PQI2021 registration is open!
The annual PQI signature event will cover a wide range of topics in quantum science and engineering by featuring prominent invited keynote lecturers and highlighting the current research of PQI members.
Learn more about PQI2021 and register today!
The Quantum2020 Spooky Action at a Distance poster session was held remotely over multiple Zoom sessions on October 29th, 2020. We had a team of 20 judges coming from various departments at Pitt, CMU, and Duquesne comprising both faculty members, postdocs and previous poster award winners, who evaluated the poster presentations of 44 participants hailing from physics, engineering, chemistry, and other disciplines.
The full video playlist is linked here, and the descriptions of each video contain quicklinks to the beginning of each presentation. Thank you to everyone who participated!
The six presenters that received the highest overall scores are: Continue reading
Research describing how an optical field can modify the electronic properties of a solid was recently published in Nature Communications titled "Coherent multidimensional photoelectron spectroscopy of ultrafast quasiparticle dressing by light", coauthored by Dr. Marcel Reutzel, Hrvoje Petek, and Petek's students Andi Li and Zehua Wang.
Applying intense ultrafast light pulses, which provide a time-periodic electronic potential acting together with the lattice ions, defines the forces experienced by electrons in solids, such as metals and semiconductors, Petek and his coworkers demonstrated that an optical field can transiently, on the 10-14 second time scale, modify (dress) the electronic bands in a metal, potentially changing them from an electron to a hole condition. ... Continue reading
A research team led by professors from the University of Pittsburgh Department of Physics and Astronomy has announced the discovery of a new electronic state of matter. PQI members Jeremy Levy, Patrick Irvin, David Pekker, and Roger Mong are coauthors of the paper "Pascal conductance series in ballistic one-dimensional LaAIO3/SrTiO3 channels." The research focuses on measurements in one-dimensional conducting systems where electrons are found to travel without scattering in groups of two or more at a time, rather than individually. The study was published in Science on Feb. 14. Jeremy also breaks down the scientific concepts and guides the readers through their research in the following video. ... Continue reading
New research from the Giannis (Yanni) Mpourmpakis and his team introduces the first universal adsorption model that accounts for detailed nanoparticle structural characteristics, metal composition and different adsorbates, making it possible to not only predict adsorption behavior on any metal nanoparticles but screen their stability, as well. The research combines computational chemistry modeling with machine learning to fit a large number of data and accurately predict adsorption trends on nanoparticles that have not previously been seen. By connecting adsorption with the stability of nanoparticles, nanoparticles can now be optimized in terms of their synthetic accessibility and application property behavior. This improvement will significantly accelerate nanomaterials design and avoid trial and error experimentation in the lab. Their work was published in Science Advances on Sept. 13, 2019.Continue reading
The ability to combine continuously tunable narrow-band terahertz (THz) generation that can access both the far-infrared and mid-infrared regimes with nanometer-scale spatial resolution is highly promising for identifying underlying light-matter interactions and realizing selective control of rotational or vibrational resonances in nanoparticles or molecules. Here, we report selective difference frequency generation with over 100 THz bandwidth via femtosecond optical pulse shaping. The THz emission is generated at nanoscale junctions at the interface of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (LAO/STO) that is defined by conductive atomic force microscope lithography, with the potential to perform THz spectroscopy on individual nanoparticles or molecules. Numerical simulation of the time-domain signal facilitates the identification of components that contribute to the THz generation. This ultra-wide-bandwidth tunable nanoscale coherent THz source transforms the LAO/STO interface into a promising platform for integrated lab-on-chip optoelectronic devices with various functionalities.
Read more here. ... Continue reading
The recently published paper in journal of ACS NANO on Ultrafast Microscopy of Spin-Momentum Locked Surface Plasmon Polaritons is an essential research for designing optical elements to control spin-polarized SPP (surface plasmon polaritons) fields on the nano femto scale. Hrvoje Petek and his colleagues have shown two-photon photoemission electron microscopy images formed by coupling and propagation of longitudinal and transverse components of SPP fields of light. Further, they have also shown the spin-momentum locked SPP wave packets launched with circularly polarized excitation propagate at the same phase and group velocities as for the linearly polarized excitation using time-resolved experiments.Continue reading
Congratulations to Jeremy Levy, Patrick Irvin, and Feng Bi for their patent titled "Oxide Interface Displaying Electronically Controllable Ferromagnetism!"
Magnetism forms the basis for non-volatile storage in hard disk drives. A new field called “spintronics” aims to use electronics and electron spin to process information; however, it has been difficult to find appropriate materials...
Congratulations to Nathan Youngblood and his team for their proposal in a new window design that adapts to the weather!
Homeowners know that the type of windows in a house contribute greatly to heating and cooling efficiency. And that’s a big deal—maintaining indoor temperatures consumes great . . .
The University of California, Los Angeles is happy to announce their new Master of Quantum Science and Technology (MQST) Degree. MQST is a one-year in-person graduate professional degree program designed to prepare students for careers in quantum science in private industry, national labs, and government agencies.The program curriculum is tailored to students and early career professionals looking to enter the quantum industry workforce with a combination of theoretical knowledge and practical skills that will enable them to seek opportunities with focused intent and present as attractive highly prepared candidates to employers...
