About:

Igor Servello holds a Master’s degree in Engineering Physics from Politecnico di Milano, specializing in photonic and quantum technologies, and graduated summa cum laude in 2025. He is driven by research environments that combine scientific depth with real technological impact, with the goal of turning advanced scientific ideas into cutting-edge products and systems.

During his studies, he developed a strong interest in industrial applications and gained experience in a high-tech startup working on spectroscopy and hyperspectral imaging. For his MSc thesis, he explored the scientific and commercial potential of a novel ultra-broadband spectrometer, using machine-learning methods to analyze complex materials.

Igor is currently an industrial PhD researcher at KEEQuant, working in quantum communications. His R&D focuses on improving the scalability of continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) and easing its integration into existing infrastructures—especially by leveraging photonic integrated circuits (PICs) to miniaturize transceivers and reduce cost.

Project objectives:

• Design, develop, and characterize the opto-electronic and photonic building blocks of an integrated CV-QKD transceiver.
• Evaluate suitability for quantum/classical co-propagation, exploring key design choices such as operating wavelength, PIC platforms (e.g., InP, Si, SiN), modulation formats, and Tx/Rx DSP architectures.
• Use simulations to narrow the design space, guiding technology and parameter choices before fabrication and integration.
• Train across the full PIC development chain, from design and multi-project wafer (MPW) fabrication runs to laboratory characterization and system-level validation.
• Quantify transceiver impact on secret key rate (SKR) under realistic quantum/classical propagation conditions, both in lab setups and field-test environments.

Expected results:

• Engineering-level simulations of an integrated CV-QKD module, enabling informed subsystem trade-offs and design down-selection.
• A complete CV-QKD transceiver module design, ready for PIC implementation and iterative improvement through MPW runs.
• Experimental characterization and performance evaluation of the integrated transceiver, including SKR-relevant metrics under coexistence constraints.
• System demonstrations in both fiber and free-space optical transmission scenarios, showing practical feasibility for deployment-oriented quantum communication links.