Sustainable education in the age of the second quantum revolution: fifteen years of the University of Rochester National Science Foundation supported efforts

Abstract

Quantum optics/quantum information and nano-optics educational laboratory facility (QNOL) at the University of Rochester (UR) is located within three rooms of the Institute of Optics with a total area of 587 ft 2 . Four teaching labs were prepared on the generation and characterization of entangled and single (antibunched) photons demonstrating the laws of quantum mechanics: (1) entanglement and Bell's inequalities, (2) single-photon interference (Young's double slit experiment and Mach-Zehnder interferometer), (3) single-photon source I: confocal fluorescence microscopy of single nanoemitters, and (4) single-photon source II: a Hanbury Brown and Twiss setup, fluorescence antibunching. We also describe a coherent undergraduate educational program in nanoscience/nanoengineering at the UR based on the QNOL and Integrated Nanosystems Center resources. From 2006 to May 2023, a total of ~900 students have utilized the quantum/nano labs for lab report submission (including 144 Monroe Community College students) and more than 300 students have used them for lab demonstrations. These two projects have three main outcomes: (1) developing a curriculum and offering the Certificate in Nanoscience and Nanoengineering; (2) creating an exemplary model of collaboration in quantum/nanotechnology between a university with state-of-the-art, expensive experimental facilities and a nearby two-year community college; and (3) developing universally accessible "hands-on" experiments (minilabs) on quantum/nanophotonics, learning materials, and pedagogical methods. The inexpensive mini-labs described herein can be adopted in small colleges. All developed materials and students' reports are available at http://www.optics.rochester.edu/workgroups/lukishova/QuantumOpticsLab/. Two papers in a special issue of Optical Engineering describe these two programs with more details: