Event Type: IFIMAColloquium
Title: Reconfigurable Quantum Matter and Quantum Light
When: Friday, 20th February, 2026, at 12:00h
Where: Sala de Grados, Building C, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Speaker: Brian Gerardot, Institute for Photonics and Quantum Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK
Manipulating electronic and optical states is fundamental to quantum science and technology. Here, I show how quantum states can be programmed in situ through control of symmetry, electrostatics, and optical mode structure.
I first focus on reconfigurable quantum matter in two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors. In artificially R-stacked bilayer WSe₂, lattice relaxation and strain generate switchable ferroelectric domains with built-in polarization fields that modify the local electronic and excitonic landscape. Intersections between these domains act as nanoscale potential minima that spatially confine interlayer excitons, giving rise to highly tunable, electro-mechanically switchable quantum dots that can be dynamically repositioned within the material.
I then turn to reconfigurable quantum light, where programmability is shifted from the material platform to the optical interface, enabling controlled quantum interference between multiple, spatially separated solid-state quantum emitters. Here, we introduce a wavefront-shaping approach that enables interference from multiple indistinguishable quantum dots on the same chip. Using programmable spatial light modulators, we independently excite, collect, and route emission from spatially distinct yet spectrally degenerate dots. Scaling from two to five indistinguishable emitters, we verify interference through cooperative-emission phenomena and Hong–Ou–Mandel two-photon interference, establishing a route to programmable quantum photonic architectures. Taken together, these approaches point toward programmable architectures in which quantum matter and quantum light can be flexibly controlled and interconnected.
