Dr. Mostafa Khalil
Positions
Assistant Professor
Schulich School of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Software Engineering
Contact information
I'm looking for...
Research partners
Seeking innovative research partners to collaborate on next-generation photonics and quantum technologies. Let's start something!
Background
Educational Background
Postdoctoral Fellow Quantum and Nanotechnologies Research Centre, National Research Council of Canada, 2025
Postdoctoral Fellow Engineering Physics, McMaster University, 2025
PhD Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, 2024
MSc Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, 2020
BSc Electrical Engineering, Alexandria University, 2018
Biography
Dr. Mostafa Khalil is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Software Engineering at the University of Calgary since September 2025. He specializes in photonics and quantum technologies, with research spanning device-level innovations to system-level applications.
His research contributions include investigating the use of quantum dot/dash lasers (QDLs) for coherent optical communications and microwave photonics, achieving multi-terabit transmission rates. He has also investigated electro-optic methods for optical frequency comb generation, and designed photonic integrated circuits on silicon and thin-film lithium niobate platforms, including microring modulators, Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZMs), tunable waveguide Bragg gratings and true-time delay lines.
In industry-focused research, Dr. Khalil developed innovative encryption schemes for high-speed coherent optical communications during an internship at Quantropi Inc., enhancing data security in existing fiber networks through novel physical-layer techniques. His postdoctoral work at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and McMaster University expanded to free-space optical satellite communications, where he demonstrated wavelength-division multiplexed coherent transmission with QDL sources.
Currently, he is exploring the following research areas:
- Quantum optical microcombs for chip‑scale quantum processing with entangled frequency combs
- Entangled photons for scalable multipartite quantum key distribution (QKD) for secure-communications
- Quantum enhanced dual-comb spectroscopic systems based on QDLs and/or optical frequency microcombs
- Investigating ferroelectric materials, including barium titanate (BaTiO₃) and lithium niobate (LiNbO₃), into silicon photonic platforms. Designing devices such as MZMs, microring modulators, and waveguide Bragg grating modulators
Dr. Khalil has authored nearly 40 publications and serves as a reviewer for IEEE Photonics and Optica.
Research
Areas of Research
- Optical Frequency Combs
- Silicon Photonics
- Thin-Film Lithium Niobate-based Photonic Devices
- Barium Titanate and Hybrid Integration
- Quantum Dot Lasers for Data Rates Beyond Tb/s
- Optical Steganography; Encryption Techniques in Coherent Communications
- Quantum Optical Microcombs
- Quantum-Enhanced Dual-Comb Spectroscopy
- Quantum Key Distribution
- Quantum Sensing Applications
Participation in university strategic initiatives
Awards
- Best paper and presentation award, Signal Processing in Photonic Communications (SPPCom). 2023
- The Graduate Research Enhancement and Travel Awards (GREAT Awards), McGill University. 2023
Publications
- Performance of quantum-dash mode-locked lasers (QD-MLLDs) for high-capacity coherent optical communications. Mostafa Khalil, Yuxuan Xie, Essam Berikaa, Jiaren Liu, Zhenguo Lu, Philip J Poole, Guocheng Liu, John Weber, David V Plant, Lawrence R Chen. Optics express. (2023)
- Performance of quantum-dash mode-locked laser diode (QD-MLLD) for data rates beyond Tb/s in WDM coherent transmission over 80 km-SMF. Mostafa Khalil, Essam Berikaa, Md Samiul Alam, Kh Arif Shahriar, Yuxuan Xie, Jiaren Liu, Zhenguo Lu, Philip J Poole, John Weber, David V Plant, Lawrence R Chen. Signal Processing in Photonic Communications. (2023)
- Experimental demonstration of quantum encryption in phase space with displacement operator in coherent optical communications. Mostafa Khalil, Adrian Chan, David V Plant, Lawrence R Chen, Randy Kuang. EPJ Quantum Technology. (2024)
- Encryption in phase space for classical coherent optical communications. Adrian Chan, Mostafa Khalil, Kh Arif Shahriar, David V Plant, Lawrence R Chen, Randy Kuang. Scientific Reports. (2023)
- Applications of Quantum Dash Mode-Locked Laser in Microwave Photonics. Yuxuan Xie, Mostafa Khalil, Hao Sun, Jiaren Liu, Zhenguo Lu, Philip J Poole, John Weber, Guocheng Liu, Mohamed Rahim, Lawrence R Chen. Electromagnetic Science. (2025)
- Electrically reconfigurable waveguide Bragg grating filters. Mostafa Khalil, Hao Sun, Essam Berikaa, David V Plant, Lawrence R Chen. Optics Express. (2022)
- Reconfigurable microwave photonic filter enabled by a quantum dash mode-locked laser. Hao Sun, Mostafa Khalil, David V Plant, Lawrence R Chen, Jiaren Liu, Zhenguo Lu, Philip J Poole, John Weber. 2021 IEEE Photonics Conference (IPC). (2021)
- Optical frequency comb generation using CMOS compatible cascaded Mach–Zehnder modulators. Zifei Wang, Ming Ma, Hao Sun, Mostafa Khalil, Rhys Adams, Kathy Yim, Xian Jin, Lawrence R Chen. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics. (2019)
More Information
I am currently recruiting Masters and PhD students to join my group. Please send me your CV and a brief statement of research interests to: mostafa.khalil@ucalgary.ca
I look forward to working with you.
Are you the profile owner?
Login to edit.