cv

Basics

Name Zacharie Van Herstraeten
Label Quantum information & optics researcher
Email zacharie.van-herstraeten@inria.fr
Url https://zac-vh.github.io/
Summary Seeking photons in their most genuinely quantum regimes, tracking their Wigner functions across quantum phase space, and observing them through the lens of information theory.

Work

  • 2024.02 - Present

    Paris, France

    Postdoctoral Researcher
    Inria — École Normale Supérieure (ENS)
    Postdoctoral research in the QAT team with Dr. Ulysse Chabaud, employing phase-space methods to identify and characterize quantum resources.
    • Operational characterization of Wigner-positive states
    • Extending majorization theory to quasiprobabilities
  • 2022.01 - 2024.01

    Tucson, AZ, USA

    Postdoctoral Researcher
    College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona
    Postdoctoral research in the Quantum Photonic Applications Group of Prof. Saikat Guha, focusing on quantum communication with continuous-variable systems.
    • Capacity of non-Gaussian bosonic channels
    • Entanglement enhancement via photon subtraction

Volunteer

  • 2025.06 - 2025.11

    Paris, France

    Co-organizer
    QuiDiQua 3 — Quasiprobability Distributions in Quantum Mechanics, Optics and Information
    Member of the organizing committee of the international conference QuiDiQua 3 (Paris, 2025), focusing on quasiprobability distributions and phase-space methods.
  • 2025.05 - Present
    Package maintainer
    qopy — Quantum Optics in Python
    Developer and maintainer of an open-source Python toolkit for Wigner functions, bosonic channels, and visualization in quantum optics.
  • 2024.01 - Present
    Reviewer
    Peer-reviewed scientific journals
    Reviewer for various journals in quantum information and quantum physics.
    • Quantum
    • Physical Review A
    • Quantum Information Processing
  • 2017.09 - 2021.12

    Brussels, Belgium

    Teaching assistant
    École polytechnique de Bruxelles, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
    Taught exercise sessions and lectures in the quantum mechanics course for third-year engineering students. Supervised the master's theses of two students.

Education

  • 2017.09 - 2021.12

    Brussels, Belgium

    PhD in Quantum Information
    École polytechnique de Bruxelles, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
    Doctoral research conducted at the Center for Quantum Information and Communication (QuIC), under the supervision of Prof. Nicolas J. Cerf. PhD thesis: Majorization theoretical approach to quantum uncertainty — From Wigner entropy to Gaussian bosonic channels.
  • 2015.09 - 2017.09

    Brussels, Belgium

    MSc in Physics Engineering
    École polytechnique de Bruxelles, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
    Specialized in photonics and quantum applications.
  • 2015.09 - 2016.09

    Trondheim, Norway

    International exchange
    Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
    First year of the master’s degree completed as part of the Erasmus program.
  • 2012.09 - 2015.09

    Brussels, Belgium

    BSc in Engineering
    École polytechnique de Bruxelles, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
    General engineering curriculum.

Skills

Quantum optics
Continuous variables
Phase-space methods
Quasiprobabilities
Quantum information theory
Resource theories
Bosonic channels
Entropic inequalities
Mathematical methods
Theory of majorization
Functional analysis
Convex analysis
Scientific computing
Python
Matplotlib
Mathematica

Languages

French
Native speaker
English
Fluent

Awards

  • 2021.01.29
    BAEF Postdoctoral Fellowship
    Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF)
    One-year postdoctoral fellowship awarded to support Belgian scholars conducting research in the United States.
  • 2017.12.15
    F.R.S.-FNRS Doctoral Fellowship (FRIA)
    Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS), Belgium
    Competitive four-year doctoral fellowship supporting PhD training in the exact and natural sciences.