We are developing novel 2D material-plasmonic structures to investigate the interactions between 2D material electronic excitations and surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). SPPs are surface waves that propagate at metal dielectric interfaces and are composed of an electromagnetic wave (photon) coupled to a charge oscillation (plasmon). We are investigating how to use 2D material excitations to control and amplify SPPs.
Defects in 2D materials can provide potential energy wells that can trap single excitons, which behave in many ways like single trapped atoms. In particular, it has recently been shown that single defect-bound excitons in monolayer WSe2 are excellent candidates for emerging quantum information technologies that rely on solid state quantum emitters. We are developing novel structures and optical techniques that can encode long lived quantum information into these defect bound quantum systems.
We are investigating how tailored laser light can be used to initialize, control and readout electronic information stored in novel two-dimensional (2D) material systems. In particular, we are interested in atomically thin semiconductor junctions composed of different types of 2D semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). These 2D semiconductors have many of the exceptional electronic characteristics of graphene, but also have a large optical band gap allowing for optical control of electronic degrees of freedom. In addition to electron charge, electrons are also endowed with a spin and valley degree of freedom. We are investigating novel approaches to control these spin and valley degrees of freedom for potential low-loss and/or quantum information processing applications.