Collaborative Research: ECCS-EPSRC: Ultrafast control of quantum light-matter interactions at the nanoscale with structured light and matter

About This Grant

Efficient control of light and interaction of light with materials is essential for advances in imaging, sensing, communications, and quantum technologies. However, a major challenge is the scale mismatch between nanoscale quantum emitters and micrometer-scale spatial confinement of light, which limits the interaction efficiency. This scale mismatch is one of the fundamental roadblocks in the development of future communications and quantum devices. In this program, an international team comprising Duke University, the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and King’s College London aims to utilize nano-structured composite media to design a fundamentally new generation of devices capable of manipulating complex light beams simultaneously at small spatial (nanometer) and fast temporal (sub-nanosecond) scales. The new class of developed devices will be applied to manipulate important quantum transitions in molecules, which are difficult to access otherwise (dipole-forbidden transitions). The program aims to advance computational modeling, machine learning, advanced nanofabrication and engineering, and novel characterization methods, while preparing a new workforce that is ready to address complex interdisciplinary challenges in photonics and quantum engineering. Technical Description: The interdisciplinary team of researchers aims to design and realize a new transformative class of metamaterial-based devices capable of creating and manipulating optical angular momentum (OAM)-carrying beams at the subwavelength spatial and ultrafast time scales. These devices leverage the extreme anisotropy of hyperbolic metamaterials combined with the design flexibility of metasurfaces to enable unprecedented control of light-matter interactions at the molecular scale. The program integrates expertise across engineering, computational science, machine learning, nanofabrication, advanced characterization, materials science, and photonics. Specific aims include the development of theoretical tools to describe light interactions with complex hyperbolic metamaterial/metasurface systems, the development of reliable fabrication protocols, and the advancement of spatial and temporal characterization techniques for highly confined OAM beams. These meta-devices will be applied to explore and control forbidden optical transitions, addressing the fundamental scale mismatch between macroscopic optical fields and nanoscale quantum emitters. In addition to basic science and novel device platforms with applications in sensing, imaging, and quantum technologies, the program incorporates educational, mentoring, and outreach activities to foster interdisciplinary training and enhance the technology workforce pipeline. This collaborative U.S.- U.K. project is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI), where NSF funds the U.S. investigator and EPSRC funds the partners in the U.K 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.