MRI: Track 1 Development of a quantum scanning near field optical microscope (q-SNOM) for research in quantum materials

This Major Research Instrumentation award supports Columbia University with the development of a quantum nano-scope (q-SNOM), a unique imaging and spectroscopy instrument with capabilities to measure true quantum coherent properties of the next generation of materials and on-the-chip devices. The most significant novel experiments enabled by the proposed apparatus are the witnessing, verifying, and quantifying of quantum coherence in materials, heterostructures and molecular systems at the native length scales of all these phenomena. The apparatus is designed as a user-friendly instrument and will be made available to research groups within and outside Columbia through established protocols at shared user facilities operated by Columbia Nano Initiative. The q-SNOM project will have multifaceted research and training impacts. The quantum nano-scope will enhance research not only at Columbia but also at several universities in the New York City area extending to Stony Brook University. At the larger national level, the experiments enabled by quantum nano-scope are unique and will address pressing open problems leading to high-impact results in the field of quantum science and technology. Also, the q-SNOM will aid the competitiveness of US companies in the quantum area. Specifically, the project includes industrial partners at Cryogenic Industries, Renaissance Scientific and RHK, government laboratories and in the emerging quantum industry. Finally, the award creates a unique training ground for graduate students and summer undergraduate students within the Columbia-Howard Research Experience for Undergraduates program in a project requiring innovation in optics, quantum metrology, and mechanical solutions. The objective of this MRI project is to develop an entirely novel scanning probe nano-optical apparatus: the quantum scattering near-field optical microscope (q-SNOM), which will enable previously impossible inquiries into quantum correlations in quantum materials at deeply subdiffractional nanometer length scales. The q-SNOM will provide unobstructed access to electron-photon states formed by material excitations and entangled photons. Information on quantum coherence and dephasing effects in materials encoded in the properties of emitted or scattered photons will be readily accessible. Moreover, the q-SNOM offers the means to investigate the properties of quantum emitters and correlated photon waveguides at the nanoscale in the setting of on-chip structures, thus empowering both fundamental and applied advances. Q-SNOM will be a stable research instrument readily manageable by users with minimum experience with conventional SNOMs and broadly accessible as a shared-use tool at CNI-Columbia. The q-SNOM will extend the reach of the quantum optics toolbox to the nanoscale. The immediate impact will be in research in molecular systems, technologically important quantum dots and quantum materials. Once deployed in real applications producing publishable results, q-SNOM is likely to become a standard tool in multidisciplinary quantum research, enabling new experiments in physics, chemistry and engineering with an impact on par with that of its classical predecessor. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.