Prof. Emmanuel Paspalakis
University of Patras, Greece
Title of the paper: Controlling Quantum Dots in a Phonon Bath: Shortcuts, Learning, and Spectrum-Aware Decoupling
Abstract: This work presents several methodologies for modeling and controlling the dynamics of electromagnetically driven semiconductor quantum dots under acoustic-phonon noise. First, I show that shortcut-to-adiabaticity (STA) pulses, electromagnetic controls with engineered time-dependent Rabi frequencies and detunings, enable high-fidelity population transfer to exciton and biexciton manifolds despite phonon-induced dephasing. Using the time-evolving matrix product operator (TEMPO) algorithm to capture non-Markovian dynamics, we obtain efficient ground-to-exciton transfer for temperatures below ~20 K with pulse durations up to ~10 ps; at elevated temperatures, sub-picosecond, STA pulses maintain strong exciton creation. A Bloch-type equation derived from a generalized Lindblad model explains the low-temperature trends and clarifies when Markovian descriptions suffice. For biexciton preparation, TEMPO calculations show robust transfer over a wide temperature range with smaller or equal to 1 ps pulses, and we compare these results with a corresponding Nakajima–Zwanzig master-equation treatment. Second, I demonstrate that physics-informed neural networks learn solutions of both Lindblad and Nakajima–Zwanzig master equations for phonon-coupled dots and can infer bath parameters from sparse, noisy data - offering a data-efficient route to model calibration. Finally, I introduce spectrum-aware dynamical decoupling: optimizing π-pulse timings for the dot’s cubic-with-Gaussian-cutoff spectral density yields sequences that outperform Uhrig decoupling and extend qubit lifetimes. Together, these results form a practical toolkit: pulse engineering, non-Markovian simulation, machine learning, and noise-tailored decoupling for single-photon and entangled-photon sources and for robust qubits.
Bio: Emmanuel Paspalakis is a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and current Dean of the School of Natural Sciences at the University of Patras. He holds a BSc (1994, top of class) and MSc (1996) in Physics from the University of Crete, and a PhD (1999) in theoretical quantum optics and quantum control from the Department of Physics at Imperial College London under the supervision of Professor Sir Peter L. Knight FRS. He subsequently worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Imperial College before joining the University of Patras in 2001. He has also served as Vice-Chair and Chair of the Department for a combined total of 11 years.
His research covers theoretical and computational quantum science, including quantum optics, quantum control, quantum nanophotonics, nonlinear quantum optics, and quantum technologies. More recently, he has explored the integration of artificial intelligence with quantum technologies. He has authored over 245 peer-reviewed journal articles, 5 book chapters, a textbook (in press), and more than 200 conference contributions. His work has received over 9200 citations (Google Scholar) with an h-index of 51. Annual bibliometric rankings by Stanford University/Elsevier place him among the top 2% of scientists worldwide (2019–2025), while ScholarGPS (2025) ranks him in the top 0.2% globally and identifies him as a Highly Ranked Scholar in Nanostructures. In 2021, he received the Vebleo Fellow Award.
Prof. Paspalakis has participated in over 25 research projects, including 10 as Principal Investigator, and has supervised 6 postdoctoral researchers, 11 PhD theses (5 ongoing), 25 MSc theses, and over 45 undergraduate dissertations. He serves on editorial boards of several international journals in optics and quantum science and has co-edited special issues, proceedings volumes, and has written a scientific monograph. He has extensive teaching experience across Physics, Materials Science, and Engineering, specializing in quantum mechanics, quantum optics, quantum control, optoelectronics, quantum technologies, as well as in introductory physics.