Prasoon K. Shandilya

प्रसून कु. शाण्डिल्य

I am an experienced photonics and optomechanics experimentalist. I like to use my skill, hands-on experience, and passion for nanophotonics and quantum systems to solve and address the challenges that our society faces today.

News

• [September] Our early access print of "Diamond Integrated Quantum Nanophotonics: Spins, Photons and Phonons" has come out and can be accessed here!
• [August] I had the opportunity to give an oral presentation on "Optomechanical interface between telecom photons with spin quantum memory" at the 2022 Quanta CREATE Graduate Student Symposium.
• [June] I recieved the rare honour of my poster being upgraded to a talk at the GRC 2022: Mechanical Systems in the Quantum Regime!
• [June] I presented a poster on "Optomechanical Spin-Photon Interface in Diamond" at the GRC 2022: Mechanical Systems in the Quantum Regime.
• [June] I was invited to give a talk at the Summer School on Quantum Information and Quantum Technology 2022 . The title of my talk was "Towards quantum network nodes based on diamond: Interfacing spins, photons, and phonons".

• [October] News and Views by Nature Physics published a great summary of my recent spin-optomechanical interface research. Check it out here.
• [October] My research on spin-optomechanical interface was featured in the University of Calgary UToday News. Check out our interview here.
• [October] My paper on "Optomechanical interface between telecom photons and spin quantum memory" got accepted by Nature Physics!
• [September] Our work on "Demonstration of hybrid high-Q hexagonal boron nitride microresonators" was published in ACS Photonics. Check it out here.
• [June] I presented a poster on "Optomechanical driving of spins" at the 4th Workshop on Optomechanics and Brillouin Scattering (WOMBAT), Erlangen, Germany.
• [June] I had the opportunity to give an oral presentation on "Optomechanical interface between telecom photons with spin quantum memory" at CAP Virtual Congress; was awarded Best Oral presentation for NRC Sensor Symposium.
• [June] My work on optomechanical control of quantum memory was selected for presentation during the 'Hot Topics' session at 749-WE-Heraeus Seminar: Photonic Links for Quantum Technology Platforms.
• [May] Our work on "Modifying NV center charge states with a few photon IR microcavity fields" has been accepted in the Proceedings of CLEO. Check it out here.
• [May] My work on "Optomechanical spin control of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond" was accepted in the Proceedings of CLEO. [Oral, paper]
• [March] My work on "Optomechanical driving of spins" was accepted in the Proceedings of SPIE (PHOTONICS WEST) OPTO: Quantum Computing, Communication, and Simulation. [Oral, paper]
• [February] I presented a poster on "Optomechanical control of qubits", SFB BeyondC Winter Workshop, Vienna, Austria.
• [February] I gave an oral presentation on "Optomechanical control of qubits", The Sixth Annual University of Calgary PHAS Symposium, Calgary, Canada.
• [January] I presented a poster on "Optomechanical control of qubits", Quantum Days Conference.

• [December] I presented a poster on "Optomechanical driving of spins", Canadian Photonics Online Meetup.
• [May] Our work on "Demonstration of hexagonal boron nitride optical microcavities with Q > 200,000" was accepted in the Proceedings of CLEO. Check it out here.

• [July] I presented a poster on "Diamond quantumn nanophotonics", 2019 Quantum Alberta Workshop, Edmonton, Canada.
• [June] I gave an oral presentation on hexagonal boron nitride cavity optomechanics, Spin Canada 2019, Montebello, Quebec, Canada.
• [May] My work on hexagonal boron nitride cavity optomechanics was accepted in the Proceedings of CLEO. [Oral, paper]
• [January] My work on "Hexagonal Boron Nitride Cavity Optomechanics" was published in Nano Letters. Check it out here.

Last updated on September 28, 2022

Leadership roles

• 2022: Judge, Quanta CREATE 2022 Graduate Symposium
• 2020-2022: Vice President Operations, UCalgary nanoGroup
• 2021-2022: Judge, Calgary Youth Science Fair
• 2020-2021: Co-organizer - Quanta Industry Series webinars 2020, Quanta CREATE
• 2020: Co-organizer - UCalgary GSA’s Road To Success In Grad School
• 2018-2020: Organizer - Barclay Lab Journal Club
• 2014-2015: Vice President Finance - IISER Kolkata Inquivesta

• 2021: International Day of Light, Canada
• 2020-2021: Committee member - Academic Support, UCalgary GSA
• 2019-2021: Let’s Talk Science at the University of Calgary

Skills

• Nanophotonics: Cavity Optomechanics
• Designing and testing micro- and nano-fabricated optical and mechanical structures.
• Controlling cavity optomechanical systems.
• Modelling and simulation of micro- and nano-structures using COMSOL Multiphysics.
• Nanophotonics: Quantum Photonics
• Characterising and controlling complex system of electronic and nuclear spins.
• Diamond processing: cleaning and color center creation.
• Setting laser-optics instrumentation (confocal and wide-field microscopes) and hardware debugging.
• General
• Measurement and data acquisition automation using MATLAB.
• Data analysis and numerical estimations using MATLAB or Python.
• Production of final plots, diagrams, and illustrations using Adobe Illustrator.
• Collaborative drafting of research papers using LaTeX on Overleaf.

• MATLAB
• COMSOL

• Vacuum and cryogenic systems
• RF Spectrum and network analyzers
• Arbitrary waveform and signal generators
• Nano and micro-positioners
• Fiber and free-space optics
• Photon counters and detectors
• Optical spectrometers and spectrum analyzers
• Tunable telecom and visible lasers

Experience

Education

Interests

Apart from being an experimatal researcher, I lead a team of graduate students to promote nanotechnology on campus and province-wide. I have experience managing projects, fundraising, and organizing large scale events such as conferences and networking meetings.

For fun, I like to dabble at cooking, hiking, digital art and photography.

Also, below are some cool images from my research.