When he was in middle school, Kolar loved piecing components together in Minecraft to build computers and basic circuit models. In high school, he participated in Science Olympiad, where he was introduced to different scientific fields and discover how to build certain engineering systems.
Kolar majored in computer engineering at Northwestern University, where he enjoyed continuing to learn about how fields and systems can work together to solve a problem. It was also there where he made an unexpected realization. Instead of continuing to learn about new research, he could be the one to discover new connections.
For that, he turned to the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME), where he just completed his fourth year pursuing a PhD in Quantum Science and Engineering in the Tian Zhong Lab.
Kolar actually met Zhong while still a student at Northwestern. Kolar interned at Argonne National Laboratory — the nation’s largest federally funded R&D center — where he worked on simulation work related to quantum technologies and emerging quantum research. Kolar's focus at the time was still computer engineering, so his work was more focused on programming and learning the ropes of quantum technology.
As he began to learn, he became more and more fascinated by its potential.
"From a practical perspective," Kolar said, "there are all of these interesting phenomena and ways that we can make new technology that's beyond what we thought was possible."
His current research looks at entanglements — where one qubit influences the state of another qubit.
"They have this kind of correlation that can't really be described by classical physics," Kolar said. "You can use this kind of correlation to do sensing or measurements of the world around us with precision that scales better than you would normally get if you didn't have this kind of correlation."
For example, instead of trying to build one large quantum computer that becomes challenging and expensive quite quickly, Kolar suggests it's more practical to create a series of computers that can then use entanglements to communicate with one another.
Going beyond practicality, Kolar believes entanglements will be the foundation of all future quantum technologies.
A recent paper published by the Zhong Lab supports that belief. The paper, titled Efficient in-situ generation of photon-memory entanglement in a nonlinear cavityand published in Physical Review Letters, examines a new way of generating and distribution entanglement over quantum networks and the trick to minimize loss for their efficiency.
“Alex’s diverse intellectual background and passion for practical problem solving makes him an outstanding quantum engineer,” said Zhong.
Kolar’s current work focuses on experimental realization of an efficient quantum memory for entanglement that Zhong theoretically proposed in a recent paper. “Once realized, this could open a new way of making quantum interconnection between remote quantum computers,” said Zhong.
Beyond his research, Kolar helps share the possibilities of quantum technologies as an instructor for the UChicago/CQE Quantum Certificate Program. His content is related to classical computer simulations, how networks behave, and how quantum networks could look in the future.
The potential for new connections, as Kolar likes to say, is virtually limitless.
"We're building up some interesting computing systems from very basic physics," Kolar said. "It's such a new field that there's a lot of room to make really cool discoveries and really cool advancements."
2025 International Year of Quantum Science and Technology
The United Nations declared 2025 the International Year of Quantum to mark a century of progress in quantum science and engineering. The University of Chicago and its partners join the celebration of the groundbreaking fields that continue to positively impact lives around the world.
