Quantum AI Report

The convergence of Quantum with AI

University of the Witwatersrand

The University of the Witwatersrand is a public research university in Johannesburg, South Africa, whose School of Physics hosts the Structured Light Laboratory, a group led by Andrew Forbes that studies the generation, control and detection of structured light and its use in quantum optics. The group's work covers entangled-photon sources, orbital-angular-momentum encoding, and free-space quantum communication and imaging experiments. Wits is one of the more active photonic quantum research centres on the African continent and trains postgraduate researchers in quantum optics and quantum information rather than commercialising hardware.

AI-written profile · not yet reviewed · 13 October 2026

Headquarters
Johannesburg, South Africa
Status
Private
photonicquantum networking

Coverage

Source

In Step Toward Quantum Networking, Penn Study Finds Quantum Light Pattern Can Survive Loss of Entanglement

University of Pennsylvania researchers, with collaborators at the University of the Witwatersrand and Nanyang Technological University, used a silicon nitride photonic chip to transfer a topological winding pattern into two-photon correlations. They measured the skyrmion number while a standard entanglement measure fell to zero and found the topological number remained stable. The researchers attribute this persistence to quantum discord, suggesting a possible route to noise-resilient quantum network links.

OutlookPlausible

Within the next two years, this could enable photonic quantum network testbeds to use quantum discord or skyrmion number as a supplementary link quality signal, allowing short-reach links to operate in noise regimes where conventional entanglement certifiers fail.

quantum networkingphotonicNanyang Technological UniversityUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of the Witwatersrand