Laucht works on the quantum control of spins across two platforms: donor spin qubits in silicon (with Morello and Dzurak), where he demonstrated electrically-driven single-spin control in a continuous microwave field and pioneered dressed-state protection against decoherence; and, more recently, spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride — a 2D material whose optically addressable spin defects are the most promising candidate for a van der Waals analogue of the NV centre, with the enormous advantage that the sensor can be placed a single atomic layer from the sample. Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work — DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity — hBN spin defects are the field's most active attempt to beat the standoff-distance limitation that caps near-surface NV ensemble sensitivity; a candidate with NV ODMR experience would be immediately productive here, running the same pulse sequences on a new defect. Strong fit.
Oulton's group develops nanophotonic devices, including quantum emitters and exciton-polariton systems in 2D semiconductors and solid-state quantum light sources, aiming at scalable quantum photonic technologies.
Studies atomically thin 2D quantum materials and their sensing applications. Directions: (1) tr-ARPES and ultrafast spectroscopy of non-equilibrium electronic dynamics in TMDs and graphene heterostructures; (2) 2D material nanophotonic devices for light sensing and emission; (3) wafer-scale CVD growth of hBN, MoS2, WSe2 for integrated quantum devices; (4) scanning probe characterization of local optical and electronic properties. Key tool: time-resolved photoemission as ultrafast electronic structure sensing.
The Stern Group explores fundamental quantum interactions of photons with 2D materials, nano-scale structures, and atoms. Key thrusts: (1) Valley-selective exciton-polaritons in monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (MoS₂, MoSe₂, WSe₂) embedded in optical microcavities — hybrid light-matter quasiparticles with valley-selective polarization and cavity-modified dynamics; (2) 2D semiconductor quantum emitters — quantum-dot-like single-photon emitters formed by confinement in TMD nanoribbons and by chemical functionalization/strain engineering of defects; (3) Astrophotonics: collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory and the Australian Astronomical Observatory to design and fabricate silicon ring-resonator photonic circuits for OH sky-background suppression in near-IR astronomical spectrographs; (4) Quantum non-reciprocal photonics in axisymmetric microresonators. Experimental tools: time-resolved spectroscopy, single-photon counting, nanofabrication. DOE Early Career Award; ONR Young Investigator Award; Sloan Research Fellow 2013. Affiliated with Fermilab-Northwestern CAPST.
Uses MBE thin-film growth combined with equilibrium and non-equilibrium ARPES to sense electronic structure at material interfaces. Directions: (1) non-equilibrium photoemission (tr-ARPES) to map ultrafast electron dynamics in topological and superconducting materials; (2) MBE engineering of interfacial superconductivity and topological orders at oxide and chalcogenide interfaces; (3) light-induced phase transitions probed by ultrafast ARPES as a sensing modality for correlated electron dynamics.