Quantum technologies are advancing rapidly, but turning laboratory demonstrations into practical, large-scale systems remains one of the field’s biggest challenges. That challenge sits at the heart of Roy Zektzer’s research. 

An experimental physicist at Bar-Ilan University, Zektzer works at the intersection of atomic physics, nanophotonics and quantum technology, developing systems that can be manufactured at scale rather than assembling one device at a time in a laboratory. Ultimately, his goal is to make quantum technologies easier to build, study and deploy.

After completing a PhD focused on nanoscale light–matter interactions, Zektzer conducted postdoctoral research on chip-scale quantum photonic platforms, demonstrating the possibility of operating quantum photonic interfaces at room temperature rather than at temperatures approaching absolute zero.

Since 2025, he has led a research group at Bar-Ilan University that explores the interaction between atoms and photonic chips, with the aim of developing scalable hybrid atomic–photonic systems for quantum metrology, communication and computation. This work has also been recognized with Wiley’s Nanophotonics Early Career Award for his contributions to integrating atomic and molecular systems with photonic devices. 

My research focuses on developing hybrid nanophotonic platforms that integrate atomic and molecular systems with photonic devices. The goal is to combine the precision of atomic physics with the scalability of integrated photonics, creating new approaches to quantum technologies, precision metrology, and deployable photonic systems.

A critical challenge we are addressing is manufacturability. We have developed a batch fabrication method for integrated atomic–photonic chips. This process transforms manually assembled laboratory prototypes into scalable devices that are compatible with semiconductor manufacturing, opening the door to producing these devices at scale.

Right now, I am also interested in single-photon sources. We are developing photonic devices that can generate these sources at the precise wavelengths needed to interact with atoms such as barium, while keeping them highly accurate, stable, and low-noise. Hopefully, in the future, we can bring these different components together into a single chip.

The broader vision is to use nanophotonics as a bridge between atomic physics and integrated photonic engineering, bringing atomic functionality directly onto photonic chips.

Once the technology is easy to fabricate, it becomes much easier to study. Currently, the equipment needed to become a quantum researcher can cost a couple of million dollars. But if we can get to a scenario where the devices are very cheap and the quantum system is very simple, you can start doing experiments in a more accessible way. The idea is that, eventually, you can easily attach different photonic and atomic devices to the same chip to build a larger system. 

A scalable solution is maybe something we don’t need right now, to be honest. We are still very far from having quantum computers in our homes. But I would argue that if you need a very high-quality, specific tool that only a few people have, to conduct a quantum experiment, then the field is not progressing. 

Overall, we are focused on hybrid integration, trying to take different quantum materials and integrate them with standard photonic integrated devices. Our main motivation right now is using rubidium to generate single-photon sources, single-photon detectors, quantum memories, clocks, frequency references, magnetometers, gyroscopes, and other atomic-related applications. In the future, we would like to look into other materials that could produce better quantum memories.

When you work with atoms, especially moving atoms, they are there only for a very short time. The complexity comes with knowing when and where they are, and how to take in all this data from all these different atoms and turn it into something coherent.

I would say a lot. When I started to work in this field, the only way to fabricate these kinds of devices was to do it yourself. You had to go to the clean room and fabricate them. These days, you can just buy them.

When it comes to hybrid quantum systems, up until three or four years ago, the most common photonic integrated circuit was silicon nitride. Now, you have all different kinds of materials coming into play, so there are many more options for interrogating quantum materials. It’s hard to say what will happen a few years from now. 

Today, people are trying to determine what the best candidates are for generating all the different components we need for a quantum processor. Some are trying to generate highly efficient single-photon sources, others are trying to make very good quantum memories. There are all these different materials being explored as candidates. There isn’t yet a gold standard. They’re still exploring different materials and different options.

Then we have to generate a hybrid platform where we can connect all these different devices together. Because atoms can potentially be used as single-photon sources, detectors, gates and more, we can integrate them all into a single silicon chip. But the question is: how do you connect them all?

For myself, I think that if we manage to demonstrate a quantum operation, a quantum gate or entanglement in a room-temperature, chip-scale atomic system, it will be a major achievement. For the field, I would like to see quantum experiments and quantum devices becoming more and more common. I hope that in 10 years from now we will have chip-scale atomic devices for quantum information science. 

Once we get quantum devices to operate more easily at room temperature, then the technology can progress faster. We can already buy and build photonic integrated circuits with much more ease than we could ever do before, and we have all these different teams around the world working with this technology using different quantum materials. 

We have this new playground with photonic integrated circuits, and we have all these materials we are learning about. We are now building the “Lego” parts that eventually could converge into an operating device. 

The Nanophotonics Early Career Award supports young scientists by recognising the outstanding work of four individuals who have completed their PhD within the last five years and who have contributed significantly to progress in the field of nanophotonics or nano-optics. Winners were officially announced during the Nano Summit 2026 in Berlin.

Featured Image Credit: Bar-Ilan University.