Ultrafast Quantum Photonics: From Fundamental Aspects to High-Tech Applications

迄今为止，超快科学最伟大的功绩之一可以说是开发了能够获得物质基本自由度的基本动力学的工具。特别是，测量场的时间演化的能力为凝聚态物理的世界打开了一扇独特的窗户，在凝聚态物理中，准粒子的形成、集体模式和它们的相关动力学可以在各自过程的基本时间尺度上观察到。这一进展为我们对多体相互作用的微观理解提供了一个飞跃，并推动了新应用和设备的发展。由于其固有的量子力学性质，如果能够访问量子而不是经典系统可观测值，则可以更直接地理解固体的各种基本自由度的相互作用。此外，真正的量子场分辨探测能力将使直接观察量子相关在时域中的演化成为可能。这种能力将为光-物质相互作用的量子光谱学开辟一个新时代。在本提案中，我们详细阐述了我们的长期计划，以发展一种新的实验方法来实现超快量子电动力学，该方法也寻求将这种量子性用于前沿应用。我们概述了广泛的研究目标，作为追求这一主要思想的中间步骤。为此，我们将活动细分为三个研究线程。首先，我们探索了超快非经典光的新光源。第二部分为量子光的场分辨传感开发了新的时域检测方法，最后，在第三部分中，我们向物质和光物质耦合的量子光谱迈出了第一步。在此过程中，我们也在寻求新的前沿应用，我们的新方法需要。我们相信，有效的研究途径是将基础研究与世界一流水平的精密仪器和新型测量技术的发展相结合。正如设计的那样，我们的计划是为了推进物理学的基础研究以及光子学领域高科技应用的发展。在这个框架内，我们相信我们的课程为培养工业界和学术界的高素质专业人才提供了一个整合良好，多样化和引人入胜的平台。

Arguably one of the greatest feats of ultrafast science up until now has been the development of tools which enable access to the elementary dynamics of the fundamental degrees of freedom of matter. In particular, the ability to measure time evolution of fields has opened a unique window into the world of condensed matter physics, where a formation of quasiparticles, collective modes and dynamics of their correlations can be observed on the fundamental timescales of the respective processes. This progress has provided a leap in our microscopic understanding of many-body interactions and motivated the development of novel applications and devices. Owing to their intrinsically quantum-mechanical nature, the interplay of various fundamental degrees of freedom of a solid can be understood more directly if one is able to access quantum instead of classical system observables. Furthermore, the capability of a truly quantum field-resolved detection would enable direct observation of the evolution of quantum correlations in the time domain. Such ability is poised to seed a new era of quantum spectroscopy of light-matter interaction. In this proposal, we elaborate our long-term plan toward the development of a novel experimental approach to ultrafast quantum electrodynamics which also seeks to harness this quantumness for cutting edge applications. We outline broad research goals as intermediate steps toward the pursuit of this main idea. To this end, we subdivide the activities into three research threads. In the first, we explore novel sources of ultrafast nonclassical light. The second develops new time-domain detection methodologies for field-resolved sensing of quantum light and, finally, in the third thread we make first steps toward quantum spectroscopy of matter and light-matter coupling. Along the way, we are also seeking for new cutting edge applications which our novel approach entails. We believe that the efficient path for research is to synergistically combine fundamental studies with the development of precision instrumentation and novel measurement techniques at the world-class level. As designed, our Program is motivated by both advancing the fundamental research in physics as well as the development of high-tech applications in the field of photonics. Within this framework, we believe that our Program offers a well-integrated, diverse and engaging platform for training future generations of highly qualified professionals in industry as well as academia.