CAREER: Quantum Optical Measurements of Exciton Fluids in Confined Systems

* 非技术性摘要 * 光现在是一种重要的工具，可以用来操纵物质，也可以用来创造新的物质状态。这个教师早期职业奖支持一个计划，将合并量子测量和超快光谱学研究轻物质混合激发，如半导体纳米结构中的激子。激子是正电子素原子的固态类似物，在固体的光学性质和电子结构中起着核心作用。它们表现出强烈的辐射-物质耦合，因此是探索量子限制结构中光-物质集体现象的理想选择。该项目预计将有助于对纳米结构中光-物质相互作用的基本理解和控制，这对于开发用于计算和通信的新量子材料和光电器件至关重要。该计划的研究生和本科生将学习用于研究纳米结构和量子材料的先进超快光谱和低温技术。教育部分包括举办暑期讲习班，向研究生介绍研究环境，学习研究凝聚态系统的光学方法。量子光学和激光光谱学实验将纳入本科课程。外展活动包括公开讲座，演示，以及为高中教师，K-12学生和代表性不足的大学预科学生进行的关于日常生活中光学的实践实验。* 技术摘要 * 该学院早期职业奖支持一个项目，该项目将量子光学测量与超快光谱技术相结合，以研究量子限制半导体结构中冷激子流体中的集体现象。为了澄清这些表面上有序但实际上非平衡的激子流体的性质，该项目将试图确定：（a）光场的统计特性如何通过激子或电子空穴载流子的形成而转变，以及（B）自发光光子的特性如何反映相互作用，相关性和集体激发。 我们将探讨受限低维半导体系统中激子流体的时空关联与涨落。 在产生密集的冷激子之后，自发光或自发秩序将通过对光场的振幅、相位、偏振、相干性和波动的精确控制来表征。教育部分包括举办暑期讲习班，向研究生介绍研究环境，学习研究凝聚态系统的光学方法。量子光学和激光光谱学实验将纳入本科课程。外展活动包括公开讲座，演示，以及为高中教师，K-12学生和代表性不足的大学预科学生进行的关于日常生活中光学的实践实验。

****NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACT****Light is now an essential tool that can be used to manipulate matter and also to create new states of matter. This Faculty Early Career Award supports a program that will merge quantum measurements and ultrafast spectroscopies to investigate light-matter hybrid excitations such as excitons in semiconductor nanostructures. Excitons, the solid-state analog of a positronium atom, play a central role in the optical properties and electronic structure of solids. They exhibit strong radiation-matter coupling and are thus ideal for exploration of light-matter collective phenomena in quantum-confined structures. This project is expected to contribute to the fundamental understanding and control of light-matter interactions in nanostructures, which are important for developing new quantum materials and optoelectronic devices for computation and communication. Graduate and undergraduate students in this program will learn advanced ultrafast spectroscopies and low temperature techniques used to investigate nanostructures and quantum materials. The education component includes the development of a summer workshop to introduce graduate students to the research environment and to learn optical methods for studying condensed matter systems. Experiments in quantum optics and laser spectroscopy will be incorporated into the undergraduate curriculum. Outreach activities include public lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on experiments about optics in daily life for high school teachers, K-12 students, and underrepresented pre-college students. ****TECHNICAL ABSTRACT****This Faculty Early Career Award supports a project that will merge quantum optical measurements with ultrafast spectroscopic techniques to investigate collective phenomena in cold exciton fluids in quantum confined semiconductor structures. In order to clarify the nature of these apparently ordered, but actually non-equilibrium exciton fluids, the project will attempt to determine: (a) how the statistical properties of light fields are transformed through the formation of excitons or electron-hole carriers, and (b) how the characteristics of self-luminescent photons reflect the interactions, correlations, and collective excitations. Spatio-temporal correlations and fluctuations of excitonic fluids in confined low-dimensional semiconductor systems will be probed. After creating dense cold excitons, the self-luminescence or spontaneous order will be characterized with precise control of the amplitude, phase, polarization, coherence, and fluctuations of the light fields. The education component includes the development of a summer workshop to introduce graduate students to the research environment and to learn optical methods for studying condensed matter systems. Experiments in quantum optics and laser spectroscopy will be incorporated into the undergraduate curriculum. Outreach activities include public lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on experiments about optics in daily life for high school teachers, K-12 students, and underrepresented pre-college students.