CAREER: Designer Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals with Controlled Light-Matter Interactions for On-Demand Quantum Light Sources

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）。非技术性解释量子原理提供了优于当前技术的计算，通信和传感的新范式。开发这些下一代平台的核心是能够按需生成相同的单个光粒子（光子）的光源。实现具有最佳性能和易于集成的设计的此类源一直是一个长期的挑战。这项研究的重点是开发和研究这样一个最佳的平台，使用新兴的材料类别，在溶液中的纳米颗粒的形式。这项研究将与教育和推广活动密切结合。我们的目标是使纳米和量子科学教育更加有效，包容和可访问，并符合新兴应用日益增长的跨学科框架。这将通过开发新的交互式课程材料、通过虚拟现实进行的教育活动以及针对高中生的宣传视频来实现。技术说明该项目将单个卤化物钙钛矿量子点的确定性控制与其局部电磁环境和晶格结构的工程相结合，以设计、研究和增强具有受控光-物质相互作用的发射器的物理特性，确定性和不可区分的单光子产生。该研究将由四个主要目标驱动：1）开发设计师钙钛矿量子点，并在单个发射器水平上进行控制。2)研究并确定稳定、高纯度和相干单光子产生的结构-组成-性质关系。3)使用发射器-纳米腔耦合系统定制不可区分光子发射的物理特性。4)研究可控晶格应变对发射特性的影响。总的来说，这项研究将导致全面了解卤化物钙钛矿纳米晶体作为量子光源的前景。通过实现具有确定性单光子发射的胶体发射器平台，以及可控但可扩展的可加工性，该结果有助于解决易于集成的按需单光子源急需的技术差距。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。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Non-technical descriptionQuantum principles offer new paradigms of computing, communication and sensing that outperform the current technologies. Central to developing many of these next-generation platforms are light sources that can uniquely generate identical single particles of light (photons) on-demand. Achieving such sources with optimal performance and easily integrable design has been a long-standing challenge. This research focuses on developing and studying such an optimal platform using emerging classes of materials, in the form of nanoscale particles in solution. This research will be closely integrated with education and outreach activities. The objective is to make nano and quantum science education more effective, inclusive and accessible, and in line with the growing cross-disciplinary framework of the emerging applications. This will be achieved by developing new interactive course materials, educational activities through virtual reality, and outreach videos for high school students.Technical descriptionThis project combines deterministic control of individual halide perovskite quantum dots with engineering of their local electromagnetic environment and lattice structure to design, study and enhance the photophysical properties of the emitters with controlled light-matter interactions for stable, deterministic and indistinguishable single photon generation. The research will be driven by four main objectives: 1) Develop designer perovskite quantum dots with control at an individual emitter level. 2) Investigate and identify the structure-composition-property relationships underlying a stable, high purity and coherent single photon generation. 3) Tailor the photophysical properties using an emitter-nanocavity coupled system for indistinguishable photon emission. 4) Investigate the effects of controlled lattice strain on the emission characteristics. Collectively, this research will lead to a comprehensive understanding of the prospects of halide perovskite nanocrystals as on-demand sources of quantum light. By enabling a colloidal emitter platform with deterministic single photon emission, and controlled yet scalable processibility, the results help address the much-needed technology gap of easily integrable on-demand single photon sources.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.