QSE Quantum Seminars: Towards quantum optical and acoustic phonons, Mikolaj Schmidt

Please join us for the QSE Center Quantum Seminar with Dr. Mikolaj Schmidt from Macquarie University, who will speak, on Tuesday, December 19, about "Towards quantum optical and acoustic phonons”.
Location: GC A3 31

Pizzas will be available before the seminar at 12:00. All PhDs, postdocs, students, and PIs are welcome to join us.

TITLE: Towards quantum optical and acoustic phonons

ABSTRACT: 
Quantum acoustics explores the non-classical dynamics of vibrating mechanical systems - pendulums oscillating at exceedingly high frequencies with vanishingly small amplitudes [1]. It constitutes an entirely new platform for implementing quantum technologies, and offers to cooperate with optical and electronic components to form a new paradigm of hybrid quantum systems. However, at the moment quantum acoustics lacks a central component that enabled the success of the optical or electronic platforms - a source of a quantum nonlinearity. In this talk I will show two platforms which can implement this key characteristic: strain-coupled transitions between states of an NV which form an acoustic two-level system [3], and a molecular vibration with strong anharmonicity [4]. 
[1] M. Aspelmeyer et al., “Cavity optomechanics,” Rev. Mod. Phys. 86, 1391 (2014).
[2] D. Lee et al., “Topical review: spins and mechanics in diamond,” J. Opt. 19, 033001 (2017).
[3] M. K. Schmidt et al., “Acoustic diamond resonators with ultra-small mode volumes,” Phys. Rev. Research 2, 033153 (2021).
[4] M. K. Schmidt and M. J. Steel, "Molecular optomechanics in the anharmonic regime: from nonclassical mechanical states to mechanical lasing," arXiv:2306.15152 (2023).

BIO:
Dr Schmidt works to identify new, nano- and microscale platforms for implementing high-frequency mechanical analogues of the well established optical components, including sources of non-classical states of mechanical waves and acoustic lasers. He was awarded PhD from the University of the Basque Country in 2016, for work on nanophotonics platforms for light-matter interaction, including optical control over molecular vibrations. In 2017 he joined Macquarie University as a postdoctoral researcher to develop new platforms for harnessing Brillouin scattering, and was subseqently awarded the Macquarie University Research Fellowship in 2019, and Australian Research Council DECRA in 2022 to organise a research group working on hybrid quantum systems.