Purdue Physics and Astronomy’s Valentin Walther wins DoE Career Award
2025-12-17
The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) is investing $875,000 in pioneering quantum-materials research led by Assistant Professor Valentin Walther, who holds a joint appointment in chemistry and physics at Purdue University.
This new funding will fuel theoretical investigations into controlling photon-matter interactions, which is a key step toward future quantum technologies. Walther’s team draws on expertise from across disciplines, bringing together chemistry, physics and quantum engineering under Purdue’s broad quantum research initiatives, including the Purdue Quantum Science and Engineering Institute (PQSEI) and the DoE-funded Quantum Photonic Integrated Design Center (QuPIDC).
“We are aiming to describe how photons interact with semiconductors, and how we can control those interactions for future applications in fundamental science and quantum processing,” Walther explained.
Walther’s group relies on analytical methods and the advanced computing resources at Purdue to simulate and model complex quantum phenomena. The newly awarded funding will provide support for personnel, a postdoc, and a graduate student, which will allow deeper, sustained work on semiconductor-photon interactions.
In addition to the new DoE grant, Walther’s research program also investigates ultracold molecules, a complementary line that bridges atomic, molecular, and optical physics with quantum chemistry and cavity quantum electrodynamics.
“This project, now funded throughout the DoE Early-Career Award, introduces ideas of atomic-level control into a semiconductor environment,” Walther said. “I think that’s a new frontier in quantum science, and I’m excited that the DoE recognizes its importance with this award.”
Quantum information processing demands qubits that are stable and ways to manipulate them reliably and at high fidelity. Photons are among the most promising carriers of quantum information: they’re stable, fast and easy to manipulate. Yet, a fundamental challenge remains. Photons do not naturally interact strongly with one another, which makes two-photon quantum gates challenging.
With this funding, Walther and his group will explore semiconductor-based photon interaction mechanisms, aiming to provide some of the missing pieces for deterministic photonic quantum computing. They hope their theoretical insights will guide future experimental work and technological design.
The DoE Career Award enables the group to deepen its understanding of semiconductor light-matter interfaces and emergent photon dynamics. Their next steps include detailed modeling of photon scattering and interactions in materials, with an eye toward foundational insights and quantum-technology applications.
“We have a research program describing the light-matter interface that semiconductors represent,” Walther said. The group already receives support from the National Science Foundation for investigations of exciton-polariton scattering in semiconductors and collaborates within an NSF-funded Center for Quantum Technologies (CQT) with industry partners toward practical implementations of their ideas.
“The Department of Physics and Astronomy is proud to see Valentin Walther receive a DoE Early Career Award,” said Gabor Csathy, professor and head of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. “This highly competitive recognition reflects both the originality of his ideas and the growing strength of quantum science at Purdue.”
“This award will accelerate exciting work at the interface of light and matter and create new opportunities for students and postdoctoral researchers. We are thrilled to see Valentin’s work recognized on the national stage,” Csathy said.
“Purdue features an enormous breadth of research in the quantum sciences, and it’s great to be a part of this environment,” Walther said. “We work closely with experimental and theory colleagues in physics, chemistry and ECE, on research that is directly and indirectly related to the work we will do as part of the Early-Career Award.”
The DOE Early Career Award will provide $875,000 over the coming years to support this research initiative. The award affirms the promise of Walther’s group at Purdue to make substantive contributions to quantum science and technology. A public summary and details of Walther’s award can be viewed here.
About the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Purdue University
Purdue’s Department of Physics and Astronomy has a rich and long history dating back to 1904. Our faculty and students are exploring nature at all length scales, from the subatomic to the macroscopic and everything in between. With an excellent and diverse community of faculty, postdocs and students who are pushing new scientific frontiers, we offer a dynamic learning environment, an inclusive research community and an engaging network of scholars.
Physics and Astronomy is one of the seven departments within the Purdue University College of Science. World-class research is performed in astrophysics, atomic and molecular optics, accelerator mass spectrometry, biophysics, condensed matter physics, quantum information science, and particle and nuclear physics. Our state-of-the-art facilities are in the Physics Building, but our researchers also engage in interdisciplinary work at Discovery Park District at Purdue, particularly the Birck Nanotechnology Center and the Bindley Bioscience Center. We also participate in global research including at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, many national laboratories (such as Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Fermilab, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Stanford Linear Accelerator, etc.), the James Webb Space Telescope, and several observatories around the world.
About Purdue Chemistry
The James Tarpo Jr. and Margaret Tarpo Department of Chemistry is internationally acclaimed for its excellence in chemical education and innovation, boasting two Nobel laureates in organic chemistry, the #1 ranked analytical chemistry program, and a highly successful drug discovery initiative that has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties. Learn more about chem.purdue.edu.
Written by: David Siple, communications specialist, Purdue University Department of Physics and Astronomy
Contributors: Valentin Walther, assistant professor, Purdue Tarpo Department of Chemistry and Department of Physics and Astronomy. Photo provided by Valentin Walther.
Gabor Csathy, department head, Purdue Department of Physics and Astronomy