Event Date
Speaker: Dr. Giovanni Scuri, Stanford University
Title: Scalable quantum photonic systems
Scalable quantum photonic systems require building devices that support multi-qubit interactions and controllable photonic elements. Toward this goal, particularly promising systems are those based on cavity-coupled silicon carbide color centers integrated with electro-optic materials capable of dynamically controlling the flow of light.
In this talk, I will present our recent advances in these directions. First, I will discuss our progress towards scaling the number of interacting silicon-vacancy (VSi) color centers by integrating them into high-Q silicon-carbide cavities. Using two-photon correlation measurements on a multimode whispering gallery mode resonator with VSi, we observe evidence of >10 cavity-coupled emitters. Furthermore, we combine the intrinsic nonlinearity in SiC with our cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) system, demonstrating correlations between color centers and photons created from a parametric pair generation process.
Second, I will highlight our recent discovery of the most tunable electro-optic material at quantum-relevant cryogenic temperatures. Due to the connection between phase transitions and optical nonlinearity, strontium titanate (SrTiO₃, STO) is a highly tunable cryogenic electro-optic and piezo-electric material, thanks to its unique quantum paraelectric phase at low temperatures. By driving the system toward a quantum critical point through oxygen isotope substitution, STO exhibits a Pockels coefficient exceeding 1100 pm/V and a dramatically enhanced piezoelectric response, outperforming all known conventional materials at low temperatures.
Together, these advances bring us closer to integrated quantum photonic platforms that combine active control of light with coherent emitter-emitter interactions, laying the foundation for scalable devices with applications in quantum information processing and quantum simulation.
Bio
Giovanni Scuri is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, working under the guidance of Professor Jelena Vučković. Dr. Scuri’s research combines nonlinear optics and solid-state qubits with the goal of creating hybrid quantum systems for quantum sensing, networking and simulation. His focus is on engineering efficient spin-photon interfaces for solid-state qubits and developing coherent control protocols for these quantum platforms. Additionally, he is exploring novel material systems with strong optical nonlinearities and large electro-optic tunability, for applications in active photonics and quantum interconnects. For this research, he was awarded the Bloch Postdoctoral Fellowship in Quantum Science and Engineering from the Stanford-SLAC Quantum Initiative (QFARM).
Giovanni received a B.A. in Physics from Columbia University and a PhD in Physics from Harvard University. His doctoral work in the group of Professor Hongkun Park spanned the fields of condensed matter physics and quantum optics. In particular, he investigated the excitonic properties of atomically thin semiconductor materials, with the dual goal of studying strong electron correlations in materials and developing optoelectronic devices that operate at the atomically thin limit.