Materials engineering and quantum technologies - from visible single photon sources to terahertz devices

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Advanced techniques for materials fabrication and characterization, together with an understanding of the influence of their crystal structure or perturbations of such structure on their optical and electronic properties, have paved the way for revolutionary technological developments in microelectronics, telecommunications and scientific computing. Recent advances in materials engineering at the micro- and nano-scales enable the design of innovative materials for tomorrow's quantum and optoelectronic technologies: ultrasensitive sensors, single photon sources, terahertz emitters and detectors, etc. The development of such technologies can benefit from a better control of the environment of luminescent defects or spin defects, a higher precision in the fabrication of planar plasmonic structures or in the vertical stacking of various thin metallic films or two-dimensional materials. The goal of this research program is to improve our fundamental understanding of the optical and electronic properties of such solid state materials. Over the next five years, our efforts will focus on the use of micro- and nano-fabrication techniques (thin film deposition, ion bombardment, thermal annealing, surface patterning, etc.) to control the properties of these materials and improve the characteristics of the devices in which these materials will be integrated. Particular attention will be paid to the physics of single photon emitters, the spin character of certain point defects in large band-gap semiconductors, the charge and spin transport properties of two-dimensional materials and normal metal/magnetic layer heterostructures, as well as the coupling between spintronics and photonics. The characterization tools used for these studies will involve quantum optics, continuous and time-resolved optical spectroscopic techniques, confocal optical microscopy, and terahertz spectroscopic techniques. With the support of NSERC, we will make progress in understanding the physical phenomena and in identifying key structural parameters to improve the characteristics of quantum devices and to design novel devices, including single photon sources, magnetic field sensors, broadband terahertz emitters. This research program, being experimental in nature, is conducted in close interaction with my main collaborators at the Institut quantique and at the Institut Interdisciplinaire d'Innovation Technologique of the Université de Sherbrooke. The development of the devices and their integration into photonic or telecommunication platforms will benefit from strong collaborations with researchers from the Quantum Photonics Network in Quebec and the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. Our discoveries will help in the development of new quantum and optoelectronic technologies.