CAREER: Quantum Optical Measurements of Exciton Fluids in Confined Systems

****非技术摘要****光现在是一种重要的工具，可以用来操纵物质，也可以用来创造物质的新状态。该学院早期职业奖支持一个项目，该项目将结合量子测量和超快光谱来研究光-物质混合激发，如半导体纳米结构中的激子。激子，正电子原子的固态类似物，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。该项目有望对纳米结构中光物质相互作用的基本理解和控制做出贡献，这对开发用于计算和通信的新型量子材料和光电子器件具有重要意义。研究生和本科生将学习先进的超快光谱和低温技术，用于研究纳米结构和量子材料。教育部分包括暑期研讨会的发展，向研究生介绍研究环境，并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。拓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在日常生活中进行的光学实践实验。****技术摘要****本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结合起来，研究量子受限半导体结构中冷激子流体中的集体现象。为了澄清这些表面有序但实际上是非平衡激子流体的性质，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改变，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。在受限的低维半导体系统中，激子流体的时空相关性和波动将被探讨。在产生致密冷激子后，通过精确控制光场的振幅、相位、偏振、相干和波动来表征自发光或自发有序。教育部分包括暑期研讨会的发展，向研究生介绍研究环境，并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。拓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在日常生活中进行的光学实践实验。

****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.