Research & Publications

For a succinct list of my peer-reviewed work, please refer to my Google Scholar profile, or my C.V.

Principal Investigator work @ University of Oxford

Hybrid quantum interfaces between solid state spins and photons

The vast computational power promised by controlled quantum systems has motivated arrays of experimental efforts towards quantum systems engineering. In recent years, solid-state environments have become better controlled as settings for quantum systems, due to a more complete understanding of the complex environments in which information is stored and exchanged. This has opened up a number of possibilities for integrating these technologies in sensing, communication, and quantum computing applications.

Semiconductor spin-photon interfaces, such as quantum dots and defect centers in diamond, are versatile platforms with tremendous potential for scalable integration due to well-established semiconductor fabrication procedures in industry and academia, and due to the relative ease of integration with other components such as typical integrated circuits for electrical operations, or photonic waveguides for optical operations. They offer the current state-of-the-art for single photon generation, and serve as a testbed for various novel approaches to quantum networking. This work is foundational towards the construction of interfaces between stationary and flying quantum bits, as required for the development of a “quantum internet”, where entanglement is distributed between distant nodes

  • A many-body singlet prepared by a central spin qubit
    L. Zaporski, S. de Wit, T. Isogawa, M. Appel, C. Le Gall, M. Atatüre, D. Gangloff. (2023). arXiv:2301.10258
  • An optical interface for quantum networks
    D. Gangloff. (2022). Science 378, 473-474. Science

Postdoctoral work @ University of Cambridge

Interfacing quantum optics and mesoscopic spin physics in quantum dots

Quantum dots are ideal for quantum optical technologies as they emit single and entangled photons efficiently and host single electronic spins for logical operations. A historical barrier to further scaling of this system has been that the atoms making up the nanostructure all have non-zero nuclear spin and cause decoherence by interacting with the electron. In a major step towards reining in these nuclear spins, my team and I developed advanced laser cooling techniques enabling a game-changing level of noise reduction.

  • Ideal refocusing of an optically active spin qubit under strong hyperfine interactions
    L. Zaporski, N. Shofer, J. Bodey, S. Manna, G. Gillard, D. Jackson, M. Appel, C. Schimpf, S. Covre da Silva, J. Jarman, G. Delamare, G. Park, U. Haeusler, E. Chekhovich, A. Rastelli, D. Gangloff, M. Atatüre, C. Le Gall. (2023). Nature Nano (online). Nat Nano | arXiv:2206.01223 | Supplement: Phys.org, Wiener Zeitung
  • Optimal purification of a spin ensemble by quantum-algorithmic feedback
    D. Jackson*, U. Haeusler*, L. Zaporski, J. Bodey, N. Shofer, M. Hugues, E. Clarke, M. Atatüre, C. Le Gall, D. Gangloff. Physical Review X 12, 031014 (2022). PRX | arXiv.2111.04624
  • Witnessing quantum correlations in a nuclear ensemble via an electron spin qubit
    D. Gangloff*, L. Zaporski*,  J. Bodey*, C. Bachorz, D. Jackson, G. Éthier-Majcher, C. Lang, E. Clarke, M. Hugues, C. Le Gall, M. Atatüre. Nature Physics 17, 1247 (2021). Nat Phys | arXiv:2012.11279 | Supplement: Phys.org
  • Quantum sensing of a coherent single spin excitation in a nuclear ensemble
    D. Jackson*, D. Gangloff*, J. Bodey, L. Zaporski, C. Bachorz, E. Clarke, M. Hugues, C. Le Gall, M. Atatüre
    Nature Physics 17, 585 (2021). Nat Phys | arXiv:2008.09541 | Supplement: News & Views, Physics World, University of Cambridge Research News
  • Optical spin locking of a solid-state qubit
    J. Bodey, R. Stockill, E. Denning, D. Gangloff, G. Éthier-Majcher, D. Jackson, E. Clarke, M. Hugues, C. Le Gall, M. Atatüre
    npj Quantum Information 5, 95 (2019). npj QI | arXiv:1906.00427
  • Collective quantum memory activated by a driven central spin
    E. Denning, D. Gangloff, M. Atatüre, J. Mørk, and C. Le Gall
    Physical Review Letters 123, 140502 (2019). PRL | arXiv:1904.11180
  • Quantum interface of an electron and a nuclear ensemble
    D. Gangloff*, G. Éthier-Majcher*, C. Lang, E. Denning, J. Bodey, D. Jackson, E. Clarke, M. Hugues, C. Le Gall, M. Atatüre
    Science 364, 62-66 (2019). Science | arXiv:1812.07540 | Supplement: Science Perspective, Phys.org, University of Cambridge News, St John’s News
  • Improving a solid-state qubit through an engineered mesoscopic environment
    G. Éthier-Majcher*, D. Gangloff*, R. Stockill, E. Clarke, M. Hugues, C. Le Gall, M. Atatüre
    Physical Review Letters 119, 130503 (2017). PRL | arXiv:1706.07749 | Supplement: St John’s News

Coherent manipulation of spins in optically active diamond systems

Group IV vacancy defects in diamond (SiV, SnV, GeV, PbV) are a competitive architecture for spin-photon interfaces, owing to their highly coherent optical interface and excellent spin properties. Achieving these spin properties requires suppressing phonon-induced decoherence by lowering temperature; SiV becomes competitive at 100mK. Our group has recently shown that SnV, owing to its larger mass and spin-orbit splitting, performs equally well at 3K, bringing this defect center into the forefront with a much simpler cryogenic system.

  • Photonic indistinguishability of the tin-vacancy center in nanostructured diamond
    J. Arjona Martínez, R. Parker, K. Chen, C. Purser, L. Li, C. Michaels, A. Stramma, R. Debroux, I. Harris, M. Hayhurst Appel, E. Nichols, M. Trusheim, D. Gangloff, D. Englund, M. Atatüre. (2022). Physical Review Letters 129, 173603. PRL | arXiv:2206.15239
  • Quantum control of the tin-vacancy spin qubit in diamond
    R. Debroux*, C. Michaels*, C. Purser*, N. Wan, M. Trusheim, J. Arjona Martinez, R. Parker, A. Stramma, K. Chen, L. de Santis, E. Alexeev, A. Ferrari, D. Englund, D. Gangloff, M. Atatüre
    (2021). Physical Review X 11 (4), 041041. PRX | arXiv:2106.00723
  • Multidimensional cluster states using a single spin-photon interface coupled strongly to an intrinsic nuclear register
    C. Michaels*, J. Arjona Martinez*, R. Debroux*, R. Parker, A. Stramma, L. Huber, C. Purser, M. Atatüre, D. Gangloff
    (2021). Quantum 5, 565. Quantum | arXiv:2104.12619
  • Transform-limited photons from a coherent tin-vacancy spin in diamond
    M. Trusheim, B. Pingault, N. Wan, M. Gundogan, L. De Santis, R. Debroux, D. Gangloff, C. Purser, K. Chen, M. Walsh, J. Rose, J. Becker, B. Lienhard, E. Bersin, I. Paradeisanos, G. Wang, G. Malladi, D. Lyzwa, A. Montblanch, H. Bakhru, A. Ferrari, I. Walmsley, M. Atatüre, D. Englund
    Physical Review Letters 124, 023602 (2020). PRL | arXiv:1811.07777

PhD work @ MIT

Harnessing friction atom-by-atom with trapped ions in an optical lattice

Friction is a rough problem. Plus, some say it’s worth 5% of the GNP (that’s almost $1 trillion)! Yet the microscopic origins of the friction force and dissipation are still poorly understood. As part of my doctoral thesis, my team and I explored the physics of atomic-scale friction using a system of trapped atoms in contact with a standing wave of light, thereby simulating real materials in contact with one another.

Nanofriction with a chain of trapped ions dragged on an optical lattice (MIT News)

Single-atom quantum thermodynamics

In this work, we show that quantization fundamentally alters the character of a simple thermodynamic cycle, and propose a way to verify this with a cold trapped ion system.

  • Single-atom heat machines enabled by energy quantization
    D. Gelbwaser-Klimovsky, A. Bylinskii, D. Gangloff, R. Islam, A. Aspuru-Guzik, V. Vuletić
    Physical Review Letters 120, 170601 (2018). PRL | arXiv:1705.11180 | Supplement: Phys.org

Trapped atomic ions, systems

The work above involved a highly controllable system of trapped atomic ions in vacuum, used by other groups as a platform for quantum information science. We developed our own version:

  • Technologies for trapped-ion quantum information systems
    A. M. Eltony, D. Gangloff, M. Shi, A. Bylinskii, V. Vuletić, I. L. Chuang
    Quantum Information Processing 15, 5351 (2016). Springer | arXiv: 1502.05739
  • One-dimensional array of ion chains coupled to an optical cavity
    M. Cetina, A. Bylinskii, L. Karpa, D. Gangloff, K. Beck, Y. Ge, M. Scholz, A. Grier, I. Chuang, V. Vuletić
    New Journal of Physics 15, 053001 (2013). NJP | arXiv: 1302.2904

Mirror, mirror, who’s the fairest of them all

In collaboration with Ike Chuang’s group, we studied and developed techniques for fixing and preventing the degradation of high quality mirrors placed under vacuum in our systems:

  • Preventing and reversing vacuum-induced optical losses in high-finesse tantalum (V) oxide mirror coatings
    D. Gangloff*, M. Shi*, T. Wu*, A. Bylinskii, B. Braverman, M. Gutierrez, R. Nichols, J. Li, K. Aichholz, M. Cetina, L. Karpa, B. Jelenković, I. Chuang, V. Vuletić
    Optics Express 23, 18014 (2015). Optics Express | arXiv: 1505.03381

Narrower is better

Useful in the context of quantum information science and metrology, narrow linewidth lasers tend to be costly. Here we developed a technique for narrowing the linewidth of a commercial laser by 2 orders of magnitude

  • Passive intrinsic-linewidth narrowing of ultraviolet extended-cavity diode laser by weak optical feedback
    P. Samutpraphoot, S. Weber, Q. Lin, D. Gangloff, A. Bylinskii, B. Braverman, A. Kawasaki, C. Raab, W. Kaenders, V. Vuletić
    Optics Express 22, 11592 (2014). Optics Express | arXiv: 1402.6379

Undergraduate research work

Quantum error correction (IQC, Waterloo, Laflamme group)

We took up an old version of the 3-qubit quantum error correcting code, and demonstrated that a modern gradient-ascent optimization algorithm could improve the error-correction fidelity.

  • Experimental quantum error correction with high fidelity
    J. Zhang, D. Gangloff, O. Moussa, R. Laflamme
    Physical Review A 84, 1–4 (2011). PRA | arXiv: 1109.4821

Synaptic information transmission (uOttawa, Longtin group)

We simulated synaptic connections between neurons with simplified models accounting for plasticity, and found that for these models the information transmission was broadband, speaking against the intuition that plasticity should act as a filter

  • Broadband coding with dynamic synapses
    B. Lindner, D. Gangloff, A. Longtin, J. E. Lewis
    The Journal of Neuroscience 29, 2076–88 (2009). Journal of Neuroscience

* denotes in equal contributions