HRL Research Enhances Quantum Sensors with Micro-Knife Bonding

I am excited to share this team's innovative, multi-discplinary work pushing forward the scalability and portability of next generation quantum sensors. This wafer scale approach using advanced integration and photonics processes lays the groundwork for stable, accurate, and robust atomic sensing for a wide range of high volume use cases.

As we engineer ever smaller technologies, “seeing” what happens inside them becomes increasingly difficult.🧐 🔬As optical devices approach the wavelength of light, conventional optical microscopes can no longer reveal the nanoscale optical fields that govern their behavior. 🖼️The blue patterns below are not images of the nanoparticles, they are images of how light behaves around them. They arise from the interference between incoming and scattered light, forming an optical fingerprint that reveals how single silver #nanoparticle responds to light. 💡Here, we show how these optical fields can be mapped experimentally with an atomic force microscope. The key idea is to use a photothermal response that is often treated as a limitation as the measurement itself. By making optical near-fields experimentally accessible, we can move closer to directly observing how the next generation of #nanophotonics devices works. 👏 Special thanks to Christian Ritz for bringing this work to publication in American Chemical Society #Photonics. It was carried out in collaboration with the group of Lukas Novotny at ETH Zürich. The open-access paper is linked 👇

✨ Featured on this week's RSC Advances front cover: Researchers Sudip Das & Vimala Raghavan report the scalable synthesis of Ti₃C₂ MXene quantum dots (MQDs).   The study reports MQDs linked to a technoeconomic framework, and shows how quantum confinement and surface chemistry drive the transition from metallic MXenes to semiconducting quantum dots. Combining experimental characterisation, DFT simulations and machine learning, the team identifies key factors influencing performance and highlights the potential of MQDs for future sensing, optoelectronic and nanodevice applications.   🔗 Explore the research: https://lnkd.in/e_m39g3r

You're looking through a window into the nanoscale. This ultrahigh-vacuum chamber creates an environment with almost no air. Inside, a variable-temperature atomic force microscope allows researchers to study materials at the nanoscale under carefully controlled conditions. By minimizing interference from the surrounding environment, scientists can observe material behavior with extraordinary precision, advancing research in electronics, energy technologies, and quantum materials.

Structured Light Breakthrough: 200-Year-Old Optics Effect Could Advance Future Computing Researchers at Nanyang Technological University showed that a simple laser-and-disc setup can create optical skyrmions: swirling, stable patterns formed within the properties of light. The method uses the Poisson spot, a classic diffraction effect where a bright point appears in the center of a circular object’s shadow when illuminated by coherent light. In this case, that bright spot is not just a curiosity; it contains multiple skyrmion patterns tied to light’s spin, polarization, electric field, and magnetic field behavior. The result gives researchers a simpler way to study structured light without relying on complex metamaterials, potentially opening new paths for photonics, optical information processing, communications, and advanced materials research. https://zurl.co/x36SZ #OpticalSkyrmions #Light #MetaMaterials #Photonics #Optical #Communications #Research #RPMCLasers

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴  1. Choose the qubit platform – Superconducting, Spin, Trapped-Ion, Photonic, or Topological.  2. Evaluate key properties – Long coherence time, high purity, low defects, and stability.  3. Check scalability – Material should support large-scale fabrication and integration.  4. Model & test – Use simulations and experimental validation to verify performance.  5. Optimize – Refine the material to improve fidelity, reduce noise, and enhance reliability. Key Idea: The ideal quantum material offers long coherence, low noise, high-fidelity control, and scalable manufacturing. #QuantumComputing #QuantumTechnology #QuantumMaterials #Qubits #QuantumPhysics #MaterialsScience #DeepTech #Innovation #FutureTech #Engineering #Research #STEM #TechTrends #QuantumAI #CreatedBySumitPatil

A very interesting direction in quantum and photonic engineering is emerging from systems that can control photons and phonons at the same time. Researchers have designed a coupled photon–phonon lattice that achieves coherent perfect absorption — a condition where incoming waves are completely absorbed through carefully engineered interference. What makes this especially interesting is the hybrid nature of the system. Instead of treating light and mechanical vibrations separately, the design couples optical and acoustic modes so that energy flow can be controlled across both domains. That opens possibilities for more precise manipulation of signals inside integrated devices. Potential applications could extend into: • quantum transduction • photonic signal processing • high-sensitivity sensing • non-Hermitian photonics • integrated quantum and optomechanical systems This kind of work matters because future quantum hardware will increasingly depend on our ability to move information efficiently between different physical carriers — photons, phonons, spins and superconducting circuits. The more precisely we can engineer those interactions, the more capable integrated quantum systems can become. Read the full story on QuantumNews.in: https://lnkd.in/dzAHmp5K #QuantumComputing #QuantumPhotonics #Photonics #Phononics #Optomechanics #QuantumTechnology #QuantumTransduction #CoherentPerfectAbsorption #IntegratedPhotonics #QuantumSensing #NonHermitianPhysics #QuantumResearch #DeepTech

📣💛 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺𝗕𝗪 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘂𝗺 | 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳. 𝗔𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗷𝗶𝘁𝗮 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗵𝗮 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗧𝗨 𝗗𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗲𝗻 On this thursday, Prof. Aparajita Singha will explore "NV-magnetometry: challenges and opportunities for QS experiments". 💡Solid-state spin defects such as nitrogen-vacancy (#NV) centers in diamond, have emerged as powerful platforms for #quantumsensing, enabling nanoscale measurements of magnetic fields, temperature, strain, and electric fields at both cryogenic temperatures as well as at ambient conditions. Some experimental efforts in Singha's group are focused on utilizing these quantum sensors for non-invasive probing of isolated magnetic molecules on surfaces, which are difficult to access using other complementary methods. These efforts naturally require the usage of near surface NV centers (smaller than 10 nm) to gain desired magnetic sensitivity. However, such shallow NV sensors are infamous for often lacking sufficient stability of their optical and spin properties. They take advantage of their UHV experimental conditions to understand the role of the diamond surface in defining these optical and spin properties for shallow NV sensors, as well as to better engineer the diamond surface with desired surface-chemistry. Another aspect of their current research involves two dimensional mapping of both static and dynamic magnetization profile of synthetic #antiferromagnets, 2D #superconductors, as well as nanoscale devices, using scanning probe #NVmagnetometer. The key idea here is to characterize their local nanoscale properties which are often obscured in conventional transport measurements. After providing a broad overview of the current research scopes in her experimental group, Singha will highlight on the current challenges and the opportunities in this vibrant field of research.    ⚛ #QBWColloquium with Prof. Aparajita Singha from Technische Universität Dresden 🗓️ July 30, 10-11 a.m.  📍 Allmandring 35, 70569 Stuttgart, Room 0.201  📹 Live stream: https://lnkd.in/deynpGxA 🎯 The aim of the colloquium hosted by Fraunhofer IAO is to promote scientific exchange on hardware and algorithmic topics in the field of #quantumcomputing as well as in #quantumsensing, to present the latest developments in this research area and to promote the idea of co-development of quantum solutions.   We're looking forward to meeting you on site or online! Registration is not needed.   Find more information on the colloquium and the initiative #QuantumBW here: https://lnkd.in/eHG3QpD7 QuantumBW is funded by the Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Handwerk und Tourismus Baden-Württemberg and the Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg.

"SAX-QT Quantum Saxony" meets "QuantumBW" We are pleased about this vibrant linkage through the expertise and activities on NV magnetometry of Prof. Dr. Aparajita Singha.

Excited to share our latest work in Nature Materials. Optical nonreciprocity, where light behaves differently depending on the direction of propagation, is typically associated with complex metamaterials, exotic media, or strong external fields. Our work began with a simple question: could the same functionality emerge from ordinary materials? The breakthrough came when my Ph.D. student, Thomas Ugras, recognized a previously overlooked prediction hidden in the mathematics of polarized light. We show that the interplay between chirality and linear anisotropy can generate nonreciprocal absorption and emission in common, solution-processable materials. Using self-assembled semiconductor nanoclusters, we demonstrate that identical polarized light incident on opposite faces of the same film can produce different optical responses. In one direction, the film preferentially interacts with one linear polarization; from the opposite side, the preferred polarization is reversed. The most surprising result is not the discovery of a new material, but the realization that a fundamentally new optical response can emerge from materials that researchers already know how to make. The discovery opens opportunities for photonics, optical encryption, polarization-based imaging, and quantum technologies. https://lnkd.in/g_cq-ihj https://lnkd.in/gPDmGEe2 #NatureMaterials #Photonics #Optics #MaterialsScience #Nanotechnology #QuantumScience #Cornell #Semiconductors #Chirality #Polarization