In 2024, Dr Kelvin Mpofu became the second SA QuTI Emerging Leader as well as a full-time researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
During his PhD, he developed a Kretschmann configuration-based plasmonic biosensing setup and demonstrated that quantum states of light, generated using a single-photon source (SPDC), could enhance the precision of plasmon-based biosensors when used as probe states.
In August 2022, Kelvin joined the CSIR as a Biophotonics researcher within the Manufacturing Cluster. He is currently working on plasmonics-based quantum biosensing for disease diagnostics, classical biosensing, quantum machine learning, and quantum computing applications in biosensing. He is also establishing a new research direction within the Biophotonics group, focusing on quantum biosensing, with the aim of developing quantum technologies to improve disease diagnostic methods.
His advances include the first fast quantum measurement tool for high-dimensional states and the first multi-dimensional quantum transport down conventional optical fibre.
He plans to blend photonics, quantum, and AI/machine learning to push the frontiers of what is possible with intelligent computing at the speed of light. He is currently working on a project focussing on quantum optical circuits for information processing.
