Prateek P. Kulkarni

Biography

I am a Predoctoral Fellow (SPARKS) at the Indian Institute of Science, working with Prof. Sumit K. Mandal. I am pursuing a B.Tech in ECE (Quantum Tech) at PES University (Class of 2026).

At IISc, I study how spectral graph theory, particularly expander constructions, can optimize qubit connectivity and reduce circuit compilation overhead. Our work on efficient coupling map design using Near-Ramanujan Graphs with theoretical guarantees to maximize fidelity was recognized with the Bronze Medal in the ACM Student Research Competition at MICRO 2025. I am broadly interested in quantum complexity theory and algorithmic aspects of near-term quantum computation.

For my undergraduate thesis, I worked on making the training and learning of variational quantum (machine learning) algorithms more feasible on photonic quantum computers, with Prof. Kaustav Bhowmick.

Select Publications

• A theoretical treatment of optical metasurfaces as an efficient basis for quantum correlations Ramaseshan R., Prateek P. Kulkarni, Sharanya Madhusudhan, Kaustav Bhowmick.
  [arXiv:2507.09517] [Featured by Quantum Zeitgeist]
• A generalized Hamiltonian approach for designing simple single photon-based optical quantum devices R. Ramaseshan, V. S. Abhishek Kumar, Adith Rajeev, V. Prathik, Aditya Aravind, Prateek P. Kulkarni, Kaustav Bhowmick.
  Journal of Supercomputing, Vol. 81, Article 1395, 2025. [Springer Nature]

Selected Talks

• Systems Day 2025 @ IISc Computer Science and Automation. January 2025.
  Selected (among ~20) nationwide to present a poster on multi-core quantum computing with superconducting qubits.
• 2nd Workshop on Automata and Games for Synthesis 45th FSTTCS. December 2025.
  Selected (among ~5) to present a short talk: Quantum Communication Exponentially Speeds-up Circuit Synthesis.

Education

• PES University B.Tech. Electronics and Communication Engineering (VLSI, Quantum Tech Track).
  2022 - 2026.

Academic Service

• Teaching Assistant for Quantum Transport and Logic Gates, PES University, Spring 2025 (Credits: 4, Class size: ~90).
• Reviewer for IEEE Transactions on Quantum Engineering.