NIRT: Nuclear hyperpolarization for organic and inorganic semiconductor nanostructures

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

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.