Mobility Edge in Topological Photonic Integrated Circuits (ME ToPIC)

Anderson localization is a fundamental quantum phenomenon in nature, predicted more than sixty years ago, to explain the one particle transport mechanism behind metal-insulator phase transitions in solid-state systems.

Recent advances of ultracold atoms and photonic materials opened up new platforms to explore such localization phenomena.

Mobility edge, which can separate extended and localized states in the energy spectrum, is the key concept to understand the localization physics, especially in low-dimensional systems. In this project, I will study the mobility edge physics using integrated photonics platform.

The platform I suggest offers a more scalable and precise way to modulate the lattice parameter at room temperature compared to the atomic system.

More importantly, particle statistics induced quantum correlation can be observed by using multi-photon state excitation.

The project will give experimental evidences to fundamental questions in ME physics: Is it possible that extended states exist when the disorder level reaches a certain threshold? Can a system hold multiple MEs? What is the role of bosonic coalescence in quantum transport?

Answering these questions in ME ToPIC delivers in depth understanding of quantum localization, and the developed technology of controlling and detecting photons over a large scale of spatial modes and hybrid integration will definitely open up new possibilities for research and applications, such as on-chip analog quantum computing and quantum sensing, in the field of quantum integrated photonics.