Schawlow-Townes Symposium on Photonics 2025
14th edition
Oct 16, 2025 — 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The University of Ottawa and the National Research Council of Canada established the Schawlow-Townes Symposium on Photonics in 2012, in honour of Arthur L. Schawlow and Charles H. Townes, recognized as the pioneers of laser technology. This annual symposium brings to light the research and discoveries of photonics experts in Canada and around the world.
Julie St-Pierre, Vice-President, Research and Innovation at the University of Ottawa, and Julie Lefebvre, Vice-President, Emerging Technologies at the National Research Council of Canada, cordially invite you to the 14th edition of this symposium.
Join us to learn about the latest developments from internationally recognized researchers.
Program
8:30 a.m. – Registration & Networking Breakfast
9:15 a.m. – Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:30 a.m. – Presentation by Robert Boyd (University of Ottawa)
10:45 a.m. – Probing Biomechanics with Light; Towards Deployable Brillouin Spectroscopy for Diagnostics – Presentation by Jean-Ruel Hubert (Carleton University)
11:30 a.m. – Lunch
12:30 p.m. – Poster Blitz
12:45 p.m. – Poster Session
2 p.m. – Quantum imaging through complex media – Presentation by Hugo Defienne (CNRS, Sorbonne Université)
3 p.m. – Smarter Quantum Experiments: Boosting Quantum Research with Artificial Intelligence – Presentation by Stef Czischek (University of Ottawa)
4 p.m. – The world of atoms at the attosecond time scale - Presentation by Anne L'Huillier (Lund University)
5 p.m. – Closing Remarks
5:15 p.m. – End
Anne L’Huillier
Professor, Lund University
Presentation Title: The world of atoms at the attosecond time scale
Biography: Anne L'Huillier is a Swedish/French researcher in attosecond science. During the first part of her career, she worked at the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique in Saclay, France, first as a PhD student, then as a permanent researcher until 1995. She was a postdoc at Chalmers Institute of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1986, at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA, in 1988, and a visiting scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1993. She then moved to Lund University in Sweden and became a full professor in 1997. She was awarded the Wolf Prize in 2022 and the Nobel Prize in Physics 2023.
Hugo Defienne
CNRS - Sorbonne University
Presentation Title: Quantum imaging through complex media
Biography: Dr. Hugo Defienne's research focuses on quantum optics, imaging, and complex media. He is a CNRS researcher at Sorbonne University in Paris, leading the Quantum Imaging Paris group. He completed his doctoral thesis at the Kastler-Brossel Laboratory in Paris, studying quantum optics in disordered media. He obtained his degree in 2016, then shifted towards quantum imaging by conducting postdoctoral research at Princeton University and then at the University of Glasgow. He became a Lecturer in Glasgow before returning to Paris in 2022 to establish his research group as a CNRS researcher, supported by an ERC Starting Grant.
Hubert Jean-Ruel
Assistant professor and CRC II chair, Department of Electronics, Carleton University
Presentation Title: Probing Biomechanics with Light; Towards Deployable Brillouin Spectroscopy for Diagnostics
Biography: Prof. H. Jean-Ruel graduated from Laval University in 2007 and earned a PhD at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Prof. R.J.D. Miller in the field of ultrafast electron diffraction. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Prof. J. Albert at Carleton University in the field of fiber sensors before joining the company LightMachinery, where he co-established a new spectroscopy instrumentation department. In 2023, he joined Carleton University’s Department of Electronics. His team aims to develop novel photonic sensing technologies to enhance early diagnostic capabilities for various conditions.
Stef Czischek
Assistant Professor, University of Ottawa
Presentation Title: Smarter Quantum Experiments: Boosting Quantum Research with Artificial Intelligence
Biography: Dr. Stef Czischek is a leading scientist in the multidisciplinary field of combining artificial intelligence, neuromorphic computing, and quantum technologies. She received her Ph.D. in Physics in 2019 at Heidelberg University (Germany) for which she received the Springer Thesis Award in 2020. Dr. Czischek joined the University of Waterloo in 2020 as a postdoctoral fellow in the Perimeter Institute Quantum Intelligence Lab. She has been an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa since 2022, where she establishes the research team APRIQuOt, focusing on artificial and physically realizable intelligence for quantum science and technologies.
Robert Boyd
Full Professor, University of Ottawa
Biography: Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate in Quantum Nonlinear Optics and Professor of Physics, Robert Boyd was born in Buffalo, New York. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds a PhD in physics from the University of California at Berkeley. His PhD thesis was supervised by Charles Townes and involved the use of nonlinear optical techniques in infrared detection for astronomy. In 1977, Professor Boyd joined the faculty of the University of Rochester and, in 2001, became the M. Parker Givens Professor of Optics and Professor of Physics.
In 2010, he became Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Nonlinear Optics and Professor of Physics at the University of Ottawa. His research interests include studies of “slow” and “fast” light propagation, quantum imaging techniques, nonlinear optical interactions, studies of the nonlinear optical properties of materials, and the development of photonic devices including photonic biosensors.
Professor Boyd has written two books, co-edited two anthologies, published over 300 research papers, and been awarded eight patents. He is the 2009 recipient of the Willis E. Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and of the Optical Society of America (OSA). He has also served as an APS representative and chair of the Joint Council on Quantum Electronics (joint among APS, OSA and IEEE/LEOS). Professor Boyd has served as a member of the Board of Editors of Physical Review Letters and is currently a member of the Board of Reviewing Editors of Science Magazine.
To attend this free event, preregistration is required.
Contact us
Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation
Tabaret Hall
550 Cumberland St
Room 246
Ottawa, ON, Canada
K1N 6N5
Email: vrr-vprcomm@uOttawa.ca
