Joseph M. Lukens

Biography

Joseph M. Lukens is an Associate Professor in the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, with a joint faculty appointment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His research focuses on optical quantum information processing, quantum networking, integrated photonics, and Bayesian inference.

Before joining Purdue, he served as Senior Director of Quantum Networking and Research Professor at Arizona State University, where he led research and development in quantum networks for distributed quantum information science. Prior to that, he was a Research Scientist and Wigner Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, conducting experimental photonics and theoretical research in quantum information science.

The Lukens Quantum Networking Lab develops photonic technologies for scalable quantum communication and information processing, with emphasis on frequency-bin photonics, quantum network architectures, deployed optical channels, and verification methods for quantum systems.

Research Interests

Frequency Bin Quantum Networking Network Integrated Photonics Bayesian Statistics

Education

Doctor of Philosophy, Electrical Engineering, Purdue University, 2015.
Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering & Physics, The University of Alabama, 2011.

Professional Appointments

Associate Professor, Purdue University, Jan. 2025–present.
Joint Faculty Appointment (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
Sr. Director of Quantum Networking & Research Professor, Arizona State University (ASU), Oct. 2022–Dec. 2024.
Joint Faculty Appointment (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
Research Scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Aug. 2015–Oct. 2022.
Wigner Fellow

Selected Awards, Honors & Fellowships

2025: Research Accomplishment Team Award, UT-Battelle Awards Night.
2025: First Place, Optica Quantum 2.0 Student Paper Competition (as PI).
2025: Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE).
2024: Promotion to Senior Member, Optica.
2022: Research Featured in Optics & Photonics News, "Year in Optics".
2020: Technology Commercialization Award, UT-Battelle.
2020: Research Accomplishment Award, UT-Battelle Awards Night.
2020: Outstanding Scholarly Output Award, UT-Battelle Awards Night.
2020: Third Place, IEEE Photonics Conference Student Paper Competition (as PI).
2019: Technology Commercialization Award, UT-Battelle.
2019: Research Featured in Optics & Photonics News, "Year in Optics".
2019: Early Career Award, U.S. Department of Energy.
2017: Technology Commercialization Award, UT-Battelle.
2017: Significant Event Award, UT-Battelle, for ORNL's first quantum technology license.
2015: Paul Baran Young Scholar Award, Marconi Society.
2015: College of Engineering Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award.
2014: Finalist, Frontiers in Optics Emil Wolf Student Paper Competition (as coauthor).
2014: First Place, Siegman International School on Lasers Poster Competition.
2013: Temporal Cloaking Research Featured in CLEO Press Luncheon.
2011: Outstanding Senior Physics Major.
2011: Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Senior Award.
2011: First Place, IEEE Region 3 Southeastcon Student Paper Competition.
2010: Fred R. Maxwell, Jr., Award for the Outstanding Junior Student in ECE.
2007: National Merit Scholar.

Professional Affiliations

IEEE Photonics Society, 2020–present.
Optica (formerly OSA), 2013–present.
Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, 2009–present.
Eta Kappa Nu Electrical & Computer Engineering Honor Society, 2009–present.

Professional Service & Outreach

Subcommittee Co-Chair, Southeastern Quantum Conference, 2026.
Steering Committee, QCrypt, 2025–present.
Program Committee, QCrypt, 2024.
DOE QIS Roadmap Team, 2024.
NSF Site Visit Team, Hybrid Quantum Architectures and Networks (HQAN), 2024.
Program Subcommittee, CLEO, 2023–present.
Guest Editor, Journal of Optics, 2023–2024.
Program Subcommittee, IEEE Quantum Week, 2023.
Organizer, Steering Committee on Quantum Networking and Communications, Quantum Collaborative, 2023–2025.
Program Subcommittee, Optica Quantum 2.0 Conference, 2022–present.
Program Committee, DOE Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) Networking Event, 2022.
Program Subcommittee, IEEE Photonics Conference, 2019–2022.
Young Scholars Committee, Marconi Society, 2015–2020.
Regular referee for Optica, Physical Review, and Springer Nature family journals, 2014–present.

Book Chapters

M. Alshowkan, N. S. V. Rao, J. C. Chapman, B. P. Williams, P. G. Evans, R. C. Pooser, J. M. Lukens, N. A. Peters, “Lessons learned on the interface between quantum and conventional networking,” Communications in Computer and Information Science 1512, 262–279 (2022).
J. M. Lukens, A. M. Weiner, “Biphoton Pulse Shaping,” Springer Series in Optical Sciences 194, 423–448 (2015).

Patents & Intellectual Property

M. Alshowkan, Hsuan-Hao Lu, J. M. Lukens, N. A. Peters, “Quantum communication using ultrabroadband polarizaiton-frequency hyperentangled photons,” U. S. Patent Application 19/312,767 (2025).
N. S. V. Rao, M. Alshowkan, A. Al-Najjar, S. E. Hick, P. G. Evans, J. M. Lukens, N. A. Peters, “Site-to-site tunnels authentication by quantum keys,” U. S. Patent 12,574,224 (2026).
J. M. Lukens, P. Lougovski, “Quantum frequency processor for provable cybersecurity,” U. S. Patent 12,101,398 (2023).
J. M. Lukens, N. A. Peters, R. C. Pooser, “Gain balanced nonlinear optical interferometer,” U. S. Patent 11,747,710 (2023).
J. M. Lukens, P. Lougovski, “Quantum frequency processor for provable cybersecurity,” U. S. Patent 11,695,551 (2023). Licensed by Memcus, Inc. (PLA-1950).
J. M. Lukens, N. A. Peters, R. C. Pooser, “Gain balanced nonlinear optical interferometer,” U. S. Patent 11,402,723 (2022).
J. M. Lukens, N. A. Peters, R. C. Pooser, “Gain balanced nonlinear optical interferometer,” U. S. Patent 10,725,360 (2020). Licensed by Memcus, Inc. (PLA-1950).
J. M. Lukens, N. A. Peters, R. C. Pooser, “Nonlinear interferometer systems and methods,” U. S. Patent 10,605,727 (2020). Licensed by Memcus, Inc. (PLA-1950).
W. P. Grice, J. M. Lukens, N. A. Peters, “Deterministic single-photon source based on spectral shift of a heralded photon,” U. S. Patent 10,175,554 (2019). Licensed by Qubitekk (PLA-1934).

Selected Press Coverage

Purdue builds quantum network testbed for breakthrough experiments, Purdue Engineering, 2025.
Purdue Engineering Innovations Podcast, 2026.
The future of the internet, Arizona State University, 2023.
Giant leap toward the quantum internet realized in Bell-state analyzer, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 2022.
Quantum backbone, ASCR Discovery, 2020.
Careful phasing of a photonic qubit brings light under control, Ars Technica, 2018.

Publications

A complete list of lab publications is available on the Publications page. Additional publication metadata is available through Google Scholar and ORCID.

Principal Investigator

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