Nanoscale Quantum Optics - nqo is COST ACTION project funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology/COST (www.cost.eu) which is a funding organisation for research and innovation networks. The project ran from December 2014 to April 2019. It was coordinated by the University Siegen in Germany, led by Prof Mario Agio. The network was composed of academic, institutionnal and industrial partners in more than 28 COST/EU Countries (starting countries were Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom), 6 Institutions in 3 Near-Neighbour Countries and 13 Institutions in 9 International Partner Countries.

The investigation of quantum phenomena in nanophotonics systems may lead to new scales of quantum complexity and constitutes the starting point for developing photonic technologies that deliver quantum-enhanced performances in real-world situations. This ambition demands new physical insight as well as cutting-edge engineering, with an interdisciplinary approach and a view towards how such ground-breaking technologies may be implemented and commercialized. The Action aimed at promoting and coordinating forefront research in nanoscale quantum optics (NQO) through a competitive and organized network, which will define new and unexplored pathways for deploying quantum technologies in nanophotonics devices within the European Research Area. The main vision was to establish a fruitful and successful interaction among scientists and engineers from academia, research centres and industry, focusing on quantum science & technology, nanoscale optics & photonics, and materials science. The Action addressed fundamental challenges in NQO, contributing to the discovery of novel phenomena and defining new routes for applications in information & communication technology, sensing & metrology, and energy efficiency. Gathering a critical mass of experts the Action served as a platform in NQO and as such it cooperated with industry and academia to promote innovation and education in a forefront research field.

Several events were organised during this project and in particular the 'Single Photon Single Spin II - SPSSII' conference was organised in 2017 at the UTT by the L2n: https://www.cost-nqo.eu/event/spss2017/


 

The COST ACTION Nanoscale Quantum Optics gathered more than 600 researchers, students and engineers structured within 4 working groups (WGs):

 

Working Group 1: WG1 leader Christophe Couteau, University of Technology of Troyes, France

Generation, detection & storage of quantum states of light at the nanoscale with emphasis on efficiency, fidelity and rate.
 

Working Group 2: WG2 leader Walter Pfeiffer, University of Bielefeld, Germany

Nonlinearities and ultrafast processes in nanostructured media.
 

Working Group 3: WG3 leader Thomas Durt, Centrale-Marseille, France

Nanoscale quantum coherence.
 

Working Group 4: WG4 leader Peter RAbl, TU Vienna, Austria

Cooperative effects, correlations and many-body physics tailored by strongly confined optical fields.

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Date of update 20 avril 2020