Nano-photonic quantum light-matter interfaces based on rare-earth-doped crystals

Date
Nov 8, 2017, 4:30 pm4:30 pm
Location
Bowen Hall Auditorium

Speaker

Details

Event Description

Abstract
Quantum light-matter interfaces that reversibly map photonic quantum states onto atomic states, are essential components in the quantum engineering toolbox with applications in quantum communication, computing, and quantum-enabled sensing. I present a new platform for on-chip quantum light-matter interfaces based on nanophotonic resonators coupled to rare-earth-ions in crystals.  The rare-earth ions exhibit long coherence times on optical transitions, which make them suitable for optical quantum memories. We demonstrate a high-fidelity nanophotonic quantum memory based on a mesoscopic neodymium ensemble coupled to a photonic crystal cavity. The nanocavity enables >95% spin polarization for efficient initialization of the atomic frequency comb memory, and time-bin-selective readout via enhanced optical Stark shift of the comb frequencies. Our current technology can be readily transferred to Erbium doped devices for telecom memories that can be integrated with silicon photonics. Besides ensemble memories, single rare-earth-ions coupled to nano-resonators can be used as single optically addressable quantum bits where the quantum state is mapped on their Zeeman or hyperfine levels with long coherence time. Our solid-state nano-photonic quantum light-matter interfaces can be integrated with other chip-scale photon source and detector devices for multiplexed quantum and classical information processing at the nodes of quantum networks. I also discuss prospects for integration with superconducting resonators and qubits, which can lead to devices for reversible quantum transduction of optical photons to microwave photons, thus enabling optical interconnects between superconducting quantum computers.
 
Bio
Dr. Andrei Faraon is an Assistant Professor of Applied Physics at California Institute of Technology. After earning a B.S. degree in physics with honors in 2004 at California Institute of Technology, he received his M.S. in Electrical Engineering and PhD in Applied Physics both from Stanford University in 2009. At Stanford, Dr. Faraon was involved with seminal experiments on quantum optics using single indium arsenide quantum dots strongly coupled to photonic crystal cavities in gallium arsenide. After earning his PhD, Dr. Faraon spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at Hewlett Packard Laboratories. At HP he was involved with pioneering experiments on diamond quantum photonic devices coupled to solid-state spins. He demonstrated the first nano-resonators coupled to single nitrogen vacancy centers in mono-crystalline diamond.
 
Faraon left HP in 2012 to become an Assistant Professor at Caltech, where he set up a laboratory specialized in developing nano-photonic technologies for devices that operate close to the fundamental limit of light-matter interaction. He is focused both on fundamental challenges on how to control the interaction between single atoms and single photons using nano-technologies, and on using nano-photonics to build cutting edge devices for imaging and sensing. He is the recipient of the 2015 National Science Foundation CAREER award, the 2015 Air Force Office of Scientific.
 
This seminar is supported with funds from the Korhammer Lecture Fund.