Cavity optomechanical device
We are interested in the physics and engineering of nanophotonic devices in the context of quantum information science, metrology, communications, and sensing. We use nanofabrication technology to develop engineered geometries that strongly enhance light-matter interactions, such as parametric nonlinear optical processes, coupling to quantum emitters, and acousto-optic effects. We study the basic device-level physics and tailor devices for specific applications, and our research generally involves computational modeling, nanofabrication, and optoelectronic and quantum photonic characterization. Recent topics have included quantum frequency conversion, single-photon and entangled-photon generation, microresonator frequency combs, optical parametric oscillators, and cavity electro-optomechanical transducers.
More generally, nanophotonic systems offer us the ability to study interesting physics in a controllable way, using platforms that are inherently suitable for the development of new technologies. Our labs are at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD, and the Joint Quantum Institute at the University of Maryland in College Park.
Edgar Perez
Edgar Perez was a graduate student working on different aspects of quantum photonic integrated circuits, including single-photon sources, nonlinear nanophotonics, and direct laser writing for interconnects. He received his PhD in Physics in May 2024 and is now working at IonQ. He Received his B.A. in physics from Reed College in Portland, Oregon. His undergraduate thesis studied chaos and bifurcations in the monopole ion trap.
Research Areas:
Grégory Moille
Grégory Moille is a Associate Research Scientist working at both the NIST and UMD campuses. He received his M.S. in Physics and Photonics from Grenoble Institut National Polytechnique, France. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from Paris Saclay University, France. His doctoral research focused on the non-linear dynamics of photonic crystal cavities made of III-V materials, as well the fabrication and improvement of these devices.
Xiyuan Lu
Xiyuan Lu is an Assistant Research Scientist working primarily on the NIST campus. He received a B.S. in Physics from Nanjing University, China and a Ph.D. in Physics from University of Rochester. His doctoral research focused on developing and characterizing entangled photon sources and heralded single photon sources in high-quality silicon microresonators, and on fabricating silicon carbide micro/nanophotonic devices for optomechanical and nonlinear optical applications.
Tahmid Sami Rahman
Tahmid is a graduate student working on nonlinear integrated photonic technologies.
Research Areas:
- Integrated photonics design/fab/test
- Nonlinear nanophotonics
Ashutosh Rao
Ashutosh Rao was a postdoctoral researcher working in the NIST labs on nonlinear nanophotonic devices for quantum information science and metrology. He currently is a postdoctoral scholar working in the Sensor Science Division at NIST.
Research Areas:
- Integrated photonics design/fab/test
- Integrated quantum photonics
- Nonlinear nanophotonics
Biswarup Guha
Research Areas:
- Integrated photonics design/fab/test
- Integrated quantum photonics
- Nanoscale electro-optomechanical transducers
Where are they now?:
Biswarup was a postdoctoral scholar working on piezo-optomechanical devices for microwave-to-optical quantum state transduction. He is now working for a quantum computing startup company.
Jordan Stone
Jordan is a NIST research scientist working on the metrology of nonlinear nanophotonics devices.
Research Areas:
- Integrated photonics design/fab/test
- Nonlinear nanophotonics
Roy Zektzer
Roy was a postdoctoral researcher working in the NIST and UMD labs. He received a B.Sc. in computer engineering from the Hebrew university of Jerusalem, Israel and a Ph.D. in applied physics from the Hebrew university as well. His doctoral research focused on the chip-scale integration of nanophotonic devices with molecules (acetylene) and atoms (Rubidium) in order to enable chip scale frequency references.
Research Areas:
- Integrated photonics design/fab/test
- Integrated quantum photonics
Khoi Hoang
Khoi Tuan Hoang is a graduate student working on quantum technologies involving atomic vapors and integrated photonics.
Research Areas:
- Integrated photonics design/fab/test
- Integrated quantum photonics
Rahul Shrestha
Research Areas:
- Integrated photonics design/fab/test
- Integrated quantum photonics