Summary
As of August 2024, I am a Lead Research Scientist at Quantinuum. I am also the Secretary General of QuantX, an alumni group of the École polytechnique dedicated to animating the French quantum ecosystem, the VP Special Projects of Le Lab Quantique, the largest Paris-based think-tank on quantum technologies and a co-founder of Les Maisons du Quantique. I have recently been advising technically two novel quantum start-ups: Moth Quantum and Aqora.
Before my current occupation, I was a McDuff Postdoctoral Fellow at the MSRI, Berkeley, attending the program "Universality and Integrability in Random Matrix Theory and Interacting particle Systems" and I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at SISSA, Trieste, under the supervision of Pasquale Calabrese between working on out-of-equilibrium quantum systems.
I completed my Ph.D at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris in Statistical Physics and Random Matrix Theory under the supervision of Pierre Le Doussal. Prior to that, I read Part III of the Mathematical Tripos at the University of Cambridge, Corpus Christi College and I graduated from the École polytechnique (X2012).
See my webpage for more details: http://akrajenbrink.weebly.com
Professional experiences
Lead research scientist
Quantinuum
Since 2. july 2024

Advisor
aqora
Since 2. october 2023

Aqora helps companies get winning results quickly by constructing, launching, and managing quantum competitions across industries.
Advisor
aqora , Paris
Since 1. october 2023

Co-founder
Les Maisons du Quantique
Since 2. july 2023

Les Maisons du Quantique is the first physical space dedicated to Quantum Technologies where all the stakeholders of the fields can collaborate and cultivate synergies. We host +10 startups and are supported by leading partners like BCG, EDF, Thales, OVHCloud and Janssen.
Co-founder
Les Maisons du Quantique , Paris
Since 1. july 2023

Vp - special projects
Le Lab Quantique
Since 2. february 2022

Le Lab Quantique (LLQ) is a Paris based Think Tank and a network of bottom-up initiatives. LLQ’s vocation is to foster synergies within the quantum community producing content (whitepapers, MOOCs, etc…) and by developing the close links between academia, industry and financiers. To do this, it builds relationships with comparable initiatives all over the world.
Le Lab Quantique is nowadays the largest non-profit dedicated to quantum technologies in France
• organising regular meet-ups to federate the French quantum ecosystem
• organising events related to quantum diplomacy to strengthen the relations with foreign ecosystems, investment institutions and governments
• writing annual reports on the activity of the French quantum ecosystem
• setting up a nation-wide project of "Les Maisons du Quantique", a set of dedicated venues across France
• advising the French National Quantum Strategy and helping organise institutional events such as the French National Quantum Strategy Day
Scientific project manager - senior research scientist
Cambridge Quantum
Since 2. february 2022

Scientific project manager - senior research scientist
Quantinuum
From February 2022 to July 2024

Vp - special projects
Le Lab Quantique , Paris
Since 1. february 2022

Scientific project manager - senior research scientist
Quantinuum , London
From February 2022 to Today

President
QuantX Investment
Since 2. october 2021
QuantX Investment is an investment club on quantum technologies for which I have raised $400,000.
Mcduff postdoctoral fellow
Mathematical Sciences Research Institute - MSRI
From August 2021 to December 2021

McDuff Postdoctoral Fellow in the program "Universality and Integrability in Random Matrix Theory and Interacting Particle Systems" organised by I. Corwin, P. Deift, I. Dumitriu, A. Guionnet, A. Its, H. Spohn and H-T Yau.
The McDuff Fellowship is awarded solely once each year.
Mcduff postdoctoral fellow
Mathematical Sciences Research Institute , Berkeley
From August 2021 to December 2021

McDuff Postdoctoral Fellow in the program "Universality and Integrability in Random Matrix Theory and Interacting Particle Systems" organised by I. Corwin, P. Deift, I. Dumitriu, A. Guionnet, A. Its, H. Spohn and H-T Yau.
The McDuff Fellowship is awarded solely once each year.
Secretary general and founder
QuantX
Since 2. march 2020

QuantX is an alumni society of the École polytechnique dedicated to animating the French quantum ecosystem. We organise events aiming to gather students, universities, start-ups, industrial and financial companies, quantum companies and policy makers.
This includes major quantum hackathons in France, Canada, the UK with the participation of
• 30+ Fortune Global 500 companies (automotive, finance, pharmaceuticals, energy, defense...)
• 10+ quantum companies
• senior officials and executives from quantum companies, the French government and a Nobel Prize for Physics.
The basis of this hackathon is to bring real-life use-cases from every possible vertical of the industry to participants of the competition alongside quantum providers.
These hackathons allowed for the first on-boarding and introduction of several industrial groups to the global quantum ecosystem (chemistry & cosmetic companies, luxury good manufacturers, financial groups...).
QuantX is also an active contributor to the alumni magazine of the Ecole polytechnique "La Jaune et la Rouge", notably through a special issue on the quantum industry published in November 2022.
Postdoctoral fellow
SISSA
From December 2019 to February 2022

Postdoctoral researcher in the group of Pasquale Calabrese.
Subject: out-of-equilibrium quantum systems, conformal field theory, stochastic and classical integrability.
Postdoctoral fellow
SISSA , Trieste
From December 2019 to February 2022

Physics teaching assistant
ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE
From January 2017 to February 2019

Teaching a physics course "Physique pour tous" to student majoring in literature, philosophy and economics
Research fellow
Cambridge Quantum
From June 2016 to February 2022

Research on quantum compilers and quantum algorithms.
Scientific project manager - senior research scientist
Cambridge Quantum Computing , London
From June 2016 to Today

Research intern in the lukin labs
HARVARD UNIVERSITY , Cambridge
From March 2015 to September 2015

Assistant to the counselor for space
Ambassade de France au Japon , Minato-ku
From July 2014 to August 2014

Chargé d'études sur la politique mise en oeuvre au Japon pour la surveillance des océans à partir de l'espace
Midship
MARINE NATIONALE , Le port
From October 2012 to April 2013

Assistant to the administrative director of the French warship “Ventôse”.
Accounting, human resource management, communication, public relations and legal expertise in operation
Additionals trainings
Part III of the Mathematical Tripos
University of Cambridge - Mathématiques appliquées & Physique théorique
2015 à 2016
Part III : Applied mathematics and theoretical physics
PhD in Theoretical Physics
Ecole Normale Superieure - Statistical physics, disordered systems, random matrix theory
2016 à 2019
Ph.D in Statistical Physics and Random Matrix Theory at Laboratoire de Physique
Théorique with Pierre Le Doussal.
Title: ”Beyond the typical fluctuations: a journey to the large deviations in the Kardar-
Parisi-Zhang growth model.”
Defense jury: Bernard Derrida, Paul Bourgade, Malte Henkel, Sandrine Péché, Grégory
Schehr, Herbert Spohn and Pierre Le Doussal.
Subject: disordered and out-of-equilibrium systems, interface growth, optimisation in
directed polymers, random matrices and cold fermions.
Associations
Degree
Languages
Français - Langue maternelle
Anglais - Langue maternelle
Italien - Notion
Allemand - Notion
Skills
Hobbies
- Boxe