Prem Kumar (academic)

Prem Kumar
Born
India
EducationDelhi University
Indian Institutes of Technology
University at Buffalo
Scientific career
WorkplacesNorthwestern University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Prem Kumar is an Indian-American physicist and engineer who is a professor and Director of the Center for Photonic Communication and Computing at Northwestern University. His research focuses on quantum computing, quantum communications, and photonics. His research creates robust photonic communication between quantum devices, with a particular emphasis on developing next-generation fibre-based quantum networks. He is a Fellow of SPIE, Optica, the Institute of Physics, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Early life and education

Kumar studied physics at Delhi University. He moved to the Indian Institutes of Technology for his master's degree, before joining the University at Buffalo for his doctoral research. After earning his doctorate Kumar was appointed as a Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[1]

Research and career

In 1986, Kumar joined Northwestern University. He was made a professor in 1991, and Director of the Centre for Photonic Communication in 2000. He founded NuCrypt in 2003, a company which generates, distributes and measures entangled photons.[2]

In 2010, Kumar was made Editor in Chief of Optica.[3] In 2013, he left Northwestern to serve as a program manager for DARPA, where he was named Program Manager of the Year in 2015 and awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service in 2016.[4][5] At DARPA, Kumar led the Fundamental Limits of Photon Detection ('Detect') program.[6] Detect looked to understand whether a single photon detector could simultaneously optimize key performance metrics—including efficiency, timing resolution, bandwidth, photon-number resolution, operating temperature, and noise characteristics—or whether fundamental quantum-mechanical tradeoffs impose limits on detector performance. The program had implications for applications such as LIDAR, astronomy, communications, medical imaging, microscopy, quantum information processing, and remote sensing.[6]

In 2026, Kumar was announced as interim chair of the Northwestern University Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.[7]

Kumar has contributed to the development of quantum teleportation and quantum networking over existing telecommunications infrastructure.[8][9] He demonstrated the distribution of quantum entanglement over a 24.4 km fibre link between Evanston and downtown Chicago while the same fibre simultaneously carried commercial internet traffic.[10][11] The experiment achieved entanglement fidelity exceeding 94%, representing the first reported demonstration of entanglement distribution between remote nodes over a fibre carrying modern telecommunications data. The team employed wavelength separation techniques, placing quantum signals in the optical O-band while classical communications remained in the C-band, and used the White Rabbit timing system to synchronize the network at picosecond precision. His research group has subsequently pursued metropolitan-scale quantum teleportation and the development of practical quantum internet architectures.[10]

Awards and honors

Selected publications

  • Xiaoying Li; Paul L Voss; Jay E Sharping; Prem Kumar (9 February 2005). "Optical-fiber source of polarization-entangled photons in the 1550 nm telecom band". Physical Review Letters. 94 (5) 053601. arXiv:quant-ph/0402191. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.94.053601. ISSN 0031-9007. PMID 15783637. Wikidata Q59481877.
  • David Awschalom; Karl K. Berggren; Hannes Bernien; et al. (24 February 2021). "Development of Quantum Interconnects (QuICs) for Next-Generation Information Technologies". PRX Quantum. 2 (1). arXiv:1912.06642. doi:10.1103/prxquantum.2.017002. ISSN 2691-3399. Wikidata Q108282276.
  • P Kumar (1 December 1990). "Quantum frequency conversion". Optics Letters. 15 (24): 1476–1478. Bibcode:1990OptL...15.1476K. doi:10.1364/ol.15.001476. ISSN 0146-9592. PMID 19771127. Wikidata Q84577734.

References

  1. ↑ Morrow, Joe. "Prem Kumar -- Biography". users.ece.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  2. ↑ "About NuCrypt - at the interface of photonic, electronic, and quantum technologies". nucrypt.net. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  3. ↑ "Prem Kumar named editor-in-chief of Optica". Chicago Quantum Exchange. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  4. ↑ "Committee on Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Sciences". www.nationalacademies.org. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  5. ↑ "Prem Kumar receives the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service". International Society for Optics and Photonics. 13 April 2017. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  6. 1 2 "Counting Photons…How Low Can You Go?". www.darpa.mil. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  7. 1 2 "Prem Kumar Named Interim Chair of Northwestern Electrical and Computer Engineering". Northwestern Engineering. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  8. ↑ "'Nobody thought it was possible': Quantum teleportation is here". BBC Science Focus Magazine. 2024-12-20. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  9. ↑ "What's the Buzz About Quantum?". Northwestern Magazine. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  10. 1 2 "Quantum internet leaves the lab". EurekAlert! (Press release). Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  11. ↑ Feldman, Andrey (2025-01-17). "Quantum communication could be integrated into existing fiber optic networks, new study shows". Advanced Science News. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  12. ↑ "Prem Kumar | Optica". www.optica.org. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  13. ↑ "IEEE Honors Prem Kumar as a Life Fellow Member". Northwestern Engineering. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  14. ↑ "Prem Kumar and Hooman Mohseni Elected Fellows of SPIE". Northwestern Engineering. Retrieved 2026-07-23.
  15. ↑ "Quantum Award". QCMC – International Conference on Quantum Communication, Measurement and Computing. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
  16. 1 2 "Harnessing Light: Capitalizing on Optical Science Trends and Challenges for Future Research". www.nationalacademies.org. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
  17. ↑ spie.org https://spie.org/about-spie/spie-member-news/prem-kumar-receives-the-secretary-of-defense-medal-for-outstanding-public-service. Retrieved 2026-08-13. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  18. ↑ "Researchers to Know 2025". Illinois Science & Technology Coalition. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
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