Special EE Seminar

Technologies of the future, including high-performance exascale computing, Internet-of-
Things, and integrated quantum information processing are limited by conventional device concepts.
Devices with excited states exceed electronic, optical and thermal limits using atom-by-atom
engineering. These systems are able to provide multiple functionalities in an ultra-compact, 3D
monolithically integrated architecture enabling highly energy ecient devices. This is simultaneously
relevant in consumer electronics and next-generation space-systems and satellites.
Excited state photonics and plasmonics finds a broad range of applications in biosensing, positioning,
navigation, and timing platforms, devices for quantum information processing as well as high resolution
imaging. In this seminar I will provide a fundamental understanding of plasmon driven hot carrier
generation and relaxation dynamics in the ultrafast (atto-picosecond) regime. I will report the first ab
initio calculations of phonon-assisted optical excitations in metals as well as calculations of energydependent
lifetimes and mean free paths of hot carriers, lending insight towards transport of
plasmonically-generated carriers at the nanoscale. In context of excited state quantum devices, I will
show results that probe the fundamental optical behavior of cavities coupled to the elaborate topology
of light-harvesting complexes. This understanding will enable rational control of photonic energy
transfer at the molecular scale using spatially programmable nanoscale materials inspired by natural
photosynthetic systems.
Application-specific, integrated device architectures at the atomic-scale can be achieved via 2D
materials and their corresponding van der Waals heterostructures with deterministic defect
engineering. I will give several examples of devices in the technologically important mid-long wave IR
spectral band based on vdW heterostructures. A particular application of these in space platforms and
space exploration that requires ultra-light optical components will be discussed in detail.
Finally, I will give an outlook on the potential of excited state and non-equilibrium phenomena to deliver
integrated quantum-engineered systems with diverse applications in quantum sensing and metrology,
ultra-low power optoelectronic and electronic devices as well as energy conversion.