Professor Robert Taylor

Abstract:

We investigate nontrivial surface effects on the optical properties of self-assembled crystalline GaN nanotubes grown on Si substrates. The excitonic emission is observed to redshift by ∼100 meV with respect to that of bulk GaN. We find that the conduction band edge is mainly dominated by surface atoms, and that a larger number of surface atoms for the tube is likely to increase the bandwidth, thus reducing the optical bandgap. The experimental findings can have important impacts in the understanding of the role of surfaces in nanostructured semiconductors with an enhanced surface/volume ratio.

Abstract:

Whether many-body objects like organic molecules can exhibit full quantum behaviour, including entanglement, is an open fundamental question. We present a generic theoretical protocol for entangling two organic molecules, such as dibenzoterrylene in anthracene. The availability of organic dye molecules with two-level energy structures characterised by sharp and intense emission lines are characteristics that position them favourably as candidates for quantum information processing technologies involving single-photons. Quantum entanglement can in principle be generated between several organic molecules by carefully interfering their photoluminescence spectra. Major milestones have been achieved in the last 10 years showcasing entanglement in diverse systems including ions, cold atoms, superconductors, photons, quantum dots and NV-centres in diamond, but not yet in molecules.