Title: Building a Quantum Hardware with Defects in Atomically Thin Crystals
Speaker: Dr. Pankaj K. Jha, Thomas J. Watson Laboratory of Applied physics and Materials Science California Institute of Technology
Abstract: At the end of the 20th century, our ability to control and manipulate individual quantum systems has opened the door to a “second quantum revolution,” and thus to a new generation of quantum technologies. Although the second quantum revolution is still in its infancy, its advancement is anticipated to have a profound impact on our daily lives and help solve some of the grand challenges of our century, including such key sectors as energy, environment, and healthcare.
One of the most promising routes towards quantum technologies is photonics . In the recent past, photonics has seen enormous growth owing to breakthrough advances in nanofabrication tools, novel material-synthesis techniques, and dramatic increase in our computing power. These advances have enabled the realization of novel nanodevices, as well as the development of “artificial materials” - known as metamaterials, which exhibit optical properties unlike those found in nature. However, progress in photonic quantum technologies has been constrained due to a lack of suitable materials with desired optical, electrical, and mechanical properties and the challenges in achieving coherent interaction of light with matter at the quantum level.
In this seminar, I will present a new approach for building chip-scale quantum hardware with atom-like defects in wide bandgap materials, such as hexagonal boron nitride, interfaced with planar arrays of classical nanoantennas also known as metasurfaces. In sharp contrast to previous works, I will show that such a metamaterial can be judiciously designed as a photonic platform at single and few-photon levels. Moreover, similar interfaces have recently enabled us to develop topologically reconfigurable quantum metamaterials, as well as robust, nonequilibrium light localization in active plasmonic heterostructures. In the second part of the seminar, I will discuss our ongoing work on quantum optics with Lego-like designer heterostructures created by vertical stacking of two-dimensional materials. In particular, spontaneous generation of valley coherence in transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC)-based heterostructures will be discussed.