Group Members
Dr James Quach
Team Leader
Dr James Quach is a Science Leader at the CSIRO, where he leads the Quantum Batteries team. He is the inaugural Chair of the International Conference on Quantum Energy. Previously he was a Ramsay Fellow at The University of Adelaide, a Marie Curie Fellow at the Institute of Photonics Science in Barcelona, and a JSPS Fellow at the University of Tokyo. He completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne in Physics. His research interest is in all things quantum, working in quantum technology, quantum computing, quantum biology, quantum chaos, quantum thermodynamics, and quantum gravity.
Dr Tadahiko Hirai
Principal Research Scientist / Visiting Professor of Yokohama City University
Tadahiko received his doctoral degree from Waseda University, Tokyo Japan in 1998 for research in the fields of semiconductor physics and semiconductor engineering. He has also published approximately 30 academic papers in the fields of semiconductor engineering, light emitting devices, quantum devices, and display technology, and has given around 10 invited presentations at international conferences. He joined CSIRO in 2008 and led research and development of blue organic EL materials and devices in the collaboration project with Japanese industry. Recently, he has been participating in a quantum battery project and is leading research on quantum light-emitting materials and hydrogen storage materials.
Dr Kieran Hymas
CERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Kieran is a CERC postdoctoral researcher with a passion for quantum physics and quantum chemistry. He completed his PhD in 2020 at the University of Melbourne under the supervision of A/Prof Alessandro Soncini and completed a two year postdoc in the School of Chemistry focusing on molecular spintronics, molecular magnetism and toroidal magnetism. He is currently working as a theoretician on the quantum battery team but also has broader interests relating to quantum optics, quantum game theory and quantum gravity.
Dr Jack Muir
CERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Dr Jack Muir is an experimental physicist and CERC postdoctoral fellow at CSIRO, where he is researching the quantum battery. Jack completed his PhD in 2023 at Swinburne University of Technology, in collaboration with the ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (FLEET). Jack has expertise in ultrafast spectroscopy and multidimensional coherent spectroscopy (MDCS) which he employed to study 2D semiconductors and their van der Waals heterostructures. Jack’s research interests include ultrafast spectroscopy of quantum materials and systems, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), and quantum optics.
Dr Pravin Kumar Dahal
CERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Pravin Kumar Dahal is a CERC postdoctoral fellow at CSIRO, working on Relativistic Quantum Thermodynamics and Quantum Thermometry. He did his MRes and PhD degrees from Macquarie University, where he specialized in black hole physics. His PhD research topic was “Properties of Spacetime in the Vicinity of Trapped Regions.” His primary research interests lie at the intersection of General Relativity and Quantum Field Theory.
Dr Danjo De Chavez
CERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Danjo is computational and theoretical quantum chemist. During his PhD in Hokkaido University, he developed and applied computational simulation methodology to study the effect of external mechanical strain on molecular reactivity. Prior to joining CSIRO, he was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Quantum Chemistry Group of Uppsala University where we worked on the development of OpenMolcas, a keystone software in quantum chemistry well-known for the efficient multireference correlated wavefunction methods. Particularly, Danjo worked on the development of a modified Cholesky decomposition of two-electron integrals, experimentation with the use of Gaussian Process Regression techniques to represent orbitals, and the development of an alternative formulation of a Møller-Plesset-like implementation of 2nd order perturbation theory.
Dr Yaniv Kurman
CERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Yaniv Kurman is a CERC postdoctoral fellow at CSIRO, working on theoretical aspect of quantum batteries, and their implementation in superconducting qubits. He arrived to CSIRO after 2 years as a research scientist in Quantum Machines where he focused on quantum error correction. Yaniv received his PhD degrees from the Technion, where he focused on light-matter interaction in nanophotonic platforms, with both theoretical and experimental contributions under the supervision of Ido Kaminer. His primary research interest is converting fundamental concepts of quantum mechanics into impactful technologies.
Peiyong Wang
CERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Peiyong is a CERC Postdoctoral Fellow specializing in the intersection of quantum computing and artificial intelligence. His current research focuses on developing quantum machine learning algorithms for robotic systems and reinforcement learning challenges. During his PhD at the University of Melbourne, Peiyong investigated automated quantum circuit design, as well as introduced heuristics and insights from classical AI to advance quantum machine learning models. Deeply passionate about AI in all its forms, Peiyong is particularly interested in topics such as compositionality, building AI systems capable of human-like reasoning, and the emergence of intelligence in both natural and artificial systems. He hopes there will be a future where quantum computing becomes a cornerstone in developing the next generation of AI. Outside of research, Peiyong enjoys playing tennis and exploring thought-provoking science fiction stories.
Kareem Raslan
PhD Student
I am a recently enrolled Ph.D. student in physics at The University of Adelaide. Currently, my research interests lie within the field of Quantum Game Theory and its practical applications. I am continuously seeking opportunities to expand my existing knowledge through fresh experiences and challenges. My affiliation with the Quantum Battery team at CSIRO has been vital at providing me with valuable learning experiences and insights.
Nguyen (Seth) Truong Thu Ngo
PhD Student
Mechatronics Engineering Graduate, PhD student at The University of Adelaide. My objective is to investigate the role of hybrid quantum reinforcement learning model in engineering control problems.
Hiu Ming Lau
PhD Student
Hiu is a PhD student with CSIRO and RMIT under Dr James Quach and Prof Andrew Greentree. He completed his B.E. Electrical Eng (Hons) and B.E. Physics at UNSW in 2023, achieving high distinction in his Honours project under Prof Andrea Morello. His research interests include general quantum computing, quantum game theory, quantum information theory and digital signal processing. He is content in spending his days staring at symbols to derive meaning.
Ksusha Rychkova
PhD Student
Ksusha is Russian-American. She has a Bachelor’s in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics from The College of New Jersey, and a Master’s degree in Theoretical and Computational Methods from the University of Helsinki in Finland. She worked with superconducting qubits at IQM Finland for a year. Now she is working on the Quantum Battery project at the SQD Lab, in collaboration with CSIRO. Her hobbies include birding, singing, bouldering, running, and video games.
Yingjie Wang
Summer Internship Student
I am an undergraduate student at the ANU, pursuing a double degree in Physics and Mechatronics. My research interests focus on quantum applications and devices, with a particular emphasis on reimagining classical systems through a quantum perspective.
Thomas Ma
Summer Internship Student
I’m an undergraduate student from Monash University, studying BEng (Electrical) + BSc (Physics and Mathematics). I’m currently taking on a vacation project within the quantum battery team, the exploratory research project investigates the possibility of AI consciousness arising from behaviours indicating self-awareness. I’m passionate about all applications of physical phenomena that can be leveraged to build a more sustainable future. In my spare time I enjoy hobby electronics, film photography, painting and badminton with friends and family.
Past Members
Dr Fakhar Zaman
CERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Dr Fakhar Zaman is a CERC Fellow and Quantum Artificial Intelligence Engineer at CSIRO. Prior to joining CSIRO, he was with Massachusetts of Technology (MIT), USA and Kyung Hee University (KHU), S. Korea. He is a recipient of Graduate Exchange Student Fellowship at MIT, USA from 2022 to 2023, BK21 Doctoral Research Fellowship at KHU, S. Korea from 2016 to 2023, and Plaque of Excellence Award at National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan from 2012 to 2014. He is also a recipient of Best Paper Award at KICS fall conference, 2019. He completed his B.E. degree in electrical engineering from NUST, Pakistan in 2015 and Ph.D. degree in Electronics and Information Convergence Engineering from KHU, S. Korea, in 2023. His research interests include hybrid quantum-classical machine learning, deep quantum learning, quantum cryptography, and quantum error mitigation.