Since the invention of the laser, the role of light in the modern society is simply indispensable. From high-speed internet, personal electronic gadgets, bar code scanners at a local grocery store and all the way to precision medicine and welding of the automobiles and ships – the pulse of our daily life beats to the drumbeat of photonics. How much more can we tame light and what does it hold for us in the future? In addressing this question we first must come to the realization that in order to derive novel photonic functionalities we must improve our current understanding of how light and matter interact at the most fundamental level, dictated by quantum physics. For most photonic devices operating around the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum the natural timescales at which these interactions occur are on the orders of few femtoseconds (fs), where 1 fs = 10-15 seconds.

The research of Prof. Seletskiy aims to develop novel femtosecond light sources and analysis techniques and to apply them for investigation of quantum physics of light-matter coupling directly on femtosecond timescales. By unraveling the dynamical interplay of quantum light and quantum matter at their “natural” timescales, we aim to unveil deeper understanding of the intrinsic interactions that shape macroscopic properties of such physical phenomena as, for instance, high-temperature superconductivity. Finally, the ability to manipulate quantum light on short timescales motivates new high-bandwidth approaches to quantum information and communication which our group will also explore.