The Stellenbosch Laser Student Chapter of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) and OPTICA invite you to celebrate the International Day of Light with a public talk by Dr Yaseera Ismail titled “Harnessing photons: establishing Africa's first quantum satellite link". The event is supported by the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) and OPTICA.

Click here to register. 

More about Dr Ismail

Dr Yaseera Ismail is currently a senior lecturer within the Department of Physics at Stellenbosch University. She specialises in the development of quantum technologies, particularly in the field of quantum information science. She is an experimentalist developing quantum optical tools for the advancement of free-space, long-range secure quantum communication and leads the QuPhoton Lab at SU.

Through her BRICS Collaboration, her research focuses on developing a Quantum Satellite and fibre communication (QuSAF) network in South Africa. The QuSaF project aims to establish a quantum network with a joint intercontinental satellite-based quantum key distribution link utilising the Micius satellite that the Chinese collaborators have already developed and launched into the lower earth orbital. The long-term vision for developing satellite quantum key distribution is the realisation of a quantum internet.

In 2016 she received the 2016 TechWomen Emerging Leader Award and is a 2018 Optica (formerly Optical Society of America (OSA)) Ambassador. She serves on the editorial board of the Scientific Reports Journal and is Optica's Vice President on the International Commission for Optics, which was established in 1947. She was the 2023 committee Chair of the Theodor W. Hänsch Prize in Quantum Optics and is the Chair of the International Commission for Optics Education Committee for Strategic linkages on the African Continent. She also serves on the selection committee for the Optica Amplifying Scholarship.​​