Eesha Banerjee awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for research in quantum optics

Eesha Banerjee, PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, was awarded a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for research in the area of quantum optics. Specifically, she is building an atomic mirror using collective effects in ytterbium arrays, with the goal of creating cavity systems fully out of atoms.

According to Banerjee, understanding and manipulating light-matter interactions has been a major research objective in quantum optics, and her research fits into this general area of investigation.

“Experiments investigating light-matter interactions in atomic systems have resulted in many important observations of quantum phenomena,” explains Banerjee, “including nonclassical statistics of light and strong coupling of single photons to atoms in cavity QED systems. 

“The rapid growth of research activity in quantum science over the last few decades has seen the translation of insights and techniques from atomic physics into platforms for quantum networks, quantum sensors, quantum computers, and other quantum technologies.”

“These advancements have in turn resulted in a renewed interest in understanding light-matter interactions in the single-quantum regime. Fundamental questions about the behavior of atoms and light now serve the twofold purpose of deepening knowledge of quantum phenomena and opening new frontiers in quantum technologies.”

In order to bridge the gap between the qubit technologies of today and the quantum architectures of the future, we need to build scalable quantum platforms.

Eesha Banerjee

“One such inquiry of particular interest is the collective behavior of atoms in closely spaced atomic arrays. As a result of interactions between atoms, atoms in arrays experience cooperative effects that can alter their radiative behavior. Understanding and engineering the radiative response of atomic arrays could enable novel quantum optical experiments to perform detailed probes of atom-photon interactions and serve as a foundation for new quantum optics platforms.”

To accomplish this goal, Banerjee will be creating a fully atomic mirror that could be utilized for both quantum technology architectures and novel studies of single quantum light-matter interactions. Part of that work involves demonstrating cooperative subradiance using an array of ytterbium (Yb) atoms. She is using Yb atoms because they are suitable for modular quantum architectures.

“In order to bridge the gap between the qubit technologies of today and the quantum architectures of the future, we need to build scalable quantum platforms,” said Banerjee. “The study and utilization of collective effects in Yb arrays serves a key role in the development of practical quantum processors, while also opening up a rich space of possibilities both in fundamental light-matter interaction studies and quantum many-body physics.”

Banerjee works with Prof. Alex Burgers in the Quantum Optics Lab. She received her bachelor’s degree in physics and in computer science and engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.