In this talk I will summarize recent efforts by my group exploring quantum frontiers in molecular and materials science. Specifically, I will discuss the state of the art in the ultrafast quantum control of matter at the level of electrons and, in particular, how in the context of nanojunctions it is possible to disentangle ultrafast laser-induced currents into contributions by real and virtual carriers and use that to design petahertz electronic logical circuits elements that operate 10^6 times faster than present-day capabilities [1]. I will also introduce our theoretical proposal for an analog quantum simulator of the excited state dynamics of molecules in condensed phase environments that is based on integrating semiconductor quantum dots with quantum electronic circuits, and discuss why analog quantum simulation can have an advantage over conventional simulation [2].

[1]T. Boolakee, C. Heide, A. Garzón-Ramírez, H. B. Weber, I. Franco and P. Hommelhoff, “Light-field control of real and virtual charge carriers”, Nature 605, 251-255 (2022)

[2]C. W. Kim, A. Jordan, J. Nichol and I.Franco “Analog Quantum Simulation of Open Quantum Systems” https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.12127