NIRT: Nuclear hyperpolarization for organic and inorganic semiconductor nanostructures

这项工作将使用光泵浦(OP)和自旋注入(SI)方法产生大规模非热核自旋极化，以用于纳米结构半导体器件的开发。这项拟议的研究旨在对一系列材料中的电子-核交叉弛豫有一个基本的理解，这些材料的结构特征从块状到介观再到量子点。在这些研究过程中，人们期待着以新型无机和聚合物半导体结构为形式的核自旋超极化的新现象学，以及为测量核极化而开发的新的分析工具。这项工作将使用新发展的对OP和SI的理解来设计新的应用实验和设备。拟议工作的智力价值在于断言测量和观察在发展对自然世界的理解方面具有内在的和基本的价值。对原子核超极化有更全面的了解，可能会克服当前分析光谱方法(即核磁共振、核磁共振)的局限性，提供极大增强信号的机制，并有助于自旋电子学和量子计算设备的创造。拟议中的研究有望产生广泛的教育结果，因为它将为学生提供独特的跨学科科学教育，并接触到具有不同和互补背景的团队。CCNY和加州大学伯克利分校的本科生都将参与这项研究，并将在夏天参观这两个交替的校园，以拓宽他们的科学视野。这项研究也将被用来通过一系列的研讨会讨论课程来激励处于本科教育关键时刻的新生。CCNY和加州大学伯克利分校团队之间的远程研讨会和小组会议将用于确保联盟的协同性质。

This work will use optical pumping (OP) and spin-injection (SI) methods togenerate massively athermal nuclear spin polarizations for exploitation in nanostructuredsemiconductor devices. The proposed research aims to develop a fundamentalunderstanding of the electron-nuclear cross relaxation in a host of materials engineered toexhibit structural features ranging from bulk to mesoscale to quantum dots. In the courseof these studies, new phenomenology in the form of nuclear spin hyperpolarization innovel inorganic and polymeric semiconductor structures is anticipated as well as thedevelopment of new analytical tools for the measurement of nuclear polarization. Thiswork will use the newly developed understanding of OP and SI to design new applicationexperiments and devices.The intellectual merit of the proposed work lies in the assertion that measurementand observation are of intrinsic and fundamental value in developing an understanding ofthe natural world. A more complete understanding of nuclear hyperpolarization couldpotentially overcome limitations in current analytical spectroscopic methods (i.e., NMR,MRI) by providing the mechanism for greatly enhanced signals as well as assist in thecreation of spintronics and quantum computing devices.The proposed research is expected to have a broad educational outcome because itwill offer students a unique inter-disciplinary scientific education and exposure to teamsof diverse and complimentary backgrounds. Undergraduate students from both CCNYand UC Berkeley will be involved in the research and will spend summers visiting thealternate campus to broaden their scientific horizons. This research will also be used toinspire freshmen during a pivotal point of their undergraduate education through a seriesof seminar discussion courses. Long-distance seminars and group meetings between theCCNY and UC Berkeley groups will be used to ensure the synergistic nature of theconsortium.