Collaborative Research: Moire Exciton-polariton for Analog Quantum Simulation

理解和设计光与材料的相互作用在半导体技术中发挥着重要作用，在我们的日常生活中的应用范围从太阳能收集和发光设备到高速互联网和高性能计算。工程和增强这种光-物质相互作用对于推进新技术甚至量子信息科学与工程（QISE）的新领域至关重要。一种策略是将激子（一种光激发的电子和空穴对）耦合到纳米级腔体中，形成激子-极化激元（EP），这是一种半材料半光的混合物，继承了两个世界的优点。光子的性质使我们能够通过光学工程来操纵EP，而激子的性质使强相互作用成为可能。光与物质的相互作用可以在原子薄的半导体中进一步增强，并通过将两个原子层堆叠在一起并精确控制它们的扭曲角来设计，形成半导体莫尔超晶格。在这个提议中，我们将设计一种系统的方法来耦合纳米腔与半导体莫尔超晶格，以增强光-物质相互作用到前所未有的水平，其中即使是单个光子也可以彻底改变器件功能。这种强烈的光-物质相互作用水平可以用来实现光子量子模拟，这是一种模拟新材料的方法，其性质来自电子之间复杂的相互作用。该提案与国家量子计划和半导体技术计划保持战略一致，将开发新的课程材料，以培养学生在高需求，尖端半导体，光学科学和QISE领域的职业生涯。将为K-12和代表性不足的少数民族学生组织关于光学和纳米纤维的暑期讲习班。该项目的成果将向科学界和公众传播，以提高全国对QISE和半导体技术创新重要性的认识。该项目旨在开发一个量子非线性光学器件平台，以理解和设计二维（2D）材料中的光-物质相互作用，用于模拟量子模拟。该项目将完成一种混合器件，将半导体莫尔超晶格中的强大激子耦合到纳米光子谐振器，形成一种称为莫尔激子-极化子（EP）的准粒子，这是一种半材料半光混合体。由于电子和激子平带，由原子级薄的过渡金属二硫属化物（TMDC）形成的半导体莫尔超晶格中的激子可以被定制为具有更强的相互作用。因此，莫尔超晶格拥有迷人的相关绝缘电子态，并且由于莫尔势限制，激子共振被修改。莫尔激子与超小模体积纳米光子谐振器和谐振器阵列的强耦合将导致一个独特的莫尔-EP平台，用于研究相关激子物理和实现非线性声子-声子相互作用，直至单光子水平，为变革性的量子纳米光电子学（如模拟量子模拟）铺平道路。拟议的研究还将改变节能光学信息处理和量子光电子学的现状。该提案将开发与拟议研究相结合的教育组件，以培养学生在半导体，光学科学和QISE领域的未来劳动力。该提案将为K-12和代表性不足的少数民族学生提供光学和纳米纤维的学习机会。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Understanding and designing how light interacts with materials play an important role in semiconductor technology, with applications in our daily lives ranging from solar energy harvesting and light-emitting devices to high-speed internet and high-performance computing. Engineering and enhancing this light-matter interaction are critical for advancing new technologies and even the new field of quantum information science and engineering (QISE). One strategy is to couple exciton, an optically excited electron and hole pair, to a nanoscale cavity and form exciton-polariton (EP), which is a half-material and half-light hybrid that inherits the advantages of both worlds. The photon nature allows us to manipulate the EP via optical engineering, and the exciton nature enables strong interaction. The light-matter interaction can be further enhanced in atomically thin semiconductors and engineered by stacking two of these atomic sheets together and precisely controlling their twist angle, forming a semiconducting moiré superlattice. In this proposal, we will design a systematic way to couple the nano-cavities with the semiconducting moiré superlattice to enhance the light-matter interaction to an unprecedented level, in which the device function can be drastically altered even by a single photon. This level of strong light-matter interaction can be utilized to implement photonic quantum simulations, a way to simulate new materials whose properties arise from complicated interactions between electrons. Strategically aligned with the National Quantum Initiative and Semiconductor Technology Initiative, this proposal will develop new course materials to train students for careers in high-demand, cutting-edge semiconductor, optical science, and QISE fields. Hands-on summer workshops on optics and nanofabrication for K-12 and under-represented minority students will be organized. The results from this proposal will be disseminated to both the scientific community and the general public to raise national awareness of the importance of QISE and semiconductor technology innovations.This proposal aims to develop a quantum nonlinear optical device platform to understand and engineer light-matter interactions in two-dimensional (2D) materials for analog quantum simulations. The project will accomplish a hybrid device that couples the robust excitons in a semiconducting moiré superlattice to nanophotonic resonators, forming a quasiparticle known as moiré exciton-polariton (EP), a half-material and half-light hybrid. The exciton in the semiconducting moiré superlattices formed by atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) can be tailored with even stronger interaction thanks to the electronic and excitonic flatbands. Therefore, the moiré superlattice hosts fascinating correlated insulating electronic states, and the exciton resonances are modified due to the moiré potential confinement. Strong coupling of the moiré excitons with the ultra-small mode-volume nanophotonic resonators and resonator arrays will lead to a unique moiré-EP platform for studying correlated excitonic physics and realizing nonlinear phonon-phonon interactions down to the single-photon level, paving the way to transformative quantum nano-optoelectronics such as analog quantum simulations. The proposed research will also transform the current state of power-efficient optical information processing and quantum optoelectronics. This proposal will develop education components well integrated with the proposed research to train students for the future workforce in semiconductor, optical science, and QISE fields. This proposal will develop learning opportunities on optics and nanofabrication for K-12 and under-represented minority students. The results from this proposal will be disseminated to a wide scientific audience and shared with the general public.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.