arXiv subjects

Evelyn Hu

Publications and source records attributed to Evelyn Hu.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Ultracoherent self-assembled diamond nanomechanics reveals superfluid dynamics

From gravitational-wave detection, protein force microscopy, to exploration of quantum-classical boundaries, many anticipated discoveries in fundamental science require improving measurement sensitivity limits. Through the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, mechanical dissipation sets the acoustic noise for this limit. Yet, even in high-purity crystals, the microscopic mechanisms responsible for the acoustic loss remain poorly understood. Tension-induced dissipation dilution offers a route to ultralow acoustic loss, but is challenging to implement in crystalline materials including single-crystal diamond. Here we realize a strain-engineered diamond nanomechanical platform using a liquid-assisted van der Waals self-assembly process that harnesses intrinsic surface forces to apply tensile stress exceeding 1 GPa. At cryogenic temperatures these resonators achieve quality factors beyond 10 billion (intrinsic material quality factors beyond 100 million). This exceptional coherence turns them into a sensitive probe for residual dissipation, elucidating three distinct two-level-system channels and one topological dissipation channel from a surface superfluid helium film. Our work shows how advancing mechanical coherence opens access to new regimes of physics in hybrid quantum systems, precision metrology, and condensed-matter physics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

On-Chip Multidimensional Dynamic Control of Twisted Moiré Photonic Crystal for Smart Sensing and Imaging

Reconfigurable optics, optical systems that have a dynamically tunable configuration, are emerging as a new frontier in photonics research. Recently, twisted moiré photonic crystal has become a competitive candidate for implementing reconfigurable optics because of its high degree of tunability. However, despite its great potential as versatile optics components, simultaneous and dynamic modulation of multiple degrees of freedom in twisted moiré photonic crystal has remained out of reach, severely limiting its area of application. In this paper, we present a MEMS-integrated twisted moiré photonic crystal sensor that offers precise control over the interlayer gap and twist angle between two photonic crystal layers, and demonstrate an active twisted moiré photonic crystal-based optical sensor that can simultaneously resolve wavelength and polarization. Leveraging twist- and gap-tuned resonance modes, we achieve high-accuracy spectropolarimetric reconstruction of light using an adaptive sensing algorithm over a broad operational bandwidth in the telecom range and full Poincaré sphere. Our research showcases the remarkable capabilities of multidimensional control over emergent degrees of freedom in reconfigurable nanophotonics platforms and establishes a scalable pathway towards creating comprehensive flat-optics devices suitable for versatile light manipulation and information processing tasks.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Deterministic Creation of Strained Color Centers in Nanostructures via High-Stress Thin Films

Color centers have emerged as a leading qubit candidate for realizing hybrid spin-photon quantum information technology. One major limitation of the platform, however, is that the characteristics of individual color-centers are often strain dependent. As an illustrative case, the silicon-vacancy center in diamond typically requires millikelvin temperatures in order to achieve long coherence properties, but strained silicon vacancy centers have been shown to operate at temperatures beyond 1K without phonon-mediated decoherence. In this work we combine high-stress silicon nitride thin films with diamond nanostructures in order to reproducibly create statically strained silicon-vacancy color centers (mean ground state splitting of 608 GHz) with strain magnitudes of $\sim 4 \times 10^{-4}$. Based on modeling, this strain should be sufficient to allow for operation of a majority silicon-vacancy centers within the measured sample at elevated temperatures (1.5K) without any degradation of their spin properties. This method offers a scalable approach to fabricate high-temperature operation quantum memories. Beyond silicon-vacancy centers, this method is sufficiently general that it can be easily extended to other platforms as well.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Magnetic Field Fingerprinting of Integrated Circuit Activity with a Quantum Diamond Microscope

Current density distributions in active integrated circuits (ICs) result in patterns of magnetic fields that contain structural and functional information about the IC. Magnetic fields pass through standard materials used by the semiconductor industry and provide a powerful means to fingerprint IC activity for security and failure analysis applications. Here, we demonstrate high spatial resolution, wide field-of-view, vector magnetic field imaging of static (DC) magnetic field emanations from an IC in different active states using a Quantum Diamond Microscope (QDM). The QDM employs a dense layer of fluorescent nitrogen-vacancy (NV) quantum defects near the surface of a transparent diamond substrate placed on the IC to image magnetic fields. We show that QDM imaging achieves simultaneous $\sim10$ $μ$m resolution of all three vector magnetic field components over the 3.7 mm $\times$ 3.7 mm field-of-view of the diamond. We study activity arising from spatially-dependent current flow in both intact and decapsulated field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs); and find that QDM images can determine pre-programmed IC active states with high fidelity using machine-learning classification methods.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Development of Quantum InterConnects for Next-Generation Information Technologies

Just as classical information technology rests on a foundation built of interconnected information-processing systems, quantum information technology (QIT) must do the same. A critical component of such systems is the interconnect, a device or process that allows transfer of information between disparate physical media, for example, semiconductor electronics, individual atoms, light pulses in optical fiber, or microwave fields. While interconnects have been well engineered for decades in the realm of classical information technology, quantum interconnects (QuICs) present special challenges, as they must allow the transfer of fragile quantum states between different physical parts or degrees of freedom of the system. The diversity of QIT platforms (superconducting, atomic, solid-state color center, optical, etc.) that will form a quantum internet poses additional challenges. As quantum systems scale to larger size, the quantum interconnect bottleneck is imminent, and is emerging as a grand challenge for QIT. For these reasons, it is the position of the community represented by participants of the NSF workshop on Quantum Interconnects that accelerating QuIC research is crucial for sustained development of a national quantum science and technology program. Given the diversity of QIT platforms, materials used, applications, and infrastructure required, a convergent research program including partnership between academia, industry and national laboratories is required. This document is a summary from a U.S. National Science Foundation supported workshop held on 31 October - 1 November 2019 in Alexandria, VA. Attendees were charged to identify the scientific and community needs, opportunities, and significant challenges for quantum interconnects over the next 2-5 years.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Single-photon interaction between two quantum dots located in different cavities of a weakly coupled double microdisk structure

We report on the radiative interaction of two single quantum dots (QDs) each in a separate InP/GaInP-based microdisk cavity via resonant whispering gallery modes. The investigations are based on ab initio coupled disk modes. We apply optical spectroscopy involving a $4f$-setup, as well as mode-selective real space imaging and photoluminescence mapping to discern single QDs coupled to a resonant microdisk mode. Excitation of one disk of the double cavity structure and detecting photoluminescene from the other yields proof of single photon emission of a QD excited by incoherent energy transfer from one disk to the other via a mode in the weak coupling regime. Finally, we present evidence of photons emitted by a QD in one disk that are transferred to the other disk by a resonant mode and are subsequently resonantly scattered by another QD.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Synthesis of Luminescent Eu defects in diamond

Lanthanides are vital components in lighting, imaging technologies and future quantum memory applications due to their narrow optical transitions and long spin coherence times. Recently, diamond has become a preeminent platform for realization of many experiments in quantum information science. In this work, we demonstrate a promising approach to incorporate Eu ions into single crystal diamond and nanodiamonds, providing a means to harness the exceptional characteristics of both lanthanides and diamond in a single material. Polyelectrolytes are used to electrostatically assemble Eu(III) chelate molecules on diamond and subsequently chemical vapor deposition is employed for the growth of a high quality diamond crystal. Photoluminescence, cathodoluminescence and time resolved fluorescence measurements show that the Eu atoms retain the characteristic optical signature of Eu(III) upon incorporation into the diamond lattice. Computational modelling supports the experimental findings, corroborating that Eu3+ in diamond is a stable configuration within the diamond bandgap. The versatility of the synthetic technique is further illustrated through the creation of the well-studied Cr defect center. Together these defect centers demonstrate the outstanding chemical control over the incorporation of impurities into diamond enabled by the electrostatic assembly together with chemical vapour deposition growth.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2012

Measuring the mode volume of plasmonic nanocavities using coupled optical emitters

Metallic optical systems can confine light to deep sub-wavelength dimensions, but verifying the level of confinement at these length scales typically requires specialized techniques and equipment for probing the near-field of the structure. We experimentally measured the confinement of a metal-based optical cavity by using the cavity modes themselves as a sensitive probe of the cavity characteristics. By perturbing the cavity modes with conformal dielectric layers of sub-nm thickness using atomic layer deposition, we find the exponential decay length of the modes to be less than 5% of the free-space wavelength (λ) and the mode volume to be of order λ^3/1000. These results provide experimental confirmation of the deep sub-wavelength confinement capabilities of metal-based optical cavities.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2009

Resolution of the mystery of counter-intuitive photon correlations in far off-resonance emission from a quantum dot-cavity system

Cavity quantum-electrodynamics experiments using an atom coupled to a single radiation-field mode have played a central role in testing foundations of quantum mechanics, thus motivating solid-state implementations using single quantum dots coupled to monolithic nano-cavities. In stark contrast to their atom based counterparts, the latter experiments revealed strong cavity emission, even when the quantum dot is far off resonance. Here we present experimental and theoretical results demonstrating that this effect arises from the mesoscopic nature of quantum dot confinement, ensuring the presence of a quasi-continuum of transitions between excited quantum dot states that are enhanced by the cavity mode. Our model fully explains photon correlation measurements demonstrating that photons emitted at the cavity frequency are essentially uncorrelated with each other even though they are generated by a single quantum dot.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Quantum dot spectroscopy using cavity QED

Cavity quantum electrodynamics has attracted substantial interest, both due to its potential role in the field of quantum information processing and as a testbed for basic experiments in quantum mechanics. Here, we show how cavity quantum electrodynamics using a tunable photonic crystal nanocavity in the strong coupling regime can be used for single quantum dot spectroscopy. From the distinctive avoided crossings observed in the strongly coupled system we can identify the neutral and single positively charged exciton as well as the biexciton transitions. Moreover we are able to investigate the fine structure of those transitions and to identify a novel cavity mediated mixing of bright and dark exciton states, where the hyperfine interactions with lattice nuclei presumably play a key role. These results are enabled by a deterministic coupling scheme which allowed us to achieve unprecedented coupling strengths in excess of 0.15 meV.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2007

Fabrication and Characterization of Two-Dimensional Photonic Crystal Microcavities in Nanocrystalline Diamond

Diamond-based photonic devices offer exceptional opportunity to study cavity QED at room temperature. Here we report fabrication and optical characterization of high quality photonic crystal (PC) microcavities based on nanocrystalline diamond. Fundamental modes near the emission wavelength of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (N-V) centers (637 nm) with quality factors (Qs) as high as 585 were observed. Three-dimensional Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) simulations were carried out and had excellent agreement with experimental results in the values of the mode frequencies. Polarization measurements of the modes were characterized; their anomalous behavior provides important insights to scattering loss in these structures.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗