Shaimaa Azzam, UC Santa Barbara: “Photonic Interfaces for Two-dimensional Quantum Materials”

Email:  azzam@ucsb.edu

Position:  Postdoctoral Fellow

Current Institution:  UC Santa Barbara

Abstract:  Photonic Interfaces for Two-dimensional Quantum Materials

The interest in two-dimensional (2D) materials for quantum information science is rising due to their ability to host single-photon emitters as well as solid-state qubits such as quantum dot qubits and superconducting qubits. Furthermore 2D materials are particularly attractive due to their straightforward integration with photonic and optoelectronic devices and the potential for scalability.

My work focuses on the deterministic creation and integration of single-photon emitters in 2D materials. For example in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) single-photon sources generally appear at random locations and only function at cryogenic temperatures. In our recent work we demonstrated that simultaneous defect and strain engineering in TMDs could lead to a high yield of emitter creation as well as mitigate the need for cryogenic temperatures. Using engineered substrates to induce localized strain and independently create defects in the 2D material through electron beam irradiation we managed to produce emitters with high purities and working temperatures up to 150 K.

Moreover our current efforts are focused on the high-density integration of such quantum emitters with photonic quantum circuits. Some of the goals for integration are increasing emitters’ working temperatures achieving on-chip special filtering emission intensity enhancement as well as on-chip interference.

Bio:

Shaimaa is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California Santa Barbara working in Dr. Galan Moody’s Quantum Photonics Lab. She obtained her PhD degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University in 2020. Her research interests include unconventional cavity designs using exceptional light states coherent light sources at the nano- and micro-scales and scalable integrated quantum photonic circuits. Her current work focuses on the deterministic creation of quantum emitters in two-dimensional materials and their integration with on-chip photonic devices for enhanced performance and scalability toward future quantum networks.