Alireza Marandi, a professor of electrical engineering and applied physics at Caltech, has been named a 2026 Moore Experimental Physics Investigator. He is one of 21 new investigators selected this year by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, joining a fifth cohort in a program designed to support fundamental experimental physics research.
Key facts
- Marandi received the 2026 Moore Experimental Physics Investigator honor from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
- The program provides $1.35 million in funding over five years.
- Marandi’s project will study how quantum states can be created, manipulated, and measured on extremely fast timescales.
- The work focuses on chip-scale photonic circuits, which use photons instead of electrons.
- He is a professor of electrical engineering and applied physics at Caltech.
What does the award support?
The award gives Marandi flexible funding to pursue experimental physics research at the frontier of the field. His project will examine ultrafast quantum information processing in nanophotonic systems, with a focus on events that unfold in just a few femtoseconds. That timescale is central to his lab’s effort to understand how light-based quantum systems can be used for measurement and information processing.
The Moore Foundation says the initiative is meant to help mid-career scientists pursue high-risk, high-reward experiments. Marandi’s selection places his work within that broader effort to accelerate progress in experimental physics through sustained support.
What this means for students and researchers
For students and researchers at Caltech and in related fields, the award highlights active support for experimental physics work that combines quantum optics, nanophotonics, and photonic circuit design. The project may be especially relevant to those interested in ultrafast measurement, quantum information processing, and chip-scale systems built to control light at very small scales.
It also signals that the foundation is backing research directions that move beyond standard approaches in the field. For graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, that can make Marandi’s group a notable place to follow for work in ultrafast quantum experiments and light-based computing concepts.
- Funding: $1.35 million over five years
- Scope: experimental physics, quantum optics, and chip-scale photonics
- Audience: students, researchers, and other scientists in related disciplines
- Institution: California Institute of Technology
Why is this research different?
Marandi’s group studies quantum optics using nanometer-scale circuits that control light down to the level of individual photons. The team is particularly interested in pushing those systems into an ultrafast regime where measurements can capture events that occur in femtoseconds. That capability is presented as a distinctive feature of light and as a possible route to a new dimension in quantum information processing.
Who else has Caltech named to the program?
Previous Caltech faculty members named Moore Experimental Physics Investigators include Stevan Nadj-Perge, Manuel Endres, David Hsieh, and Andrei Faraon.
