CAREER:An all-optical plasmonic device to control and couple quantum dots for optical and quantum information processing

职业：用于控制和耦合量子点以进行光学和量子信息处理的全光学等离子体装置

• 批准号: 1652720
• 负责人: Yanwen Wu
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: University of South Carolina at Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-03-01 至 2024-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1652720&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; optical; plasmonic; device; control

Title: CAREER: Ultrafast traffic control of photons on the nanoscale for optical information processing Abstract:Nontechnical description: Modern day computational devices, from smartphones to supercomputers, all rely on electrons to carry and process information. As the footprint of the basic circuits on a microchip is shrinking to nanometers in size, close proximity of these components can cause an information "traffic jam" due to the interactions between electrons. In order to overcome this limitation, current research efforts are exploring the idea of replacing electrons with photons as the principal carriers of information since they do not interact directly with each other. A photonic device is expected to be superior in terms of speed, bandwidth, and energy efficiency. However, this lack of direct interaction can be a double-edged sword: how can a photon be controlled by another photon in an all-optical device? To answer this conundrum, this proposed project will exploit the electromagnetic confinement and enhancement power of metallic nanostructures to not only guide photons on a nanoscale footprint below their diffraction limit, but to also control, on the timescale of trillionths of a second, how photons are emitted from a nanoscale light source called the quantum dot and where they will go. The key idea is not to rely on the direct photon interaction but rather to use the optically excited metallic nanostructures to strongly modify the quantum dot, which subsequently determines the properties and directions of the produced photon. The successful implementation of these techniques lays the path to ultrafast optical switches or transistors that can lead to a paradigm shift in information processing technology.Technical description: This five-year career-development plan is a comprehensive research, education, and outreach program. The research plan aims to develop new ways of controlling the light-matter interactions on the nanoscale in a hybrid system of quantum dots and plasmonic structures. The objectives of the proposed research project are two folds. The first explores a new approach for manipulating and tuning the internal energy states of a single quantum dot through the optical modification of its local dielectric environment using a plasmonic gate. This indirect method exploits the strong near-field effect of the plasmonic structure as a mean of control while avoiding significant changes to the intrinsic properties of the quantum dot due to ohmic loss. The second investigates the coherent and incoherent couplings between two spatially separated quantum dots via a plasmonic waveguide and establish entanglement between the linked dots through a dissipative coupling channel. This coupled design protects stored information in the presence of ohmic loss while maintaining the ultrafast optical readout and broadband guided transfer enabled by a plasmonic waveguide. All of these capabilities are highly desirable in a wide range of applications from ultrafast optical switches to quantum information processing. The educational plan outlines a deep commitment to improve STEM education at the K-12 and university levels. The objectives of the proposed educational plan aim to develop an integrated approach that combines academic learning with extracurricular guidance to help students gain the scientific, analytical, and stress management skills necessary in becoming an independent scientist. This approach is carried out through the revitalization of the local Society of Physics Student chapter. In addition, outreach activities are structured to promote the field of nanotechnology and optics to young women in K-12 schools through visual and interactive presentations and engage middle and high school girls in STEM. Lastly, a new graduate quantum optics course is developed to address the knowledge gap in the current physics curriculum.

职业：职业：光子纳米级光子的超快流量控制摘要：非技术描述：现代计算设备，从智能手机到超级计算机，都依靠电子来携带和处理信息。由于微芯片上基本电路的足迹正在缩小到纳米的大小，因此这些组件的近距离可能会导致信息“流量堵塞”，因为电子之间的相互作用。为了克服这一局限性，当前的研究工作正在探索用光子作为主要信息载体代替电子的想法，因为它们不会彼此直接相互作用。在速度，带宽和能源效率方面，光子设备预计将表现出色。但是，这种缺乏直接相互作用可以是双刃剑：在全光设备中，光子如何由另一个光子控制？为了回答这个难题，这个提议的项目将利用金属纳米结构的电磁限制和增强功率，不仅可以在其衍射极限以下的纳米级足迹上引导光子，还可以控制第二次的巨浪时间量表。从称为量子点的纳米级光源散发出来。关键思想不是依靠直接的光子相互作用，而是使用光学激发的金属纳米结构来强烈修改量子点，该点随后确定了产生的光子的属性和方向。这些技术的成功实施为超快光学开关或晶体管的途径奠定了途径，这些途径可能导致信息处理技术的范式转移。技术描述：这项五年的职业发展计划是一项全面的研究，教育和外展计划。该研究计划旨在开发在量子点和等离子结构混合系统中控制纳米级的光结合相互作用的新方法。拟议的研究项目的目标是两个折叠。第一个探讨了一种新的方法，用于通过使用等离子体栅极对其局部介电环境的光学修饰来操纵和调整单个量子点的内部能量状态。这种间接方法利用了等离激元结构的强近场效应作为对照的平均值，同时避免了由于欧姆损失而导致量子点的内在特性的显着变化。第二个研究了两个空间分离的量子点通过等离子体波导之间的相干和不连贯的耦合，并通过耗散耦合通道在链接点之间建立纠缠。这种耦合设计可在存在欧姆损失的情况下保护存储的信息，同时保持超快的光学读数和宽带引导转移由等离子波导启用。在从超快光学开关到量子信息处理的各种应用中，所有这些功能都是非常可取的。该教育计划概述了在K-12和大学一级改善STEM教育的深刻承诺。拟议的教育计划的目标旨在开发一种综合方法，该方法将学术学习与课外指导相结合，以帮助学生获得成为独立科学家所必需的科学，分析和压力管理技能。这种方法是通过当地物理学生分会的振兴来实现的。此外，通过视觉和互动式演讲，外展活动是为了促进K-12学校中的年轻女性的纳米技术和光学领域，并与STEM中的中学和高中女生互动。最后，开发了一项新的研究生量子光学课程，以解决当前物理课程中的知识差距。

项目成果

Localized All‐Optical Control of Single Semiconductor Quantum Dots through Plasmon Polariton‐Induced Screening

通过等离激元极化子诱导筛选对单半导体量子点进行局部全光学控制

• DOI: 10.1002/adom.201800345
• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: Advanced Optical Materials
• 影响因子: 9
• 作者: Seaton, Matt;Krasnok, Alex;Bracker, Allan S.;Alù, Andrea;Wu, Yanwen
• 通讯作者: Wu, Yanwen