EAGER: Enabling Quantum Leap: Scalable, Controllable and Tunable Room-Temperature Quantum Emitters in Monolayer WSe2

非技术描述：许多现代技术——包括低能耗的灯泡、交通信号灯、激光和计算机——都依赖于可控的光发射。光是由称为光子的单个能量包组成的，该项目试图通过创建一种能够随意发射单个光子并实时调整其颜色的设备架构来演示对光发射的最终控制。虽然最近发现了一些新型可调光源，但它们中的大多数只能在非常冷的温度下工作（低于-420华氏度）。该项目正在开发一种方法来克服这一主要限制，通过将新型光源与微型天线相结合，潜在地允许在室温下工作——这是大多数光学技术的关键要求。研究人员设想了从最安全的光通信到量子计算机发展的应用。这项研究活动与培养下一代材料科学家、工程师和物理学家的努力相结合。这些努力包括高度跨学科的博士研究，以及一个以“分层指导”为重点的暑期项目，名为“下一代工程”，该项目为来自当地合作学校的积极性很高、代表性不足的高中生提供服务，包括实验室工作和补充项目，以培养学生的学术和专业技能。技术描述：2015年单层WSe2中单光子发射器（spe）的发现迎来了革命性的固态量子发射器，具有确定性定位，易于调谐和控制能力，以及可集成到光子架构中的潜力，这是其他类别的固态量子发射器所不存在的。然而，这些局部光源的一个主要限制是，它们所依赖的束缚激子态仅在低于20 K的低温下才有活性。最近，研究表明，在室温和环境条件下，单层WSe2中，纳米尺度结构模型、纳米光学天线和由纳米气泡引起的外部应变激活了束缚激子态的光学活性。该项目的总体目标是确定新发现的室温局域束缚激子态可以发展为量子光子技术的可调谐spe。本研究分为两部分：1)直接探测一类新的室温发射体，了解它们的起源和激活，并确定开发优化spe的潜在途径；(2)利用这些发射器的新知识来实现纳米等离子体- wse2架构，展示激活的，可调谐的室温spe。设想的发射极结构包括覆盖在纳米针等离子体天线上的单层WSe2，它能够同时提供局域应变和束缚激子的纳米光学激活。对这些室温局域束缚激子态的详细研究填补了目前限制高质量二维半导体量子技术发展的关键知识空白。更广泛地说，大规模、可调的片上室温SPE像素阵列的演示将立即影响下一代器件设计，为量子逻辑应用的SPE技术提供直接途径。这些研究目标与教育努力相结合，强调从高中到研究生阶段学生对光子材料的指导和实践学习。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

Nontechnical description: Many modern technologies - including low-energy-consumption light bulbs, traffic lights, lasers, and computers - rely on the controlled emission of light. Light is composed of individual packets of energy called photons, and this project seeks to demonstrate the ultimate control of light emission by creating a device architecture capable of emitting single optical photons at will while also tuning their color in real time. While some new classes of tunable light emitters have recently been discovered, most of them operate only at very cold temperatures (less than -420 degrees Fahrenheit). The project is developing an approach for overcoming this major limitation by combining new light emitters with miniature antennas, potentially allowing for operation at room temperature - a critical requirement for most optical technologies. The researchers envision applications spanning maximally secure optical communications to the development of quantum computers. This research activity is integrated with efforts to train the next generation of materials scientists, engineers and physicists. These efforts include highly interdisciplinary PhD research, as well as a ''tiered mentoring'' focused summer program titled Engineering the Next Generation, which serves highly motivated underrepresented high school students from local partner schools and involves both lab work and supplemental programming to develop students' academic and professional skills.Technical description: The discovery of single-photon emitters (SPEs) in monolayer WSe2 in 2015 ushered in a revolutionary class of solid-state quantum emitters with potential for deterministic positioning, facile tuning and control capabilities, and integrability into photonic architectures that do not exist for other classes of solid-state quantum emitters. However, a major limitation of these localized light sources is that the bound exciton states on which they rely are only active at cryogenic temperatures below 20 K. Very recently, it has been demonstrated that a model nanoscale architecture, a nano-optical antenna and extrinsic strain due to a nanobubble, activates the optical activity of bound exciton states at room temperature and under ambient conditions in monolayer WSe2. The overall objective of this project is to establish that the newly discovered room-temperature localized bound exciton states can be developed into tunable SPEs for quantum photonic technologies. The research is organized into two tasks: (1) directly probing the new class of room-temperature emitters to understand their origin and activation, and to identify potential pathways to develop optimized SPEs; and (2) leveraging the new knowledge of these emitters to implement a nanoplasmonic-WSe2 architecture demonstrating activated, tunable room-temperature SPEs. The envisioned emitter architecture consists of a monolayer of WSe2 overlaid on top of a nanoneedle plasmonic antenna, which is able to simultaneously provide the localized strain and nano-optical activation of the bound excitons. The detailed study of these room-temperature localized bound exciton states fills key knowledge voids currently limiting the development of quantum technologies in high-quality 2-dimensional semiconductors. More broadly, a demonstration of large-scale, tunable on-chip room-temperature SPE pixel arrays immediately impacts next-generation device design, providing a direct pathway to SPE technologies for quantum logic applications. These research objectives are integrated with educational efforts that emphasize mentoring and hands-on learning about photonic materials for students in high school through the graduate level.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.