PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Paul G. Kwiat

Also known as Paul Kwiat

Paul Kwiat is a physicist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign whose group develops quantum light sources. He earned a physics doctorate at Berkeley in 1993 and joined Illinois as the second Bardeen Chair in January 2001. He won the LANL Fellows Prize in 1998 for optical studies of quantum information. In 2018 he helped form the Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center, where he serves as its inaugural director. The Quantum 100 list named him in December 2025 for his research and for LabEscape, an outreach effort he created.

Works
476
Citations
28,151
h-index
69

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 15 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1993

    A physics doctorate at Berkeley

    He earns a physics doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley in 1993, with a dissertation on nonclassical effects from spontaneous parametric downconversion.

  2. 1990s

    Fellowships in Innsbruck and Los Alamos

    He takes a Lise Meitner Fellowship with Anton Zeilinger's quantum optics group in Innsbruck, then works as an Oppenheimer Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory. In 1998 he wins the LANL Fellows Prize for optical studies of quantum information.

  3. January 2001

    A Bardeen chair at Illinois

    Joining the faculty at the University of Illinois in January 2001, he takes the second Bardeen Chair.

  4. 2018

    Forming a quantum science center

    Forming the Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center in 2018, he serves as its inaugural director.

  5. December 2025

    Named to the Quantum 100

    The Quantum 100 list names him in December 2025 for his quantum research and for creating LabEscape, an outreach effort.

  6. March 2026

    Two STTR grants for quantum light

    His group receives two STTR grants in March 2026 to develop commercially viable quantum light sources.

  7. As of October 2026

    A physics professor at Illinois

    He is a physics professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Paul G. Kwiat yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Paul G Kwiat ece.illinois.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  2. Paul G. Kwiat | Optica optica.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  3. Kwiat to receive 2010 Drucker Award | Physics | Illinois physics.illinois.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  4. Paul Kwiat | Chicago Quantum Exchange chicagoquantum.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  5. Paul Kwiat, LabEscape named to international Quantum 100 list | Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center | Illinois iquist.illinois.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  6. Kwiat receives two additional STTR grants to commercialize quantum optics technology, total of $4.8M in last five years | Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center | Illinois iquist.illinois.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.