RII Track-4: NSF: Fabrication of Inversely Designed Nanophotonic Structures for Quantum Emitters

RII Track-4：NSF：用于量子发射器的逆向设计纳米光子结构的制造

• 批准号: 2327223
• 负责人: Edward Flagg
• 金额: $ 27.61万
• 依托单位: West Virginia University Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-02-01 至 2026-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2327223&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RII; Track; NSF; Fabrication; Inversely

This Research Infrastructure Improvement Track-4 EPSCoR Research Fellows project will provide a fellowship to an Associate Professor and training for a graduate student at West Virginia University (WVU). This work will be conducted in collaboration with researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The fellowship will support extended visits by the PI and a graduate student trainee to NIST in Gaithersburg, MD to acquire the expertise required for electron-beam lithography and the fabrication of nanoscopic light-guiding structures. These nanophotonic structures will enhance the PI's existing program of investigations into the properties of quantum-confined solid-state systems known as quantum dots. Nanophotonic structures containing quantum dots will enable the study of fundamental quantum light-matter interactions and potentially lead to the production of entangled photons in a photonic integrated circuit. The experience gained during the fellowship will have a long-lasting impact on the scientific productivity of the PI's research group and will enable students at WVU to fully utilize NIST's fabrication facilities in the future. The successful completion of the proposed research will result in a device with the potential to transform photonic quantum computation and kickstart a program at WVU focused on investigating the fundamental physics of quantum photonic devices. Funding will also support undergraduate students in the WVU Quantum Technology club in taking the certification exam for Qiskit, a quantum computing software development package. This will increase the recruitment of WVU students for career positions in quantum information science.The research vision of the project is to develop an all-on-chip nanophotonic device containing a semiconductor quantum dot that produces on-demand, path-entangled photon pairs for the purpose of photonic quantum information processing. The career development vision is to provide the PI with the expertise to plan and perform the fabrication of nanophotonic structures around quantum dots. The fellowship will support two 3-month summer visits by the PI and a graduate student trainee to learn electron-beam lithography and the associated ancillary cleanroom skills in the NanoFab at NIST. Completion of the proposed research will not only yield a device with the potential to revolutionize photonic quantum computation but will also kickstart a program at WVU aimed at investigating the fundamental physics of quantum photonic devices. Pursuing research to realize photonic quantum computation is crucial because it can achieve universal quantum computation. One essential component is a source of photons entangled in some degree of freedom. The proposed research project is significant because it will enable the emission of path-entangled photon pairs into on-chip waveguides. This is highly desirable, as it would allow quantum state manipulation and measurement in compact, stable, and potentially fast photonic integrated circuits. The advantages of this entangled light source would be valuable for boson sampling experiments, discrete-time quantum walks for universal quantum computation, and other linear optical quantum computation protocols.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这项研究基础设施改进Track-4 Epscor Research Fellows项目将为西弗吉尼亚大学（WVU）研究生的副教授和培训提供奖学金。这项工作将与国家标准技术研究所（NIST）的研究人员合作进行。该奖学金将支持PI的长期访问和一名研究生实习生到马里兰州Gaithersburg的NIST，以获取电子束光刻所需的专业知识和制造纳米镜面光引导结构。这些纳米光子结构将增强PI现有的对量子限制的固态系统（称为量子点）的特性的研究计划。含有量子点的纳米光结构将使基本量子光 - 物质相互作用的研究能够研究，并有可能导致在光子整合电路中产生纠缠的光子。在奖学金期间获得的经验将对PI研究小组的科学生产力产生持久影响，并使WVU的学生能够在将来充分利用NIST的制造设施。拟议的研究的成功完成将导致一种设备，具有转换光子量子计算的潜力，并在WVU上启动了一个专注于研究量子光子设备的基本物理学的程序。资金还将支持WVU量子技术俱乐部的本科生参加量子计算软件开发软件包Qiskit认证考试。这将增加WVU学生在量子信息科学领域的职业职位的招聘。该项目的研究愿景是开发一种全面芯片纳米型设备，该设备包含一个半导体量子点，该量子点可产生按需的，路径键入的光子对，以实现光子量子信息处理的目的。职业发展愿景是为PI提供专业知识，以计划和制造围绕量子点的纳米光结构。该奖学金将支持PI和一名研究生实习生进行的两个3个月的夏季访问，以学习NIST的纳米牛B的电子束光刻以及相关的辅助清洁室技能。拟议研究的完成不仅将产生具有彻底改变光子量子计算的设备，而且还将启动WVU的程序，旨在研究量子光子设备的基本物理。进行研究以实现光子量子计算至关重要，因为它可以实现通用量子计算。一个必不可少的组成部分是在某种程度上纠缠的光子的来源。拟议的研究项目很重要，因为它将使路径符合光子对的发射到片上波导中。这是非常可取的，因为它可以允许紧凑，稳定且潜在的快速光子整合电路进行量子状态操作和测量。该纠缠光源的优点对于玻色子采样实验，用于通用量子计算的离散时间量子步行以及其他线性光学量子计算协议很有价值。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的智力和宽广的影响来通过评估来进行评估的支持。