91°µÍø

Bio

Huan Zhao is a Wigner Distinguished Staff Fellow (Staff Scientist, Level 2) at 91°µÍø (ORNL). His research interests encompass spin-based quantum sensing, solid-state quantum light sources, optical imaging, and microelectronics. At ORNL, Huan's recent work focuses on Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) Magnetometer/Microscope and telecom-band solid-state single photon sources. Prior to joining ORNL, Huan was a Director's Postdoctoral Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and a research associate at California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC) in December, 2019.

Current Projects

Huan is actively hiring two postdocs to work on his current projects. Contact Huan directly if interested.

PI, for LDRD project "Telecom Quantum Emitters for Quantum Networks." The project, with total funding $722.5k, aims at developing cutting-edge solid-state quantum light sources, specifically tailored for critical roles in quantum information science. Huan's focus includes the creation of bright, site-specific, and polarization-defined telecom-wavelength quantum emitters, their integration with photonic structures, and the construction of spin-photon interfaces for quantum state transduction. Through this project, Huan will set up sophisticated near-infrared optical imaging, correlation measurements and spectroscopy capabilities, focusing on characterizing individual quantum light sources.

Technical contact, for Scanning NV Microscope. The Scanning NV Microscope combines a tiny quantum sensor (NV center) with an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) to simultaneously measure the sample's topography and its surface magnetic fields with nanoscale resolution. This advanced tool operates at temperatures ranging from 2K to 300K. Those interested in this technology are encouraged to submit a user proposal to CNMS at /facility/cnms/for-users/user-program-overview. For further information or detailed discussions, please reach out to Huan directly. Huan currently has 22 groups of active users from diverse research backgrounds.

co-PI, for LDRD project "Reconfigurable Quantum Networking with Wavelength-Multiplexed Single-Photon Emitters". In this $1.2M project, Huan focuses on developing single-photon emitters (SPEs) in the visible spectral range with optimized emissive properties. In collaboration with Dr. Hsuan-Hao Lu's team, Huan conducts quantum frequency conversion to shift the operating wavelength of the SPEs to the telecom band, and demonstrate real-world quantum networking applications across ORNL¡¯s campus fiber network.

co-PI, for LDRD project  "Co-design of Entanglement-Enhanced Quantum Sensing Protocols". In this $1.6M project, Huan and his postdocs collaborate with quantum theorists from Dr. Yan Wang's team to enhance quantum sensing performance by entangling the electron spin of diamond NV centers with nuclear spins. They will establish the hardware necessary for entanglement-enhanced sensing using ensemble NV centers.

co-PI (FY24) & Advisor (FY25), for LDRD project  "Foundations of Heterogeneous Quantum Systems". In this $2M project, Huan constructs a custom-built, low-temperature, wide-field/confocal NV microscope to serve as a quantum sensing platform for the ORNL quantum research community. This platform will also support various domain science applications, including biomedical imaging and magnetic imaging of novel materials.

Previous Projects

Huan has a diverse research background, with a bachelor's degree in physics, a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering, and postdoctoral experience in medical engineering, all of which have shaped his wide-ranging research interests. Before joining ORNL, Huan actively contributed to various research fields. (links of Huan's 1st-author publications are attached):

1. 2D Material-based Telecom-Wavelength Quantum Light Sources: Demonstrated the first 2D-material-based quantum light source suitable for telecom wavelengths (1.3 um O-band & 1.55 um C-band).

;    ;   ;  

2. Birefringent Optical Materials: Studied the optical properties of various birefringent optical materials, including the discovery of a material that exhibits the highest known broadband birefringence.

   Nat. Photon. 12, 392¨C396 (2018);    

3. Resistive Memory Device for Neuromorphic Systems: Pioneered the creation of the world's most energy-efficient resistive memory device (RRAM, also called memristor), which is promising for neuromorphic computing.

Advanced Materials 29.47 (2017): 1703232;    

4, Study of Material Properties and Light-matter Interactions :Investigated the light-matter interactions of various novel materials, including the investigations of excitons, phonons, polaritons, hot carriers, etc using optical spectroscopy, pump-probe technique, and electrical measurements. Studied the mechanical engineering of 2D layered materials, including stacking, strain engineering, folding, etc. 

; (Collaboration with late Prof. Ahmed Zewail, "father of femtochemistry" and Nobel laureate)

;    

About Wigner Distinguished Staff Fellowship

See /careers/distinguished-fellowships for a detailed description of the program.

Named in honor of Eugene Wigner, a 1963 Nobel Laureate and the first Director of Research and Development at ORNL, the Wigner Fellowship is ORNL's most longstanding fellowship and most prestigious staff fellowship for early-career researchers. The Wigner distinguished staff fellowship is awarded to 0-2 outstanding early-career scientists each year, offering them a chance to enhance their scientific expertise, develop a long-term career at ORNL, and build their research portfolios. Fellows are hired as independent, "permanent" research staff, similar to endowed assistant professorship at a university. 

Professional Experience

12/04/2023 -                         Eugene P. Wigner Distinguished Staff Fellow, 91°µÍø.         

01/03/2023 - 12/03/2023      Postdoc, Caltech Optical Imaging Laboratory, Department of Medical Engineering, Caltech. 

09/09/2019 - 01/02/2023      Director¡¯s Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory. 
 

Awards

06/2024       Supplemental Performance Award (SPA) for "Significant Achievement", 91°µÍø (Huan was the only awardee from CNMS division in Q2, FY24; Huan got the award within 7 months of service at ORNL)

07/2023       Eugene P. Wigner Distinguished Staff Fellowship, 91°µÍø (~0-2 awardees worldwide per year)

09/2019       Director¡¯s Postdoctoral Fellowship, Los Alamos National Laboratory (<5%)

10/2018       ¹ú¼ÒÓÅÐã×Ô·ÑÁôѧÉú½±Ñ§½ð

09/2014       Viterbi Dean¡¯s Doctoral Fellowship, USC (< 5%, four-year fellowship)

Education

08/05/2014 ~ 12/18/2019      PhD, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California. 

09/01/2010 ~ 06/30/2014      Bachelor¡¯s degree in Physics (School of Physics; Kuang Yaming Honors School), Nanjing University

Professional Service

• Invited speaker for conferences: APS, MRS, SPIE Photonics West, etc.
• Journal reviewer for: Science Advances, Advanced Materials, Nano Letters, Nano Energy; Scientific Reports; Advanced Optical Materials; Nanophotonics; 91°µÍø Optical and Quantum Electronics; 91°µÍø Transactions on Nanotechnology, 91°µÍø International Conference on Nanotechnology, etc.
• Grant reviewer for NSF, DOE, etc.
• Co-organizer, "Quantum Light Emitters and Photonic Heterogeneous Integration" special session, 15th International Conference on Metamaterials, Photonic Crystals and Plasmonics (META 2025), Malaga, Spain, 2025
• Workshop organizer, "Single Photon Emitters and Spin-Based Quantum Sensors,¡± Oak Ridge, 2024
• Primary guest editor, Nanophotonics "Quantum Light Source" special issue, 2024-2025.
• Session Chair, 2024 APS Annual Meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Section, Session: Quantum 2.
• Session Chair, 2022 APS March Meeting, Session T72: New Approaches for Spins and Emitters.
• President, Los Alamos Chinese Students and Scholars Association (2020-2022). The association is dedicated to fostering networking and career development opportunities for Chinese students and scholars in northern New Mexico area. Huan¡¯s leadership in fundraising $15,000 to support vulnerable local communities during the COVID-19 pandemic was honored by New Mexico Magazine as ¡°¡±

Specialized Equipment

1. Near-infrared Optical Imaging, Spectroscopy, and Photon Correlation Measurements: Fluorescence imaging and optical characterizations at low T and room T, with various CW and pulsed laser excitations. Detectors: Liquid cooled 1D and 2D InGaAs Diode array covering 900¨C1600 nm spectral range; Quantum optics tools: superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detection System, Time-tagged/time-correlated single photon counting, etc.
2. Qnami ProteusQ? Scanning NV Microscope: The Qnami ProteusQ is a complete quantum microscope system. It is the first scanning NV (nitrogen-vacancy) microscope for the analysis of magnetic materials at the atomic scale. By combining NV magnetometry and scanning probe microscopy techniques into a single instrument, scanning NV magnetometry provides simultaneous acquisition of the sample's topography and its surface magnetic fields with nanoscale resolution. At present, we support operations at room temperature, with plans to install a low-temperature system later in 2024.

Publications

Other Publications