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.

该研究基础设施改进 Track-4 EPSCoR 研究人员项目将为西弗吉尼亚大学 (WVU) 的副教授提供奖学金并为研究生提供培训。这项工作将与美国国家标准与技术研究所 (NIST) 的研究人员合作进行。该奖学金将支持 PI 和一名研究生实习生对位于马里兰州盖瑟斯堡的 NIST 进行长期访问，以获得电子束光刻和纳米级光导结构制造所需的专业知识。这些纳米光子结构将增强 PI 现有的量子限制固态系统（称为量子点）特性的研究计划。包含量子点的纳米光子结构将使研究基本的量子光与物质相互作用成为可能，并有可能导致在光子集成电路中产生纠缠光子。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长期影响，并使西弗吉尼亚大学的学生能够在未来充分利用 NIST 的制造设施。拟议研究的成功完成将产生一种具有改变光子量子计算潜力的设备，并启动西弗吉尼亚大学的一个项目，重点研究量子光子设备的基础物理。资金还将支持西弗吉尼亚大学量子技术俱乐部的本科生参加量子计算软件开发包 Qiskit 的认证考试。这将增加西弗吉尼亚大学学生在量子信息科学领域的就业机会。该项目的研究愿景是开发一种包含半导体量子点的全芯片纳米光子器件，该器件可按需产生路径纠缠光子对，用于量子信息科学领域。光子量子信息处理的目的。职业发展愿景是为 PI 提供规划和执行围绕量子点制造纳米光子结构的专业知识。该奖学金将支持 PI 和一名研究生实习生进行两次为期 3 个月的夏季访问，以学习 NIST NanoFab 中的电子束光刻和相关辅助洁净室技能。完成拟议的研究不仅将产生一种具有彻底改变光子量子计算潜力的设备，还将启动西弗吉尼亚大学旨在研究量子光子设备基础物理的项目。进行光子量子计算的研究至关重要，因为它可以实现通用量子计算。一个重要组成部分是以某种自由度纠缠的光子源。拟议的研究项目意义重大，因为它将能够将路径纠缠的光子对发射到片上波导中。这是非常理想的，因为它将允许在紧凑、稳定且可能快速的光子集成电路中进行量子态操纵和测量。这种纠缠光源的优点对于玻色子采样实验、通用量子计算的离散时间量子行走以及其他线性光学量子计算协议非常有价值。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。