Luke Bissell, AFRL, Solid State Materials Strategies for Quantum Information

Date: Mon. November 25th, 2019, 12:45 pm-1:45 pm
Location: Rockefeller 221 (Les Foldy Room)

Solid State Materials Strategies for Quantum Information

Luke Bissell, Air Force Research Laboratory

In this talk I will first discuss the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) strategy for investment in quantum information research, highlighting activities in the Information (Rome, NY), Space Vehicles and Directed Energy (Albuquerque, NM) and Materials and Manufacturing and Sensors Directorates (Dayton, OH). In the near term, AFRL is pursuing quantum sensing technologies for improved timekeeping and navigation in GPS denied environments. Mid-term investments are focused in architectures for quantum networks, including the entangled photon sources and quantum memories needed to realize them. Far-term investments are focused on exploiting novel quantum algorithms for Air Force relevant problems such as machine learning, optimization, and materials discovery.

In the second part of my talk, I will provide an overview of our work in the modeling, synthesis, and nano-positioning of point defects in semiconductors, which are broadly useful as quantum sensors, quantum emitters, and qubits for quantum computation. We have used ab initio quantum chemistry (supercell) calculations to model the photoluminescence of a new vanadium-nitrogen defect in diamond. Using ion implantation, we have attempted to synthesize this defect, and I will present spectroscopic analysis of our sample. To improve the reliable coupling of defect centers to quantum photonic devices, we desire nanoscale positioning of defects in diamond. I will discuss the merits of several methods for achieving this: introduction of functionalized seed molecules during diamond synthesis, laser annealing, and ion implantation.  I will also present a scalable opto-thermal-mechanical printing method for additively releasing nanoparticles from a donor substrate and transferring them to a target substrate, such as a photonic device. The integration of quantum emitters within photonic architectures is a crucial step towards realizing commercially scalable quantum sensing devices.

 

Bio:

Luke Bissell received his PhD from the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester in 2011, under Carlos Stroud and Svetlana Lukishova. His thesis research focused on the applications of single nanoparticles for quantum information. In 2006, he was a recipient of the DoD SMART fellowship. At the Air Force Research Laboratory, he has studied the use of quantum dots, metal nanoparticles, and nanodiamonds for next-generation photodetectors and quantum sensors. His work is also focused on ab initio modeling of color centers in diamond and SiC for novel quantum  information applications. His expertise includes spectral ellipsometry, fluorescence spectroscopy, using confocal microscopy and time-correlated single-photon counting to measure fluorescence antibunching and fluorescence lifetimes, and the preparation of chiral and nematic liquid crystals.

Host: Jesse Berezowsky