Electric and optical manipulation of 2D excitons for room temperature polariton blockade and valley qubits

量子技术正在被利用来提供在经典物理学范围内无法实现的功能和特性。例如，量子通信和信息越来越依赖于具有强非经典特性的光束来交换量子保护信息。然而，光子之间缺乏相互作用限制了它们用于处理任务。为此，光量子与固态量子元件中的材料激发的杂交可以提供一种实现量子比特之间相互作用的优雅方式。目前，许多类似于人造原子的量子平台已成功地用于产生单光量子，然而光子波长和这些系统的物理尺寸之间的失配阻碍了它们在光学腔中的集成，这将通过光子的限制大大提高它们的性能。最近发现的环境稳定和电场可调的层间激子自组装均匀双层原子薄（2D）半导体（过渡金属二硫属化物，TMD），提供了一个前所未有的机会，开拓室温混合光子/物质量子平台中的强关联制度的光学腔。这一雄心勃勃的探索是我们跨学科提案的重点，该提案旨在探索一类新的量子两能级系统（量子比特）。在室温操作中的设想的突破将通过利用极化激元阻断到量子水平，即单极化激元，在分层的TMD。领先的实验学家（Russo教授和Lagoudakis教授）和理论家（Portnoi教授和Kyriienko博士）与互补的核心专业知识（光子学，2D材料和量子光电子学）及其学术（莱切大学）和工业项目合作伙伴（IBM和WaveOptics）的协同互动将成为将这一雄心勃勃的科学发现推向突破性量子系统的跳板。

Quantum technologies are being harnessed to deliver functionalities and properties otherwise unattainable within the confines of classical physics. For example, quantum communication and information are increasingly reliant on light beams with strongly non-classical properties for the exchange of quantum-protected information. However, the lack of interaction between photons limits their use for processing tasks. To this end, the hybridization of the light quanta to material excitations in a solid-state quantum element may offer an elegant way forward to implement the interaction between quantum bits. Presently a number of quantum platforms analogous to artificial atoms have been successfully used to generate single light quanta, yet the mismatch between the photon wavelength and the physical size of these systems hinders their integration in optical cavities which would greatly enhance their performance through the confinement of photons. The recent discovery of ambient-stable and electric field tuneable interlayer excitons in self-assembled homobilayers atomically thin (2D) semiconductors (transition metal dichalcogenides, TMD), offers an unprecedented opportunity to pioneer room temperature hybrid photon/matter quantum platforms in the strongly correlated regime in optical cavities. This ambitious quest is the focus of our interdisciplinary proposal which aims to explore a new class of quantum two-level systems (qubits). The envisioned breakthrough in the room temperature operation will be secured by exploiting polariton blockade down to the quantum level, i.e. single-polariton, in layered TMDs. The synergic interaction of leading experimentalists (Prof Russo and Prof Lagoudakis) and theorists (Prof Portnoi and Dr Kyriienko) with complementary core expertise (photonics, 2D material and quantum opto-electronics) and their academic (University of Lecce) and industrial project partners (IBM and WaveOptics) will be the trampoline for launching this ambitious science discovery into ground-breaking quantum systems.