Colloquium: Mack Kira, University of Michigan
Quantum Lightwave Optoelectronics
Event Details:
- Date: March 31, 2026
- Time: 3:45 - 4:45 PM
- Location: 1080 Physics Research Building
- Faculty Host: Sasha Landsman
Abstract
Lightwave electronics (LWE) is an emerging approach to classical and quantum information processing that leverages intense optical-carrier waves as ultrafast biasing fields to drive the quantum flow of electronic coherences at speeds far exceeding a single oscillation cycle. By driving and reading out semiconductor quantum states within a fraction of an optical period, LWE opens a route to controlling multi-electron dynamics at petahertz rates, far beyond the operating speeds of today’s electronics and qubit platforms. In this presentation, I will introduce the key ideas behind LWE and highlight recent theory–experiment advances demonstrating strong-field, sub-cycle control of multi-electron quantum states and information in semiconductors. I will also discuss how LWE can impact scalable Quantum Photonic Integration and Deployment (QuPID), the ability to detect previously undetectable phenomena, the timing of electronic correlation events with attosecond precision, and quantum information processing that exceeds the speed of current classical and quantum computers by millions of times.
Bio
Mackillo (Mack) Kira is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, with a joint appointment in Physics. He develops predictive many-body and quantum optics theory to quantitatively analyze and guide experiments and to accelerate device breakthroughs in quantum science and technology. Working closely with experimental collaborators, his research has advanced semiconductor quantum optics, quantum photonics an optoelectronics, lightwave electronics, quantum spectroscopy, and ultrafast coherent phenomena, including the development of the quantum dynamics cluster expansion approach and discoveries such as dropletons, quasiparticle accelerator, attoclock for quasiparticles, and exciton switch. He is Co-Director of U M’s Quantum Research Institute (QRI), Director of the Midwest Quantum Collaboratory (MQC), and Director of the NSF National Quantum Virtual Laboratory (NQVL) Center for Quantum Photonic Integration and Deployment (QuPID). He earned his Ph.D. (1996) from Helsinki University of Technology, held postdoctoral positions at Philipps University Marburg and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, served as a Professor of Physics at the University of Marburg (2002–2016), and joined U-M in 2016. [More information]