Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Optical spectroscopy provides extraordinary insights on the electronic structure of materials and their properties. It has been and continues to be a major driving force in the development of low-dimensional materials by enabling a rigorous understanding of quantum processes and interactions and by guiding their implementation in electronic and optoelectronic applications ranging from energy conversion to solid-state lighting. In recent years, our team composed of three spectroscopists has made seminal contributions in the optical control of quantum states in semiconductors, the development of devices operating in the ultrastrong light-matter coupling regime, the measurement of electric fields in the THz (including that of the vacuum), and the development of tools and methods for precision spectroscopy. To support these activities as wells as new ones, our team requests a highly needed continuous-wave narrow-linewidth tunable Ti:S equipped with a frequency doubler. Currently unavailable at Polytechnique, this important spectroscopy tool will enable high-resolution spectroscopy on impurity defects, quantum dots, and other low-dimensional structures and reveal critical information on electronic states, their environment, the emergence of collective phenomena, and their interactions with low-energy excitations. Furthermore, this laser will provide the means to address several outstanding opportunities in the field of quantum optics: efficient spin-photon interfaces, laser cooling in the quantum regime, and quantum spectroscopy techniques promising to revolutionize our ability to measure atomic, molecular, solid-state, and biological systems. By enabling research of the highest caliber at the forefront in quantum optics, this instrument will serve to further enhance Canada's research competitiveness and play an important role in attracting and training HQP of the highest quality.