The symposium will focus on the development of semiconductor colloidal nanocrystals as quantum emitters of individual photons and their potential application in quantum technologies. Despite the detailed studies carried out in the last decades, colloidal nanocrystals have yet to see application in quantum devices. This calls for further synthetic and photophysical studies for this class of nanomaterials to reach performances comparable to other single- or entangled-photon generation technologies and finally take advantage of their versatile solution processability and room temperature operation. The symposium will discuss the current challenges that semiconductor nanocrystals are facing (e.g. tuning of the Auger recombination, slow recombination rates, large emission linewidth, fluorescence intermittency…) and the solutions that are currently envisioned so that this class of semiconductors can progress from the consumer electronics market to the quantum world
- Synthesis of colloidal nanocrystals for optimized single- or entangled-photon generation
- Methods to control single- and multiexciton recombination rates in single nanocrystals
- New semiconductor nanocrystals for single-photon generation
- Multi-exction processes and their spectroscopy in single nanocrystals
- Application of colloidal seminconductor nanocrystals as quantum light sources
Dr. Francesco Di Stasio obtained a Ph.D. in Physics at University College London (UK) in 2012. He then worked as a research Scientist at Cambridge Display Technology (Sumitomo Chemical group, UK) until he undertook postdoctoral research at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT, Italy). In 2015 he was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship at the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO, Spain). Since 2020 he is Principal Investigator of the Photonic Nanomaterials group at IIT after being awarded an ERC Starting grant. Francesco is a materials scientist with more than 10 years of research experience in optoelectronics.
Current research interests and methodology: Nanomaterials for classical and non-classical light-sources: This research activity focuses on the investigation of synthetic routes to obtain highly luminescent semiconductor colloidal nanocrystals and exploit such material in light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Here, we study how chemical treatments of colloidal nanocrystals can promote enhanced performance in devices, and physico-chemical properties of nanocrystals (e.g. self-assembly and surface chemistry) can be exploited to fabricate optoelectronic devices with innovative architectures. Novel methods and materials for light-emitting diodes: The group applies materials science to optoelectronics by determining which fabrication parameter lead to enhanced performance in LEDs. In order to transition from classical to non-classical light-sources based on colloidal nanocrystals, the group is developing novel methods for controlling the deposition and positioning of an individual nanocrystals in the device. Both “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches are investigated.
I obtained my PhD degree in applied physics at Ghent University in 2009, studying near-infrared lead salt quantum dots. This was followed by a postdoc on quantum dot emission dynamics at Ghent University in collaboration with the IBM Zurich research lab. In 2012 I joined the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, where I led the Nanocrystal Photonics Lab in the Nanochemistry Department. In 2017 I returned to Ghent University as associate professor, focusing mostly on 2D and strained nanocrystals. The research in our group ranges from the synthesis of novel fluorescent nanocrystals to optical spectroscopy and photonic applications.
Jennifer A. Hollingsworth is a Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Fellow and Fellow of the American Physical Society, Division of Materials Physics, and The American Association for the Advancement of Science. She currently serves as Councilor for the Amercan Chemical Society Colloid & Surface Chemistry Division. She holds a BA in Chemistry from Grinnell College (Phi Beta Kappa) and a PhD degree in Inorganic Chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis. She joined LANL as a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow in 1999, becoming a staff scientist in 2001. In 2013, she was awarded a LANL Fellows’ Prize for Research for her discovery and elaboration of non-blinking “giant” quantum dots (gQDs). In her role as staff scientist in the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT; http://www.lanl.gov/expertise/profiles/view/jennifer-hollingsworth), a US DOE Nanoscale Science Research Center and User Facility, she endeavors to advance fundamental knowledge of optically active nanomaterials, targeting the elucidation of synthesis-nanostructure-properties correlations toward the rational design of novel functional materials. Her gQD design has been extended to multiple QD and other nanostructure systems, and several are being explored for applications from ultra-stable molecular probes for advanced single-particle tracking to solid-state lighting and single-photon generation. A recent focus of her group is to advance scanning probe nanolithography for precision placement of single nanocrystals into metasurfaces and plasmonic antennas.
Agnès Maître obtained in 1994 the grade of Doctor of the Ecole Polytechnique for her work performed in the domain of non linear optics and atomic physics: in Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, she used to study “self generated transverse optical instabilities in rubidium vapor”. She became in 1995 assistant professor of University Denis Diderot and laboratoire Kastler Brossel. She used to work in the fields of continuous variable quantum optics and quantum imaging. She used to study temporal and spatial quantum correlations for beams emitted by an optical parametric oscillator. Since 2005, she has a position of professor at Sorbonne university and works in the Institut des NanoSciences de Paris. She is now involved in nanophotonics. More specifically, she is studying plasmonic nanoantenna, single photon sources, and emission of a single emitter in a highly confined nanostructured environment. She is author of over 70 publications in peer reviewed international journals and co-inventor of 2 patents.
Ronen Rapaport