Wayne Knox, PhD - US grants

0420888
Stroud

The objective of this research is to develop instrumentation supporting and enhancing research efforts in three University of Rochester departments in the field of quantum optics, quantum information, nanotechnology, and microscopy. The instrumentation will allow the production, detection, and characterization of individual photons interacting with matter. It will consist of three modules: a single-photon-on-demand source, high-speed single-photon detectors with 10% efficiency at optical communications wavelengths, and a high-speed photon statistics analyzer that can operate with 8 ps time resolution. These state-of-the-art facilities will support research in the Institute of Optics, the departments of Physics and Astronomy, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the Center for Quantum Information. The PIs will collaborate in this project with BBN Technologies, which is building the world's first absolutely secure quantum key distribution network.

The intellectual merit of this proposal is that it provides essential instrumentation supporting research in some of the most promising new fields of technology: quantum information processing, quantum communications, and nanoscience. All of these involve the controlled interaction of the smallest units of light with the smallest units of matter: single photons interacting with single molecules. The facilities developed in this project will allow work at the University of Rochester to progress in all of these fields. The broader impact toward which this research is aimed is the development of quantum computers exponentially more powerful than any classical computer, the development of communication systems secure from any known method of eavesdropping, and miniaturization of medical and diagnostic instrumentation to the nanometer scale.

Physics (13). This project is an interdisciplinary Quantum Optics Laboratory for the Science/Engineering Undergraduate Curriculum. It leverages the resources of current teaching laboratories of the Institute of Optics, Department of Physics & Astronomy, and the Center for Quantum Information. It creates experiments and supporting materials that help students better understand the superposition, interference, wave-particle duality, and nonlocality principle in quantum mechanics. It provides a modern view using the instrumentation of quantum-information technology. Major teaching experiments include (1) entanglement and Bell's inequalities; (2) single-photon interference; and (3) single-photon source. Photonic based quantum computing, quantum cryptography, and quantum teleportation are outlined in the course text-books as possible applications of photonic quantum mechanics. The project includes faculty from a community college that provides a two-year degree program for training technicians to work in the optical industry. Both formative and summative evaluation methods are used in project assessment with evaluation coordinated by a faculty member of the graduate School of Education. Intellectual merit: The project addresses one of the most challenging concepts of modern physics in science and engineering education that is now being applied to important technological problems and familiarizes the future workforce with these new ideas as well as provides them with hands-on experience in photon-counting instrumentation currently widely used in many technological areas. Broader impact: The project directly impacts a group of students with diverse backgrounds and is disseminated with similar course instructors from other universities, in educational journals, by student publication and presentations, an interactive workshop, and a book on quantum-optics teaching experiments.

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project enables the development of laser-induced refractive index change (LIRIC) for non-invasive vision correction in cornea and hydrogel materials. In the United States, 150 million adults use some form of vision correction, and this number is projected to increase steadily with the aging population. LIRIC has the potential to transform how laser refractive surgery is performed and how hydrogel-based solutions (e.g., contact lenses, intraocular lenses) are produced. For use in the cornea, LIRIC is a process that can alter the optical quality of the cornea without cutting, ablating or removing tissue. Also, only a thin layer of the cornea is treated, which allows a patient to continuously adjust their optics as their prescription changes over their lifetime. This is vastly different from current laser refractive surgery techniques, which are highly invasive and do not allow for future adjustment. In hydrogel materials, traditional manufacturing techniques use diamond-turned molds to achieve desired lens shape. LIRIC can change the production paradigm by enabling just-in-time manufacturing, reducing inventory costs. Additionally, because arbitrary refractive corrections are achievable with LIRIC, patients will be able to receive prescriptions with customized corrections. This capability is unavailable using today's typical manufacturing methods.

The intellectual merit of this project resides in operating an ultrafast femtosecond laser below the damage threshold to modify the refractive index of corneal or hydrogel material. By dynamically changing laser parameters (power and/or scan velocity), it is possible to create arbitrary refractive-index profiles in cornea or hydrogel, enabling the optical correction of myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, presbyopia and higher order aberrations. Research objectives for this proposal are centered around the optimization of the LIRIC process. By investigating the impact of laser parameters and optical design of the laser delivery system, it will be possible to enhance the efficacy and safety of in-vivo LIRIC. In addition, visual performance will also be assessed in eyes wearing LIRIC contact lenses. By correcting the eye's wavefront aberrations, LIRIC optical devices are expected to significantly improve visual quality in patients beyond the capacity of currently available techniques.