Event Type: IFIMAColloquium
Title: Quantum Nanophotonics with Free Electrons
When: Tuesday, 17th December, 2024, at 12:00h
Where: Conference Room, Module 00, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Speaker: Javier García de Abajo, ICREA Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, Barcelona, Spain.
At the intersection between electron microscopy and ultrafast optics, ultrafast electron microscopy has emerged as a research frontier aiming to investigate material excitations with an unprecedented combination of spatiotemporal resolution. In this context, we will discuss the fundamental principles ruling the interactions between free electrons, light, and photonic nanostructures, with an emphasis on exploring quantum aspects that include electron decoherence caused by coupling to radiative modes and the generation of quantum states of light. In particular, radiative decoherence could be potentially useful to sense the presence of distant objects and measure the vacuum temperature, while the study of quantum correlations between electrons and surface polaritons enables the generation of single and entangled photons heralded by the detection of electrons that have experienced specific amounts of energy losses and angular deflections.
Short Bio
Javier García de Abajo is an ICREA Research Professor and leader of the Nanophotonics Theory Group at ICFO–Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques in Barcelona. His interests include el ectron microscopy, light-matter interactions, quantum optics, condensed matter physics, ultrafast phenomena, and nanophotonics. His group applies theoretical and computational techniques to investigate new phenomena and explore their potential application in microscopy, sensing, and information processing. He has co-authored 400+ papers cited 63,000+ times with an h index of 121 (Google Scholar, Oct. 2024). He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, and the Electromagnetic Academy.
