CQD Student awarded the Imperial Stevenson fund

I was awarded the Imperial Stevenson fund, which is aimed at assisting and encouraging female scientists. The fund allows students in under-represented disciplines to undertake a three month international research placement with a leading female scientist. I chose to join Pascale Senellart’s Quantum Dot group in Paris and spent three months working with the solid state photon source team. Pascale’s photon sources are world-leading and it was an incredible opportunity to learn about their fabrication, alignment and operation first-hand.

During my placement I helped rebuild the photon source, which consists of a quantum dot inside a gated micropilllar cavity, to minimize all forms of loss, and worked towards a high-brightness, high-indistinguishability single photon source. Not only did I learn a lot about quantum optics and solid state physics, but it was a great to see how a different research group operates and gain a different insight into scientific research. I am hoping to return to Paris for a few weeks later in the year to continue working with the photon sources and generate exotic entangled states of light.