Faculty

Tian Zhong

  • Assistant Professor of Molecular Engineering in the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
  • Research and Scholarly Interests: Quantum Photonics, Quantum Information, Quantum Networking, Solid-State Quantum Technologies
  • Websites: Zhong Lab
  • Contact: tzh@uchicago.edu
    773.834.4237
  • Assistant: Misha Maxey
  • Office Location:
    Eckhardt Research Center
    Room 291
    5640 South Ellis Avenue
    Chicago, IL 60637

Tian Zhong’s research focuses on developing enabling nanophotonic and molecular technologies for building an efficient, global-scale Quantum Internet. In the past decade, Prof. Zhong’s work has contributed to significant progress in nanoscale quantum network nodes and high-throughput quantum communication links interconnecting distant nodes. His efforts from atomic-molecular physics and photonics aspects converge to a vision to advance state-of-the-art quantum information technologies to bring Quantum Internet one step closer to reality.

Prof. Zhong has pioneered the field of rare-earth quantum nanophotonics. Rare-earth ion doped crystals are attractive quantum materials with exceptional coherence properties. By leveraging the modern photonic technologies, he has developed a versatile rare-earth nanophotonic platform that could enable scalable quantum optical networks.

Prof. Zhong was a postdoctoral fellow in the Institute of Quantum Information and Matter and the Department of Applied Physics and Material Science at the California Institute of Technology. He completed his PhD in Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2013. Before his PhD, he obtained his Master of Science degree at MIT in 2009 and finished his undergraduate studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore in 2007.

Zhong Lab focuses on developing enabling nanoscale photonic and molecular (e.g. rare-earth-ion doped crystals) technologies for building quantum hardware to realize an efficient, scalable quantum internet.

Positions are available for students and postdocs.

A Roadmap for Quantum Interconnects
D. D. Awschalom, H. Bernien, R. Brown, A. Clerk, E. Chitambar, A. Dibos, J. Dionne, M. Eriksson, B. Fefferman, G. Fuchs, et al. A Roadmap for Quantum Interconnects. United States. 2022. https://doi.org/10.2172/1900586. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1900586.

Epitaxial Er-doped Y2O3 on silicon for quantum coherent devices
M. K. Singh, A. Prakash, G. Wolfowicz, J. Wen, Y. Huang, T. Rajh, D. D. Awschalom, T. Zhong, S. Guha. Epitaxial Er-doped Y2O3 on silicon for quantum coherent devices. APL Materials. 2020. Vol. 8, Pg. 031111. 10.1063/1.5142611.

Epitaxial Er-doped Y2O3 on Silicon for Quantum Coherent Devices
APL Materials (March, 2020)

Subkilohertz optical homogeneous linewidth and dephasing mechanisms in Er3+:Y2O3 ceramics
R. Fukumori, Y. Huang, J. Yang, H. Zhang and T. Zhong. Phys. Rev. B 101, 214202 (2020) Editors' Suggestion

Emerging rare-earth doped material platforms for quantum nanophotonics
T. Zhong and Ph. Goldner. Nanophotonics (2019).

Optical addressing of single rare-earth ions in a nanophotonic cavity
T. Zhong, et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 183603 (2018)

Nanophotonic quantum memory with optically controlled retrieval
T. Zhong, et al. Science 357, 1392-1395 (2017)

On-chip storage of broadband photonic qubits in a cavity-protected rare-earth ensemble
T. Zhong, J. M. Kindem, J. Rochman, and A. Faraon, Nature Commun. 8, 14107 (2017).

High quality factor nanophotonic resonators in bulk rare-earth doped crystals
T. Zhong, J. Rochman, J. M. Kindem, and A. Faraon. Opt. Express 24, 536-544 (2016).

Non-destructive photon detection using a single rare earth ion coupled to a photonic cavity
C. O'Brien, T. Zhong, A.Faraon, and C. Simon, Phys. Rev. A. 94, 043807 (2016).

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