Quantum Nano-Optics and Sensing - Habilitationsvortrag

by Assegid Flatae (Uni Siegen)

Thursday 23 Apr 2026, 16:00 → 17:00 Europe/Berlin

ENC-D-114 (ENC)

Emerging quantum technologies are driving advances in information processing, sensing, metrology, and energy applications. Nanophotonic devices play a central role by enabling precise control of light–matter interactions at the quantum level. Under ambient conditions, however, photon interactions with single quantum systems remain weak, and many quantum phenomena at nanometer and femtosecond scales are still poorly understood.

The talk will focus on nanoscale quantum optics, exploring the fundamental physics and experimental techniques for controlling interactions between a few photons and sub-wavelength matter. I will present nanophotonic structures and advanced spectroscopic techniques that allow precise control of solid-state single-photon sources, including colloidal quantum dots and diamond color centers. These approaches enhance radiative decay rates by over three orders of magnitude, enabling ultrafast, bright single-photon generation under ambient conditions.

In addition to serving as photostable quantum light sources, color centers in diamond act as highly sensitive quantum sensors. I will discuss a spectroscopic approach that avoids perturbative fields and exploits the electric dipole for vector magnetometry and nanoscale thermometry, with potential applications in biomedical imaging and quantum materials characterization. These platforms also allow directional photon extraction and electrical driving, representing a major step toward scalable quantum photonic devices.