ExpandQISE: Track 1: Quantum Materials Temporal Analysis and Coherent Control using Atto metrology for Quantum Information Science

Morehouse College, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

Non-technical Description: The development of Quantum information Science and Engineering (QISE) and associated technologies are on the horizon. Thus, expanding the fundamental understanding of quantum electrodynamics is critical. The interest of this project is to unveil the ultrafast quantum phenomena at the attosecond scale, by developing a new technique capable of detecting and cross-correlating wave-packets with single-digit attosecond or single-particle level accuracy at GHz data rates. This project leverages a multi-institutional collaboration led by the Physics department at Morehouse College, the Electrical & Computer Engineering and Physics & Astronomy departments at University of California, Los Angeles, and a traineeship program at the Linac Coherent Light Source under Stanford University’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. This partnership is used to strengthen the existing efforts to recruit, retain, and graduate undergraduate and graduate participants from underrepresented groups in STEM and help train the next generation of quantum scientists and engineers. Technical Description: Controlling electronic coherence in atomic and molecular, and condensed matter physics is a long-sought-after goal. Photo-excitation pathways can be exploited to coherently transmute light wave-packets into charge excitations and electronic phase transitions for quantum and neuromorphic computing. Unfortunately, coherence is usually lost in extremely fast timescales due to incoherent fluctuations and decoherence effects intrinsic to certain (nonequilibrium) states of matter. Thus, measuring and understanding the (de)coherence mechanisms of technologically relevant quantum materials—e.g., correlated materials such as twisted graphene and 3D Dirac semimetals — is a crucial first step to the deployment of decoherence mitigation strategies. The technology the research team aims to develop is capable of measuring quantum-level de/excitation mechanisms in a wide ensemble of physical systems. As a model system, this study investigates high-harmonic generation as one prominent type of attosecond-level electronic dynamical system. High-harmonic generation in strongly correlated materials generate ultrafast light source via quantum phase transition by nonlinear optics in strong laser fields. This project could experimentally verify emerging theory on the quantum nature of high-harmonic generation, a process that is traditionally described through (semi)classical frameworks. The broader impact of this study spans beyond Quantum information Science to render a new transformational tool in molecular physics, quantum electrodynamics, relativistic and nonlinear optics, and particle physics. The project is co-funded by The Office of Multidisciplinary Activities (OMA), and the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP). 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.