Researchers have developed a quantum optical antenna providing a tool to create entirely new research areas.
A groundbreaking development in quantum optics was achieved by a multi-institutional research team led by Assistant Professor Alex High from the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. The researchers successfully created a quantum optical antenna in a solid material, overcoming previous limitations and opening up new avenues for research in fundamental physics and technology.
According to Wiley Industry News, the researchers used germanium vacancy centers (GeVs) in diamonds to create an optical antenna with an extraordinary energy enhancement of six orders of magnitude. This million-fold increase in energy concentration represents a significant leap forward in the field of optical antennas.
"It's not just a breakthrough in technology. It's also a breakthrough in fundamental physics," said Zixi Li, co-first author of the paper that was published in Nature Photonics. "While it's well-known that an excited atomic dipole can generate a near-filed with huge intensity, no one has ever demonstrated this in an experiment before."
The quantum optical antenna achieves an energy enhancement that is challenging to reach with conventional antenna structures. Unlike previous attempts, this antenna operates within a solid material, specifically utilizing defects in diamonds known as color centers.
"Typically, [these properties are] harnessed for quantum networking and experiments in distributed entanglement," said study author High. "Here, our motivation was to explore an alternative modality for optically coherent defects, in which the optical response itself is used as an antenna to sense and manipulate its proximal environment."
The antenna only needs nanowatts of energy to activate, reducing negative effects such as bleaching, heating, and background fluorescence that are common in other high-intensity techniques. The emitted light from the color centers is intrinsically quantum mechanical, potentially leading to new functionalities and working mechanisms compared to classical optical antennas.
The primary obstacle in creating efficient optical antennas in solids has been the interaction of atoms with their environment, leading to disorder and disruptions that reduce signal coherence, notes Optica. The research team solved this problem by leveraging the unique properties of germanium vacancy centers in diamonds, which can be immune to these environmental effects.
This breakthrough has significant implications for both fundamental physics and practical applications, including:
The creation of this quantum optical antenna in a solid material represents a major step forward in the field of quantum optics and opens up exciting possibilities for future research and technological advancements.