Sasan V. Grayli is a University Research Associate at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo. He earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from SFU, specializing in nanophotonics, plasmonics, and meta-optics. Following his doctoral studies, Dr. Grayli joined the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at the University of Waterloo as a postdoctoral fellow, where his research focused on metasurface-based single-photon detectors for quantum sensing applications and on developing optical cavities to enhance photon indistinguishability in semiconductor quantum-dot entangled photon emitters.

During his PhD, he demonstrated the ability to grow single-crystal, atomically flat noble metals at wafer scale. He was the first to achieve large-area deposition of single-crystal gold on silver using a novel electroless deposition technique that overcame the inherent electrochemical incompatibility of the two metals. Dr. Grayli further showed that this method enables the deposition of single-crystal gold nanostructures with precisely controlled shapes and sizes. He has also contributed to several projects involving the design of plasmonic metasurfaces for short-wave infrared detectors.

During his postdoctoral tenure, Dr. Grayli initiated a new research direction incorporating photonic integrated circuits (PICs) into quantum repeater nodes, attracting industrial support to advance this work. Upon completion of his fellowship, he continued at IQC as a Research Associate, and later as a Research Assistant Professor, where he established a collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada on the development of next-generation single-photon detectors.

In September 2025, Dr. Grayli joined Quantum Internet Systems Laboratory at SFU’s Department of Physics, led by Prof. Thomas Jennewein, where his current research is devoted to developing enabling technologies for quantum networking and quantum sensing. His multidisciplinary work bridges nanophotonics, quantum optics, and integrated photonics, contributing to the advancement of scalable quantum communication infrastructure.