Collaborative Research: High-Q Magnon Crystals and Emergent Topological Phases

非技术描述：磁性材料与高频电子产品的成功集成有着悠久的历史，可以追溯到无线电的发明，并持续到今天的手机和其他无线通信技术。鉴于这一核心作用，不幸的是，我们对材料的选择受到了极大的限制，因为磁性材料在自然界中极为罕见，而且我们预测哪些新材料将具有目标磁性的能力有限。该项目通过采用“设计材料”的策略来预测和生产高质量的磁性材料，从而填补了这一空白，使下一代微波技术成为可能。设想的材料形成高质量的“磁性喷漆”，可以在几乎任何表面上进行图案设计，从而为材料工程提供精确的微尺度图案设计。下游技术的好处包括从更节能的微波电子学到促进量子计算和量子通信发展的潜力。通过在这些新兴领域确立美国的领导地位，并通过培训学生在竞争激烈的国际科学和创新领域取得成功所必需的新技术和新知识，这项工作有助于在快速发展的科技领域发展我们的经济。技术描述：该项目利用在有机基铁磁体钒四氰乙烯中设计高度相干的磁振子（自旋波）激发的能力，探索从磁振子原子（孤立的磁性微/纳米结构）和磁振子分子（相干耦合磁振子原子）的稀气体到磁振子晶体（原子/分子磁振子构建块的相干耦合阵列）的磁振子相。例如，pi正在研究奇异相，如磁振子晶体中的拓扑保护模式，其对称性和结构基于确定性材料设计和微尺度制造/合成。这项工作是一项理论/实验联合合作，采用腔和宽带铁磁共振和磁热输运测量以及相关磁态的数值模拟和预测。两位pi在各个层面都有良好的指导记录，并且在这个项目中利用他们的承诺和专业知识，为3名博士生的培训提供了一个跨学科和协作的环境。这项研究推动了相干磁学领域的发展，并提供了对拓扑在创建和保持相干激发中的作用的更深入的理解，这对从下一代微波电子学到量子信息系统的应用具有重要意义。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-Technical Description: Magnetic materials have a long history of successful integration with high frequency electronics dating back to the invention of the radio and continuing through the present day in cell phones and other wireless communication technologies. Given this central role, it is unfortunate that our choice of materials is significantly limited by the fact that magnetic materials in nature are exceedingly rare and our ability to predict which new materials will have targeted magnetic properties is limited. This project fills that gap by employing the strategy of "materials by design" to predict and produce high quality magnetic materials that enable next-generation microwave technologies. The envisioned materials form high quality "magnetic spray paints" that can be patterned onto nearly any surface, enabling accurate micro-scale patterning for materials engineering. Down-stream technological benefits range from more power efficient microwave electronics to the potential to contribute to the development of quantum computing and quantum communication. This work helps grow our economy in the fast-moving technology sector by establishing a leadership role for the US in these emerging fields and by training students in the new techniques and new knowledge necessary to succeed in the competitive international landscape of science and innovation.Technical Description: This project exploits the ability to engineer highly coherent magnon (spin-wave) excitations in the organic-based ferrimagnet vanadium tetracyanoethylene to explore magnonic phases ranging from dilute gasses of magnon atoms (isolated magnetic micro/nanostructures) and magnon molecules (coherently coupled magnon atoms), to magnon crystals (coherently coupled arrays of atomic/molecular magnon building blocks). For example, the PIs are investigating exotic phases such as topologically protected modes in magnon crystals whose symmetry and structure are based on deterministic materials design and microscale fabrication/synthesis. This work is a joint theory/experiment collaboration, and employs both cavity and broad-band ferromagnetic resonance and magnetothermal transport measurements as well as numerical modeling and prediction of the relevant magnonic states. Both PIs have a strong track record of mentoring at all levels, and are leveraging that commitment and expertise during this program to provide an interdisciplinary and collaborative environment for the training of 3 PhD students. This research advances the field of coherent magnonics and provides a deeper understanding of the role of topology in creating and preserving coherent excitations with implications for applications ranging from next generation microwave electronics to quantum information systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.