Quantum Transport of Photons in Nanostructures
Abstract
Summary Recently, advances in nanophotonic devices have enabled a variety of new technologies, including light-based classical information processing as a promising alternative to electronic signals in future circuits and potential avenues for quantum information processing using light as a quantum bit. At the same time, such a quantum degree of freedom can be used to implement quantum simulators, by simulating quantum phases of matter. In quantum simulation, one develops a quantum system with a controlled, known Hamiltonian, enabling simulation of problems that are exponentially difficult on a classical computer. An on-chip photonic platform, with controllability on dynamics of photons, allows us to develop new optical devices required for classical and quantum information processing and quantum simulation. This research plan aims to theoretically and experimentally investigate various quantum properties of light propagation and light-matter interaction in nanostructure systems in two main thrusts, which are complementary. On the one hand, we want to develop a photonic platform to explore interesting quantum dynamics by engineering a set of Hamiltonian models. We investigate optical phenomena related to wellknown effects in condensed matter physics such as quantum Hall physics and also lattice gauge theories. Moreover, we will explore novel effects specific to optical systems such as steady-state (non-equilibrium) phenomena. On the other hand, we are aiming to develop novel applications of these techniques for realization of robust optical devices with built-in protection based on coherent control of lightmatter interaction and novel quantum states, such as a topologically ordered one, both for classical and quantum information processing. A major part of this research program will be dedicated to the exploration of topological features in photonic systems. We develop experimental implementations of synthetic gauge fields using nanofabricated photonic systems, measure topological invariants and examine their potential application as robust optical devices, both in the linear domain, e.g., filters and delay lines, and the nonlinear domain, e.g., switches. In particular, we theoretically and experimentally investigate the role of topological robustness in on-chip quantum transport of photons. Furthermore, we theoretically investigate the strongly interacting limit and develop effective theories for topological orders in non-equilibrium regimes. More generally, we investigate how can one identify many-body features that are unique to driven-dissipative systems.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141512727
Entities
People
- Mohammad Hafezi
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Maryland