Michael Thewalt

Scientific Fellow

Dr. Michael Thewalt is an Emeritus Professor of Physics at Simon Fraser University (SFU). He is the world expert on the optical properties of isotopically enriched silicon-28, the material that forms the basis for Photonic’s scalable quantum technologies. Michael co-founded Photonic Inc, as well as the Silicon Quantum Technology Lab at SFU.

Michael is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the American Physical Society, and the Institute of Physics of the UK. For 10 years, he held an NSERC Industrial Research Chair in the optical characterization of semiconductors, working with industrial producers of semiconductor materials in Canada, the USA, Europe, and Asia. He is a Past-President of the Canadian Association of Physicists, and a Past-Chair of the IUPAP Commission on Semiconductor Physics. He was awarded the Rutherford Medal in Physics of the Royal Society of Canada, the Brockhouse Award for Condensed Matter Physics, the Gold Medal for Science of the BC Science Council, a Killam Research Fellowship, and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Canadian Association of Physicists. Dr. Thewalt holds a PhD in Physics from the University of British Columbia and a BSc in Honours Physics from McMaster University.