Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Quantum light”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Quantum Imaging with X-rays

Quantum imaging encompasses a broad range of methods that exploit the quantum properties of light to capture information about an object. One such approach involves using a two-photon quantum state, where only one photon interacts with the object being imaged while its entangled partner carries spatial or temporal information. To implement this technique, it is necessary to generate specific quantum states of light and detect photons at the single-photon level. While this method has been successfully demonstrated in the visible electromagnetic spectrum, extending it to X-rays has faced significant challenges due to the difficulties in producing a sufficient rate of X-ray photon pairs and detecting them with adequate resolution. Here, we demonstrate record high rates of correlated X-ray photon pairs produced via a spontaneous parametric down-conversion process and we employ these photons to perform quantum correlation imaging of several objects, including a biological sample (E. cardamomum seedpod). Notably, we report an unprecedented detection rate of about 6,300 pairs per hour and the observation of energy anti-correlation for the X-ray photon pairs. We also present a detailed analysis of the properties of the down-converted X-ray photons, as well as a comprehensive study of the correlation imaging formation, including a study of distortions and corrections. These results mark a substantial advancement in X-ray quantum imaging, expanding the possibilities of X-ray quantum optical technologies, and illustrating the pathway towards enhancing biological imaging with reduced radiation doses.

Gofron, Kaz [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000314415736)↗
DOE OSTI2025

Cooperative effects in thin dielectric layers: Long-range Dicke superradiance

The realization and control of collective quantum effects so far have predominantly focused on cold atomic ensembles. Quantum photonic platforms, with their engineered Green's functions and integration capability of advanced solid-state quantum emitters, provide opportunities to explore regimes of light-matter interaction beyond the scope of atomic systems. In this work, we demonstrate that embedding quantum emitters within a thin dielectric layer fundamentally alters their collective radiative behavior. The optical modes in the dielectric layer mediate long-range dipole-dipole interactions between emitters, enabling both total and directional superradiance between emitters separated by several wavelengths. Crucially, this mechanism supports Dicke superradiance even in parameter regimes where standard settings fail to support an interaction, unveiling a dimensionality-driven enhancement of cooperative effects. By bridging many-body quantum optics and photonic engineering, our work reveals a distinct interplay between surrounding dimensionality and collective quantum dynamics. Experimental realization of these predictions, readily achievable in solid-state quantum optics platforms, paves the way for scalable, directional quantum light sources and frontiers in many-body quantum optics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2026

Power of Quantum Witnesses

A central theme in the study of quantum information is to understand whether quantum resources are more powerful than their classical counterparts. One such resource is quantum witness and understanding the power of quantum witnesses is one of the fundamental questions of quantum complexity theory. The broad object of this project was to understand the power of quantum witnesses and related objects and their properties: In this direction, this project addressed three key broader category of questions: 1) Are quantum witnesses more powerful than the classical witnesses? 2) How easy it is to copy quantum witnesses and what are their complexity theoretic implications? 3) Can quantum witnesses shed light or help provide super-polynomial quantum speedups on problems for which super-polynomial quantum speedups are shown to be not possible in general? The research conducted under this grant has directly addressed the three core pillars of the original proposal: characterizing the computational power of quantum witnesses, understanding their uncloneability, implications for complexity theory and identifying structural regimes for super-polynomial speedups.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Design of InGaN-ZnSnGa 2 N 4 quantum wells for high-efficiency amber light emitting diodes

A novel type-II InGaN-ZnSnGa 2 N 4 quantum well (QW) structure is proposed based on recent experimental achievements for the successful epitaxy of ZnSnN 2 -GaN alloys and the determination of their band offsets with GaN. The simulation results indicate that this structure is promising as the active region for high-efficiency InGaN-based amber (λ ~ 590 nm) light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The hole wavefunction in the valence band is better confined with the insertion of a monolayer scale of ZnSnGa 2 N 4 into the InGaN QW while the electron wavefunction in the conduction band is better confined with the incorporation of an AlGaN layer in the GaN quantum barrier. The band structure of the InGaN-ZnSnGa 2 N 4 QW is numerically simulated based on the experimentally measured band offsets between ZnSnGa 2 N 4 and GaN. With the InGaN-ZnSnGa 2 N 4 QW design, a low In content (20%) is required in the InGaN layer to reach a peak emission wavelength of ~590 nm, yet an In composition of 25% is needed to reach the same emission wavelength for a conventional InGaN QW with the same layer thicknesses. Moreover, the electron-hole wavefunction overlap (Гe1-hh1) for the InGaN-ZnSnGa 2 N 4 QW design reaches 18% for an emission wavelength at ~590 nm. This result is much improved over the conventional InGaN QW overlap of 5% emitting at the same wavelength. The increase in electron-hole wavefunction overlap results in an approximately 14 times enhancement in the predicted spontaneous emission radiative recombination rate of the InGaN-ZnSnGa 2 N 4 QW as compared to that of the conventional InGaN QW. This InGaN-ZnSnGa 2 N 4 QW structure design can be promising to pave a new way to achieve high efficiency amber LEDs.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Comparing photosynthetic light harvesting of single photons and pseudothermal light under ultraweak illumination

Photosynthesis in vivo is driven by sunlight, an ultraweak incoherent thermal source. However, most experiments and theories have studied photosynthetic light harvesting driven by strong coherent laser sources. The quantum states of light are characterized by their photon statistics, in addition to classical properties such as intensity and frequency spectrum. Here, we report experiments that investigate how photon statistics affect a natural photosynthetic system and vice versa. We directly compare how single photons and pseudothermal light from spontaneous parametric down-conversion drive light harvesting in the light-harvesting 2 complex from a purple bacterium. We find that the fluorescence lifetime and quantum efficiency are unchanged while the fluorescence photon statistics are markedly different, resembling that of the incident light, implying that the dynamics do not fundamentally modify the photon statistics. This represents a step toward clarification of the similarities and differences between photosynthetic light harvesting in laboratory and in natural sunlight conditions.

Li, Quanwei [University of California, Berkeley, C↗
DOE OSTI2024

Room-temperature spin injection across a chiral perovskite/III–V interface

Spin accumulation in semiconductor structures at room temperature and without magnetic fields is key to enable a broader range of optoelectronic functionality. Current efforts are limited owing to inherent inefficiencies associated with spin injection across semiconductor interfaces. Here we demonstrate spin injection across chiral halide perovskite/III-V interfaces achieving spin accumulation in a standard semiconductor III-V (Al x Ga 1-x ) 0.5 In 0.5 P multiple quantum well light-emitting diode. The spin accumulation in the multiple quantum well is detected through emission of circularly polarized light with a degree of polarization of up to 15 ± 4%. The chiral perovskite/III-V interface was characterized with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, cross-sectional scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy imaging, showing a clean semiconductor/semiconductor interface at which the Fermi level can equilibrate. Finally, these findings demonstrate that chiral perovskite semiconductors can transform well-developed semiconductor platforms into ones that can also control spin.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Synthesis of Red, Green, and Blue Carbon Quantum Dots and Construction of Multicolor Cellulose-Based Light-Emitting Diodes

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are widely used in lighting and display applications. Carbon quantum dots (CQDs), which have high biocompatibility, high resistance to photobleaching, and full-spectrum luminescence, have inherent advantages as fluorescent materials for LED devices. Herein, multicolor CQDs are prepared by a new reagent engineering strategy due to the difference of effective conjugate length and the surface electron-withdrawing groups of CQDs. White CQDs are realized by mixing blue, green, and red CQDs proportionally. Then, the aggregation-caused quenching phenomenon of CQDs is suppressed through the hydrogen-bonding network of cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs). Multicolor fluorescent films are prepared from CQDs and CNFs by simple mixing and casting methods. Finally, thin-film encapsulation based on the photosensitive resin ABPE-10 coating can be realized and rapidly assembles into fluorescent films with different light-emitting colors into LED devices, leading to have superior thermal performance compared with conventional LEDs. White LEDs have excellent white-light illumination performance, with Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage color coordinates of (0.33, 0.37), a correlated color temperature of 5688 K, and a color rendering index of 86. This strategy provides a convenient and scalable pathway for low-cost, environmentally friendly, and high-performance CQDs-based LEDs.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Dynamics of carrier injection through V-defects in long wavelength GaN LEDs

The efficiency of high-power operation of multiple quantum well (QW) light emitting diodes (LEDs) to a large degree depends on the realization of uniform hole distribution between the QWs. In long wavelength InGaN/GaN QW LEDs, the thermionic interwell hole transport is hindered by high GaN barriers. However, in polar LED structures, these barriers may be circumvented by the lateral hole injection via semipolar {$10\bar{1}1$} QWs that form on the facets of V-defects. The efficiency of such carrier transfer depends on the transport time since transport in the semipolar QWs is competed by recombination. In this work, we study the carrier transfer from the semipolar to polar QWs by time-resolved photoluminescence in long wavelength (green to red) LEDs. We find that the carrier transfer through the semipolar QWs is fast, a few tens of picoseconds with the estimated room temperature ambipolar diffusion coefficient of ∼5.5 cm 2 /s. With diffusion much faster than recombination, the hole transport from the p-side of the structure to the polar QWs should proceed without a substantial loss, contributing to the high efficiency of long wavelength GaN LEDs.

Crystallographic defects↗
DOE OSTI2023

Optically controlled single-valley exciton doublet states with tunable internal spin structures and spin magnetization generation

Manipulating quantum states through light–matter interactions has been actively pursued in two-dimensional materials research. Significant progress has been made toward the optical control of the valley degrees of freedom in semiconducting monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides, based on doubly degenerate excitons from their two distinct valleys in reciprocal space. Here, we introduce a type of optically controllable doubly degenerate exciton states that come from a single valley, dubbed as single-valley exciton doublet (SVXD) states. They are unique in that their constituent holes originate from the same valence band, making possible the direct optical control of the spin structure of the excited constituent electrons. Combining ab initio GW plus Bethe–Salpeter equation ( GW -BSE) calculations and a theoretical analysis method, we demonstrate such SVXD in substrate-supported monolayer bismuthene—which has been successfully grown using molecular beam epitaxy. In each of the two distinct valleys in the Brillouin zone, strong spin–orbit coupling and C 3 v symmetry lead to a pair of degenerate 1s exciton states (the SVXD states) with opposite spin configurations. Any coherent linear combinations of the SVXD in a single valley can be excited by light with a specific polarization, enabling full manipulation of their internal spin configurations. In particular, a controllable net spin magnetization can be generated through light excitation. Our findings open routes to control quantum degrees of freedom, paving the way for applications in spintronics and quantum information science.

2D materials↗
DOE OSTI2021

Selective Enhancement of Spectroscopic Features by Quantum Optimal Control

Tailored light can be used to steer atomic motions into selected quantum pathways. In optimal control theory (OCT), the target is usually expressed in terms of the molecular wave function, a quantity that is not directly observable in experiment. In this study, we present simulations using OCT that optimize the spectroscopic signal itself. By shaping the optical pump, the x-ray stimulated Raman signal, which occurs solely during the passage through conical intersections, is temporally controlled and amplified by up to 2 orders of magnitude. This enhancement can be crucial in order to bring small coherence-based signatures above the detectable threshold. Our approach is applicable to any signal that depends on the expectation value of a positive definite operator.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Extended Gutzwiller Approximation for Nonlocal Electron-Electron and Electron-Boson Correlations (I): The Theory

Understanding electron-electron and electron-photon correlations is central to uncovering the fundamental mechanisms governing material properties, particularly in systems where strong interactions give rise to emergent phenomena such as superconductivity, magnetism, and polaritonic effects. These correlations play a pivotal role in cavity quantum materials, where hybridized light-matter states enable quantum control over electronic properties. However, capturing both local and nonlocal correlations in these systems presents a significant theoretical challenge. In this work, we extend the Gutzwiller wavefunction method to include nonlocal electron-photon and electron-electron interactions, providing a unified framework to study the intricate interplay between these effects. Our approach accurately captures the long-range correlations induced by photon exchange, enabling the exploration of exotic quantum phases and the effects of cavity coupling on electronic structure. By benchmarking the method across coupling regimes, we reveal the critical role of nonlocal correlations in stabilizing phases, such as superconducting and insulating states, that are inaccessible through local interactions alone. This generalized Gutzwiller framework offers a versatile tool for understanding and designing materials that harness the transformative potential of strong light-matter coupling.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Characterization of quantum dot-like emitters in programmable arrays of nanowrinkles of 1L-WSe2

When combined with nanostructured substrates, two-dimensional semiconductors can be engineered with strain to tailor light–matter interactions on the nanoscale. Recently, room-temperature nanoscale exciton localization with controllable wrinkling in 1L-WSe2 was achieved using arrays of gold nanocones. Here, the characterization of quantum dot-like states and single-photon emitters in the 1L-WSe2/nanocone system is reported. The nanocones induce a wide range of strains, and as a result, a diverse ensemble of narrowband, potential single-photon emitters is observed. The distribution of emitter energies reveals that most reside in two spectrally isolated bands, leaving a less populated intermediate band that is spectrally isolated from the ensembles. The spectral isolation is advantageous for high-purity quantum light emitters, and anti-bunched emission from one of these states is confirmed up to 25 K. Although the spatial distribution of strain is expected to influence the orientation of the transition dipoles of the emitters, multimodal emission polarization anisotropy and atomic force microscopy reveal that the macroscopic orientation of the wrinkles is not a good predictor of dipole orientation. Finally, the emission is found to change with thermal cycling from 4 to 290 K and back to 4 K, highlighting the need to control factors such as temperature-induced strain to enhance the robustness of this quantum emitter platform. The initial characterization here shows that controlled nanowrinkles of 1L-WSe2 generate quantum light in addition to uncovering potential challenges that need to be addressed for their adoption into quantum photonic technologies.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2023

Towards Practical Quantum Simulation for High Energy Physics (Final report for DE-SC0019452)

Quantum computing offers the potential of transformative improvements in our ability to simulate strongly interacting quantum systems. Each application area of quantum simulation requires careful study and new insights to determine the potential advantages of quantum computation. In particular, high energy physics and quantum field theory present specific challenges to existing approaches. In this project we studied quantum simulation in the light-front formulation of quantum field theory. In this formulation, quantum field theory more closely resembles other many-body quantum systems such as quantum chemistry, which are well studied from the perspective of quantum computation. We considered applications suitable for both near term and future error-corrected quantum computers.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Many-body entanglement in solid-state emitters

The preparation and control of quantum states lie at the heart of quantum information science. Recent advances in solid-state quantum emitters (QEs) and nanophotonics have transformed the landscape of quantum photonic technologies, enabling scalable generation of quantum states of light and matter. A new frontier in solid-state quantum photonics is the engineering of many-body interactions between QEs and photons to achieve robust coherence and controllable many-body entanglement. These entangled states, including photonic graph and cluster states, superradiant emission and emergent quantum phases, are promising for quantum computation, sensing and simulation. However, intrinsic inhomogeneities and decoherence in solid-state platforms pose considerable challenges in realizing such complex entangled states. This Review provides an overview of fundamental many-body interactions and dynamics at the light–matter interfaces of solid-state QEs and discusses recent advances in mitigating decoherence and harnessing robust many-body coherence.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Entanglement Enabled Intensity Interferometry of different wavelengths of light

Highlights: • We use quantum entanglement to erase the color of photons for a new imaging method. • Can achieve higher resolution imaging by accessing hidden phase information. • We detail practical experimental designs to implement our theoretical protocols. We propose methods to perform intensity interferometry of photons having two different wavelengths. Distinguishable particles typically cannot interfere with each other, but we overcome that obstacle by processing the particles via entanglement and projection so that they lead to the same final state at the detection apparatus. Specifically, we discuss how quasi-phase-matched nonlinear crystals can be used to convert a quantum superposition of light of different wavelengths onto a common wavelength, while preserving the phase information essential for their meaningful interference. We thereby gain access to a host of new observables, which can probe subtle frequency correlations and entanglement. Further, we generalize the van Cittert–Zernike formula for the intensity interferometry of extended sources, demonstrate how our proposal supports enhanced resolution of sources with different spectral character, and suggest potential applications.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Engineering Edge States of Graphene Nanoribbons for Narrow-Band Photoluminescence

Solid-state narrow-band light emitters are on-demand for quantum optoelectronics. Current approaches based on defect engineering in low-dimensional materials usually introduce a broad range of emission centers. Here, we report narrow-band light emission from covalent heterostructures fused to the edges of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) by controllable on-surface reactions from molecular precursors. Two types of heterojunction (HJ) states are realized by sequentially synthesizing GNRs and graphene nanodots (GNDs) and then coupling them together. HJs between armchair GNDs and armchair edges of the GNR are coherent and give rise to narrow-band photoluminescence. In contrast, HJs between the armchair GNDs and the zigzag ends of GNRs are defective and give rise to nonradiative states near the Fermi level. At low temperatures, sharp photoluminescence emissions with peak energy range from 2.03 to 2.08 eV and line widths of 2–5 meV are observed. Furthermore, the radiative HJ states are uniform, and the optical transition energy is controlled by the band gaps of GNRs and GNDs. As these HJs can be synthesized in a large quantity with atomic precision, this finding highlights a route to programmable and deterministic creation of quantum light emitters.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Hybrid quantum nanophotonic devices with color centers in nanodiamonds [Invited]

Optically active color centers in nanodiamonds offer unique opportunities for generating and manipulating quantum states of light. These mechanically, chemically, and optically robust emitters can be produced in mass quantities, deterministically manipulated, and integrated with a variety of quantum device geometries and photonic material platforms. Nanodiamonds with deeply sub-wavelength sizes coupled to nanophotonic structures feature a giant enhancement of light-matter interaction, promising high bitrates in quantum photonic systems. We review the recent advances in controlled techniques for synthesizing, selecting, and manipulating nanodiamond-based color centers for their integration with quantum nanophotonic devices.

Sahoo, Swetapadma (ORCID:0000000179281391)↗