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成功集成的历史悠久，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自然界中磁性材料极其罕见的事实的极大限制，我们预测哪些新材料将具有目标磁性的能力有限。该项目填补了这一空白，采用“材料的设计”的战略，预测和生产高质量的磁性材料，使下一代微波技术。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形成图案，从而为材料工程提供精确的微观图案。下游技术的好处包括从更节能的微波电子技术到有助于量子计算和量子通信发展的潜力。这项工作有助于我们在快速发展的技术领域发展经济，为美国在这些新兴领域建立领导地位，并为学生提供在竞争激烈的国际科学和创新领域取得成功所需的新技术和新知识。技术描述：这个项目利用工程师的能力，（自旋波）激发在有机基亚铁磁体钒四氰基乙烯探索磁振子相范围从磁振子原子的稀释气体（孤立的磁性微/纳米结构）和磁振子分子（相干耦合的磁振子原子）到磁振子晶体（原子/分子磁振子构建块的相干耦合阵列）。例如，PI正在研究奇异相，例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。这项工作是一个联合的理论/实验合作，并采用腔和宽带铁磁共振和磁热输运测量以及相关的磁振子状态的数值模拟和预测。这两个PI在各级指导方面都有很好的记录，并在该计划期间利用这一承诺和专业知识，为3名博士生的培训提供跨学科和协作的环境。这项研究推进了相干磁振子领域，并提供了对拓扑结构在创建和保持相干激发中的作用的更深入理解，其应用范围从下一代微波电子学到量子信息系统。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

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.