage cabinet for metal scraps.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Brendon Higgins and Jean-Philippe Bourgoin discuss test data measured immediately after sample irradiation.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Team members with the test setup: Brendon Higgins, Elena Anisimova, Louis Piche and Jean-Philippe Bourgoin.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Team in the control room: Elena Anisimova, Vadim Makarov, Brendon Higgins, Thomas Jennewein, Jean-Philippe Bourgoin and Louis Piche.
Image ©2014 Thomas Jennewein
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Thomas Jennewein, Elena Anisimova and Vadim Makarov in Horseshoe Bay, British Columbia.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov

Lab construction (2014, Waterloo)

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Visiting PhD student Paulo Vinicius Pereira Pinheiro cuts a metal rod.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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Vadim Makarov stress-tests a newly built instrument shelf.
Image ©2014 Paulo Vinicius Pereira Pinheiro

Canadian quantum communication satellite (2013–2018, Waterloo)

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Master’s student Jin Gyu Lim shows his setup for testing single-photon detectors.
Image ©2016 Vadim Makarov
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Master’s student Jin Gyu Lim shows his setup for testing single-photon detectors.
Image ©2016 Vadim Makarov
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Master’s student Jin Gyu Lim shows his setup for testing single-photon detectors.
Image ©2016 Vadim Makarov
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PhD student Elena Anisimova and undergraduate student Jin Gyu Lim are having a meeting.
Image ©2015 Vadim Makarov
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Undergraduate student Jin Gyu Lim assembles a detector testing setup.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov
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4-channel single-photon detector prototype for mobile quantum receiver.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov / IQC
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4-channel single-photon detector prototype for mobile quantum receiver.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov / IQC
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4-channel single-photon detector prototype for mobile quantum receiver. Top view.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov / IQC
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4-channel single-photon detector prototype for mobile quantum receiver. Top view.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov / IQC
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4-channel single-photon detector prototype for mobile quantum receiver. Bottom view.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov / IQC
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4-channel single-photon detector prototype for mobile quantum receiver. Bottom view.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov / IQC

Security analysis of commercial quantum cryptography equipment from ID Quantique (2012–2018, Waterloo)

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Jan Gulla in the lab.
Image ©2017 Vadim Makarov
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PhD student Anqi Huang tests security strength of ID Quantique’s Clavis2 quantum cryptography system.
Image ©2015 Vadim Makarov
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Hacker’s distraction: Vadim’s daughter Darya, 3 months old, dressed in a shirt received from ID Quantique.
Image ©2015 Vadim Makarov
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Hacker’s distraction: Vadim’s daughter Darya, 3 months old, dressed in a shirt received from ID Quantique.
Image ©2015 Vadim Makarov
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ID Quantique’s Clavis2 commercial quantum key distribution system, with our lab’s dinosaur mascots.
Image ©2013 IQC
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Live demo of ID Quantique’s Clavis2 commercial quantum key distribution system at Quantum-nano centre’s grand opening in Waterloo.
Image ©2012 IQC / Peter Kovacs
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Sarah Kaiser showing the lab to Charles Bennett, Luiz Davidovich and others.
Image ©2013 IQC
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ID Quantique Quantis random number generator decapsulated.
Image ©2013 Vadim Makarov

Low-noise avalanche single-photon detector for quantum communication (2012–2017, Waterloo – Vienna – Canary Islands)

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Alice & Charlie on La Palma, in Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope. Green tracking beam is pointing over 143 km to Tenerife.
Image ©2011 IQOQI Vienna
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Alice & Charlie on La Palma, in Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope. Green tracking beam is pointing towards Tenerife.
Image ©2011 IQOQI Vienna
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Bob on Tenerife, in ESA Optical Ground Station telescope. Green tracking beam is pointing over 143 km to La Palma.
Image ©2011 IQOQI Vienna
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Elena Anisimova and Vadim Makarov, holding new and older detector models
Image ©2012 IQC / Peter Kovacs
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Vadim Makarov with a part for avalanche photon detector
Image ©2012 IQC / Peter Kovacs
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Vadim Makarov with a part for avalanche photon detector
Image ©2012 IQC / Peter Kovacs
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Bob on Tenerife, in ESA Optical Ground Station telescope. Green tracking beam is pointing into a cloud in the direction of La Palma.
Image by Tobias Schmitt-Manderbach

Cracking commercial quantum cryptography by tailored bright illumination (2008–2010, Norway)

(see also separate page with explanations to these pictures)

Encrypted network node with quantum key distribution equipment Clavis2 quantum key distribution system made by ID Quantique Lars Lydersen hacking Clavis2 QKD system (1) Lars Lydersen hacking Clavis2 QKD system (2) QPN 5505 quantum key distribution system made by MagiQ Technologies Single-photon detector board from QPN 5505 QKD system X-ray of single-photon detector board from QPN 5505 Highland Technology P400 digital delay generator JDS Fitel VA4 variable optical attenuator EM4 1550 nm 100 mW fiber-pigtailed laser diode, outfitted with a heatsink and a temperature controller Tektronix TFC200 optical power meter Lars Lydersen hacking QPN 5505 QKD system

Intercept-resend attack experiment (2009, Singapore)

(see also separate page with explanations to these pictures)

Quantum hacker’s suitcase (studio shot) Scheme of eavesdropping experiment Eve, deployed and running Quantum hacker’s suitcase (during experiment) Alice with entangled photon-pair source Bob Qin Liu adjusts Eve Ilja Gerhardt sets up recording on internet link Dress rehearsal of eavesdropping experiment in the lab Antía Lamas-Linares tunes entangled-pair source Ilja Gerhardt tunes entangled-pair source Ilja Gerhardt, Antía Lamas-Linares, Christian Kurtsiefer get quantum cryptosystem working Researchers who did this experiment

Bob control experiment (2009, Singapore)

Bob control experiment Eve’s faked state generator Qin Liu assembles faked-state generator (1) Qin Liu assembles faked-state generator (3) Qin Liu assembles faked-state generator (2) New project begins by preparing a suitcase for mobile Eve’s equipment

Hacking PerkinElmer SPCM-AQR single-photon detector module (2008–2010, Norway)

Vadim Makarov works with PerkinElmer detector.  Image ©adressa.no PerkinElmer SPCM-AQR module disassembled PCB from PerkinElmer SPCM-AQR module, top side PCB from PerkinElmer SPCM-AQR module, bottom side Avalanche photodiode decapsulated

Controlling passively-quenched single-photon detector (2007, Moscow)

Single photon detector based on Si APD Optical part of Eve’s testing setup Eve’s lab Eve’s lab

Large pulse attack experiment (2000, Norway)

Artem Vakhitov tunes up eavesdropper’s setup Artem Vakhitov in quantum cryptography lab Shit happens. Damaged phase modulator (microphotograph) Shit happens. Damaged phase modulator

Quantum key distribution setup (1999–2001, Norway)

Bob’s optical setup Alice’s optical setup Bob and Alice QKD setup when it was in testing stage

Pictures of us

(see also individual photos in the list of lab members)

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Members and collaborators of the Quantum hacking lab in March 2017. Left to right, standing: Brendon Higgins, Anqi Huang, Katanya Kuntz, Ruoping Li, Hao Qin, Shaeera Rabbanee Shuvra, Shihan Sajeed with little Sabriyah Sajeed, little Daria Makarova; sitting: Jin Gyu Lim, Vadim Makarov, Elena Anisimova, Poompong Chaiwongkhot, Nigar Sultana.
Image ©2017 Vadim Makarov, Scott McManus / IQC
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Members and collaborators of the Quantum hacking lab in November 2014 (left to right): Poompong Chaiwongkhot, Carter Minshull, Mark Bourgon, Anqi Huang, Elena Anisimova, Nigar Sultana, Paulo Pinheiro, Shihan Sajeed, Vadim Makarov.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov, Scott McManus / IQC
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PhD student Anqi Huang with her team’s prize-winning carving at Halloween IQC party 2014.
Image ©2014 Vadim Makarov

Group in Norway:

Group members and Lars Lydersen’s PhD defence committee, September 2011 Group members in November 2008 Group members in September 2008 Group members in 2000

Pictures from some of the conferences we attended

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ID Quantique 10th winter school on quantum cybersecurity in Les Diablerets, Switzerland, January 20–26, 2018. Snowshoeing.
Image ©2018 Vadim Makarov

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Trustworthy quantum information (TyQI) workshop in Shanghai, China, July 27–30, 2016. Some of the participants went to see the Bund.

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ID Quantique 8th winter school on quantum cybersecurity in Les Diablerets, Switzerland, January 16–21, 2016. Peak walk.
Image ©2016 Bruno Huttner
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ID Quantique 8th winter school on quantum cybersecurity in Les Diablerets, Switzerland, January 16–21, 2016. Glacier 3000.
Image ©2016 Bruno Huttner

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FRISC workshop in Reykjavik, Iceland, June 8–9, 2015. Superjeep excursion in the hills.
Image ©2015 Vadim Makarov
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FRISC workshop in Reykjavik, Iceland, June 8–9, 2015. Secret Lagoon pool and geothermal area.
Image ©2015 Vadim Makarov

Group photo after curling  ID Quantique 6th winter school on practical quantum communications, Les Diablerets, Switzerland, January 19–23, 2014
 

Conference group photo taken on Wednesday, August 7. ©2013 IQC
Excursion to Niagara Falls on Sunday, August 10, 2013Excursion to Niagara Falls on Sunday, August 10, 2013 
QCrypt 2013, 3rd international conference on quantum cryptography, Waterloo, Canada, August 5–9, 2013. We were the local organizers of this conference.
 
 
 

Conference group photo  Tropical QKD workshop in Waterloo, Canada, June 14–17, 2010
 

Conference group photo  XI International Conference on Quantum Optics in Minsk, May 26–31, 2006
 

Seminar group photo  30 Years of Fibre Optic Research seminar at NTNU, March 4, 2003
 

Seminar group photo  Norwegian Cryptographic Seminar at NTNU, October 17–18, 2002
 

“Best poster” certificate  Our poster Practical quantum cryptography won the “Best poster presentation by a young scientist” award at the Norwegian Electro-Optics Meeting in Flåm, May 2–5, 2002.
 

Conference group photo  QUICK: Quantum interference and cryptographic keys: novel physics and advancing technologies in Cargese, Corsica, April 7–13, 2001
 

Conference group photo  1st Quantum Information Processing & Communications Workshop in Potsdam, September 27–29, 2000
 

Meeting group photo  Quantum Information meeting at KTH Kista, Stockholm, December 14–16, 1998
 

Miscellaneous

The Jolly Phi, a flag with our lab logo.  Design ©2008 Vadim Makarov Whiteboard drawing by our students. ©2013 Elena Anisimova
 
 Eve :(