QuEST

QuEST: Educating tomorrow’s European researchers in silicon quantum electrodynamics at the deep nanoscale.

Explore the deep nanoscale

Recent breakthroughs have shown that silicon nanostructures with critical dimensions in the range of 1-10 nm - which we refer to as the deep nanoscale - are now accessible for the combination of optical, mechanical, and electronic physics experiments.

This forms the basis for the vision of QUEST: A highly ambitious research training program with the objectives to explore and exploit the confluence of optics, mechanics, and electronics at the deep nanoscale.

We will combine advanced numerical design with quantum theory to measure the mechanical forces resulting from quantum vacuum fluctuations, explore novel emitters and fast electron interactions to probe the properties of photonic cavities, develop new device concepts in optomechanics, and push the frontier of semiconductor material growth and fabrication nanotechnology.

Join the future of European quantum research

The QuEST doctoral network will design and fabricate optical nanocavities with extreme light confinement and embedded color centers for electronic interactions as well as designable vibrations and controllable tuning via electromechanical actuation.

In combination with advanced experimental techniques, we will leverage this material platform for next-generation quantum technology based on silicon quantum electrodynamics at the deep nanoscale.

This highly interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial undertaking brings together research groups from across Europe to educate a new generation of doctoral candidates in the full stack of skills needed in silicon quantum photonics technologies, including theory, modeling, design, material growth, nanofabrication, and a wide range of experimental techniques - as well as communication, collaboration, and leadership skills.

Build your future alongside 14 other PhD students in our highly collaborative network across Europe starting in the spring of 2027.

Materials and fabrication for the deep nanoscale

PhD 1:

Epitaxial growth

Work on high-purity silicon epitaxy and hybrid epitaxy for localized ion implantation.

PI: Moritz Brehm,
Johannes Kepler University, Linz

phd 2:

Ion implantation

Work on isotopic engineering of colour centres as deterministic and scalable single-photon and spin-controlled emitters.

PI: Yonder Berencén,
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

phd 3:

Extreme nanofabrication

Work with extreme nanofabrication of quantum light sources based on spectral and spatial alignment of colour centres to silicon bowtie cavities.

PI: Ali Nawaz Babar,
Lizard Photonics

phd 4:

Surface passivation

Work on novel surface passivation strategies and the use of surface forces for nanoscale self-assembly.

PI: Ali Nawaz Babar,
Lizard Photonics

Experiments at the deep nanoscale

phd 5:

Free electron-light interaction in silicon

Work on establishing integrated silicon photonic devices as a platform to interface optical modes with a free-electron beam for unprecedented electron-light coupling.

PI: Claus Ropers,
Max Planck Institut für multidisziplinäre Naturwissenschaften

phd 6:

Electron beam control in silicon photonics

Work on hybrid quantum photonic devices to combine confined optical modes with local quantum systems using electron beams.

PI: Armin Feist,
Max Planck Institut für multidisziplinäre Naturwissenschaften

phd 7:

Casimir Polder force in silicon nanostructures

Work on high-accuracy Casimir-Polder force measurements with photonic crystals.

PI: Gabriel Dutier,
Université Sorbonne Paris Nord

phd 8:

Cavity QED with molecular gases

Work on interfacting molecular gases with silicon nanostructures for fundamental tests of quantum physics.

PI: Athanasios Laliotis,
Université Sorbonne Paris Nord

Phd 9:

Nonlinear Casimir-Optomechanics with silicon nanophotonic cavities

Work on mechanical nonlinearities for dynamical coupling in cavity optomechanics.

Pi: Daniel Navarro Urrios,
Universitat de Barcelona

phd 10:

Experimental engineering of mechanical degrees of freedom in single quantum emitters

Work on enhanced light-matter interaction at the deep nanoscale to probe the internal vibrational degrees of freedom of single organic molecules embedded in molecular crystals.

PI: Costanza Toninelli,
European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy

phd 11:

Quantum optical measurements of extreme light-matter interaction

Work on extreme light-matter interaction of emitters confined in cavities with deep-subwavelength confinement of light.

PI: Søren Stobbe,
Technical University of Denmark

Theory and simulation of the deep nanoscale

phd 12:

Numerical time-domain simulations of particles in electromagnetic fields

Work on modelling and simulation of individual multilevel emitters interacting with complex and deep nanoscale silicon structures.

PI: Kurt Busch,
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

phd 13:

Theory of fluctuation induced phenomena in silicon nanostructures

Work on numerical and analytical methods to describe fluctuation-induced phenomena with atoms or molecules at the deep nanoscale.

PI: Francesco Intravaia,
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

phd 14:

Theory and design of quantum optical cavities with deep subwavelength confinement

Work on quantum optical models for light-matter interaction in optical cavities with deep subwavelength
confinement.

PI: Philip Trøst Kristensen,
Technical University of Denmark

phd 15:

Modelling of dissipative nanomechanical systems

Work on modelling of dissipative nanomechanical resonators and apply it to understand the physics and inform the design of nanoscale optomechanical systems.

PI: Philip Trøst Kristensen,
Technical University of Denmark