Full-stack photonic quantum computing at Xanadu
Speaker: Nathan Killoran, Senior Vice President, Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing Software, Xanadu
Date: Tuesday, January 6, 2026
Time: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Location: In-person at 700 University Avenue, 9th floor, Room 9016, Toronto and online
Abstract:
Quantum computers are a rapidly developing new technology which show great promise for tackling important scientific problems. Nathan Killoran will share how Xanadu is engineering its platform end-to-end, and what it means to scale a quantum company in Canada at a moment when global competition is accelerating. He’ll explore how its photonic hardware and rich software ecosystem have become essential infrastructure for quantum developers worldwide.
Speaker Biography:
Nathan leads the Software division at Xanadu, a Toronto company building a full-stack quantum computing ecosystem. His team has built PennyLane, one of the top quantum programming SDKs in the industry, Catalyst, a hybrid compiler for quantum-classical programs, and is now focused on building a utility-scale software stack for fault-tolerant quantum computing. Nathan received a PhD in Physics from the University of Waterloo, a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Toronto, and a B.Sc. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Guelph.