RUI: Macroscopic Quantum Phenomena in Single-Molecule Magnets and Superconducting Devices

RUI：单分子磁体和超导器件中的宏观量子现象

• 批准号: 1006519
• 负责人: Jonathan Friedman
• 金额: $ 28.5万
• 依托单位: Amherst College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-09-01 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1006519&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Macroscopic; Quantum; Phenomena; Single

****NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACT****Atoms and elementary particles are decidedly quantum mechanical: these objects can seemingly be in more than one mutually exclusive state at the same time. While such counterintuitive behavior is foreign in most of the everyday world, certain macroscopic systems have been experimentally demonstrated to behave quantum mechanically. Such systems can potentially be exploited as qubits - the elements of quantum computers that process data - and could thereby one day revolutionize computing. This individual investigator award supports a research project that will experimentally elucidate the extent to which chemically synthesized nanomagnets and lithographically fabricated superconducting devices can behave quantum mechanically. New macroscopic quantum phenomena will be explored; the experiments will illuminate how a quantum system's environment can affect its behavior by either suppressing or enhancing telltale quantum phenomena. The results will have implications for the viability of these systems as potential qubits. The research will be conducted primarily at an undergraduate institution and will involve collaborations between undergraduate student-scholars, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and faculty. Such interactions will not only produce important research results but will also serve to educate and train students pursuing careers in science or related technical fields.****TECHNICAL ABSTRACT****This individual investigator award supports a research project that will explore the extent to which macroscopic objects can behave quantum mechanically by looking for new macroscopic quantum phenomena in single-molecule magnets (SMMs) and superconducting devices. Both systems have a collective coordinate (spin orientation for SMMs or phase or charge for superconducting systems) that behaves quantum mechanically. Building on recent work that showed that 10^16 SMM spins can be collectively coupled to a microwave cavity, the project aims to look for related effects, including superradiance, as well as coherent interference effects in which a strong microwave field repeatedly drives the spins through a Landau-Zener transition. In superconducting devices, the project will look for a geometric-phase effect that can suppress tunneling as well as some novel forms of dynamical-phase interference effects. These experiments will illuminate how the system's environment can affect its behavior by either suppressing or enhancing telltale quantum phenomena. The results will have implications for the viability of these systems as potential qubits. The research will be conducted primarily at an undergraduate institution and will involve collaborations between undergraduate student-scholars, graduate students, postdocs and faculty. Such interactions will not only produce important research results but will also serve to educate and train students pursuing careers in science or related technical fields.

**** 非技术性摘要 *** 原子和基本粒子绝对是量子力学的：这些物体似乎可以同时处于多个相互排斥的状态。虽然这种违反直觉的行为在大多数日常世界中是陌生的，但某些宏观系统已经被实验证明具有量子力学行为。这样的系统有可能被开发成量子比特--量子计算机处理数据的元素--从而有一天会给计算带来革命性的变化。这项个人研究奖支持一个研究项目，该项目将通过实验阐明化学合成的纳米磁体和光刻制造的超导设备可以表现出量子力学的程度。新的宏观量子现象将被探索;实验将阐明量子系统的环境如何通过抑制或增强量子现象来影响其行为。这些结果将对这些系统作为潜在量子比特的可行性产生影响。该研究将主要在本科院校进行，并将涉及本科生学者，研究生，博士后研究人员和教师之间的合作。这种互动不仅会产生重要的研究成果，而且还将有助于教育和培训在科学或相关技术领域从事职业的学生。技术摘要 * 该个人研究者奖支持一个研究项目，该项目将通过在单分子磁体（SMM）和超导设备中寻找新的宏观量子现象，探索宏观物体可以表现量子力学的程度。这两个系统都有一个集体坐标（SMM的自旋取向或超导系统的相位或电荷），表现出量子力学的行为。最近的工作表明，10^16个SMM自旋可以集体耦合到微波腔，该项目旨在寻找相关的效应，包括超辐射，以及相干干涉效应，其中强微波场反复驱动自旋通过朗道-齐纳跃迁。在超导器件中，该项目将寻找可以抑制隧穿的几何相位效应以及一些新形式的动态相位干涉效应。这些实验将阐明系统的环境如何通过抑制或增强量子现象来影响其行为。这些结果将对这些系统作为潜在量子比特的可行性产生影响。该研究将主要在本科院校进行，并将涉及本科生学者，研究生，博士后和教师之间的合作。这种互动不仅将产生重要的研究成果，而且还将有助于教育和培训在科学或相关技术领域从事职业的学生。