Meet the Fellow: Jean-Michel Ménard
Quantum THz photonics: using strongly coupled vibrations to modulate optical absorption
Bringing together Professor Jean-Michel Ménard from the University of Ottawa and his hosts, Professor Lippitz (Experimental Physics III) and Professor Herink (Ultrafast Dynamics), was a fascinating interdisciplinary endeavour that provided a rich ground for unexpected discoveries in the field of quantum photonics.
Prof. Jean-Michel Ménard and Prof. Dr. Stefan Leible, President of the University of Bayreuth
What are the foci of your joint research funded by the Fellowship?
Jean-Michel Ménard: Quantum mechanics allow two objects or physical states to superimpose in a way that they become a new entity. In a famous thought experiment illustrating this paradox, Schrödinger describe the quantum superposition of a cat that is both death and alive. Although these entangled states are still not fully understood, we have experimental evidence that they routinely occur in the microscopic world. The main focus of our collaborative project is to leverage this quantum quirkiness to design and demonstrate a new type of materials composed of molecules having a vibration mode strongly coupled to a far-infrared photon in the so-called terahertz (THz) region.
Ultimately, this work will enable powerful far-infrared spectrometer for molecular detection using low-cost, high-performing technologies operating in the visible region. Such achievement would have important ramifications in the fields of medical diagnostics and product quality control by potentially allowing identification of cancer cells, pathogens and foreign agents with compact sources and detectors instead of bulky far-infrared instruments.
In what way is your work interdisciplinary, and what does interdisciplinarity mean to you in academic work and life?
JM: I am a physicist by training but my research interests are definitely not limited to what I understand well or can readily investigate in my lab. This project is a perfect example, it consists of a fascinating idea that I can hardly pursue alone as it involves concepts borrowed from different sub-fields of physics and chemistry with potential applications in biology and medicine. Even at the very start of the project, we had to bridge different experimental gaps with techniques usually never combined. We demonstrated a new type of optical resonator, developed a new laboratory technique for molecular layer deposition, and investigated materials that are not commonly explored with optical systems.
Distinctions we make between fields, such as material physics, photonics, organic chemistry, are useful to help us organize our thoughts, but nature does not operate within these classifications. Nowadays, I find some of the most intriguing phenomena or urgent scientific problems extend beyond the limit of a single field and require collaborations regrouping researchers of different backgrounds to benefit from different views and expertise.
What is in your opinion the future of your field, and in what way can research in your field contribute to meeting the urgent challenges of our time?
JM: Physics can generally be linked to the process of building knowledge, which directly or indirectly leads to the development of ground-breaking technologies. Along this line, I believe quantum materials open up a vast range of applications to improve the speed, sensitivity, and compactness of pretty much any existing technological devices, especially in hospitals and manufactures. The development of these materials will also enable new applications in our daily lives that we cannot yet imagine. In parallel, I hope new technologies can find a way to address current energy and environmental crises. They can do so, but countries would need to make it more of a priority, e.g. by allocating more funding to this kind of research. More importantly, I think my field of science can be part of the solution to address worldwide problems caused by disinformation and political polarization. Potentially throughout the development of affordable sensors, enabling a direct access to unedited, impartial information, and throughout education, by offering an efficient platform to develop critical thinking skills, although this would also require some changes in the way we currently teach science.
What does international research mobility mean to you?
JM: International research mobility is essential to enable efficient international collaborations between research groups. I believe regular discussions in a not-so-formal setting are more efficient than a time-constrained Zoom meeting to come up with innovative research ideas and clever analysis. Therefore, this kind of mobility is essential for innovation, which is what fundamental science is about. On a practical note, it also allows researchers to share world-unique scientific equipment, which considerably speeds up the rate of discoveries and technological development. Beyond these short-term benefits for scientific advancements, this mobility allows scientists to learn from each other's experimental techniques, approaches to a problem, and their best practices to achieve a healthy work-life balance. More generally, living abroad, learning about a different culture, and speaking a new language, are invaluable personal experiences that open up the mind and have a positive impact on how we see the world.
What was your personal experience during your stay?
JM: I had a great experience during my research stay. I enjoyed very much my discussions with Prof. Lippitz and Herink about science and everything surrounding both academic and non-academic life. I also liked very much discussing with PhD students about their project, which I had the chance to do on a regular basis. There were many highlights during my stay. For example, one of my students from uOttawa spent several weeks conducting experiments in Bayreuth and we obtained very impressive results that we are currently analyzing and summarizing for publication. I also enjoyed very much the social events involving the whole research group. But maybe what I liked the most is the weekly group meetings during which students would discuss their research progress followed by a question period.
What surprised me? I was amazed by the high quality of administrative, technical and infrastructure support given to professors in Germany.
The Fellow
Dr. Jean-Michel Ménard is Associate Professor in the department of physics and cross-appointed to the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Ottawa. He founded in 2016 the uOttawa Ultrafast THz laboratory focusing on the development and demonstration of photonics systems for materials characterization. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Toronto in 2011 under the supervision of Henry van Driel. Then, he conducted postdoctoral research projects with Rupert Huber at the University of Regensburg (2011-2014) as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow and with Philip Russell at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (2014-2015). Dr. Ménard is a Fellow of the uOttawa-NRC Joint Center for Extreme Photonics (JCEP), and a Fellow of the uOttawa-Max Planck Centre for Extreme and Quantum Photonics. In 2022, he received the Senior Fellowship of the Bayreuth Humboldt Center, the Early Researcher Award of Ontario, and held the Ulrich Bonse Visiting Chair for Instrumentation at the University of Dortmund. His research lies at the crossroads of THz photonics, quantum materials and nonlinear optics.