Kevin Valson Jacob

Biography

Dr. Valson is a theoretical physicist with a research interest in quantum information. Growing up in India, he obtained his undergraduate degree in physics from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He then obtained his Ph.D. in physics from Louisiana State University. He is enthusiastic about teaching, and strongly believes in the power of demonstrations in conveying ideas in physics. He is eager to help Wheaton College students understand and articulate their Christian faith.

Dr. Valson's LinkedIn profile

Education

Louisiana State University
Ph.D. in Physics (2020)

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
5-year Integrated M.Sc. in Physics (2015)

Research Experience

Direct characterization of linear and quadratically nonlinear optical processes
KV Jacob, AE Mirasola, S Adhikari, & JP Dowling
Phys. Rev. A, 92, 053844

Developed a scheme for characterizing gaussian optical processes using Mach-Zehnder interferometry.
The scheme requires only coherent states as inputs for linear optical processes; and requires single photons in addition for quadratically nonlinear processes.

Franck-Condon factors via compressive sensing
KV Jacob, E Kaur, W Roga, & M Takeoka
Phys. Rev. A, 102, 032403

Developed an efficient method to approximately reconstruct the distribution of Franck-Condon factors in molecular vibronic spectra.
The method uses tools from quantum optics, quantum information, and compressive sensing.

Characterization of quantum states and detectors
R Nehra, M Eaton, KV Jacob, CC Gonzalez-Arciniegas, MS Kim, A Lita, T Gerrits, S-W Nam, & O Pfister,
Quantum Communications and Quantum Imaging XVIII,115070C

Developed a method to directly obtain the Wigner functions of the POVM elements of a photodetector.
The scheme only requires different displaced thermal states as inputs.

Selected Presentations

Karunya University (2021) Invited Talk: The absurdity of quantum mechanics

QuILT (2019) Talk: Characterization of quantum detectors via Wigner functions

SQuInT (2019) Poster: Characterizing photon sources with gaussian optics

QuILT (2018) Talk: Quantum process tomography of optical systems

QCMC (2018) Poster: Quantum process tomography of linear and quadratically nonlinear optical systems

APS March meeting (2017) Talk: Quantum process tomography of optical unitaries

SQuInT (2017) Poster: Quantum process tomography of optical unitaries

Selected Publications

Direct characterization of linear and quadratically nonlinear optical processes
KV Jacob, AE Mirasola, S Adhikari, & JP Dowling
Phys. Rev. A, 92, 053844
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.98.052327

Franck-Condon factors via compressive sensing
KV Jacob, E Kaur, W Roga, & M Takeoka
Phys. Rev. A, 102, 032403
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.102.032403

An exhaustive list of publications can be found at Google Scholar.