CCI Phase I: NSF Center for Synthesizing Quantum Coherence

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The CCI Phase I: Center for Synthesizing Quantum Coherences (CSQC) is supported by the Centers for Chemical Innovation (CCI) Program of the Division of Chemistry. This Phase I Center is led by Professor David Beratan of Duke University. Other team members include Professors Michael Therien (also of Duke University), Michael Wasielewski (Northwestern University), Graham Fleming (University of California-Berkeley), and Nancy Makri (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). Collisions between atoms and molecules are typically random events, and even if two reactants collide, the force of the collision may not be sufficient to cause them to react with each other. Despite this randomness, chemists have become quite good at predicting the rates and outcomes of chemical reactions. However, if we wish to control chemical reactions so that they yield only desired products or to capture energy or transport information, randomness must be minimized. The goal of the CSQC is to understand how chemical processes can be designed to be "coherent." An example of a coherent process is the light emitted from a laser. The photons generated by the laser move "in sync" with each other (the technical term is "in phase"). Other light sources (incandescent or compact fluorescent bulbs, for example) emit photons in a random fashion. Thus, the CSQC is designing and synthesizing molecules and assemblies of molecules where the motions of the atoms and electrons within them can be coherent, like the photons in a laser beam. Coherent processes have the potential to change how we control chemical reactions, as well as greatly expand the range of useful applications of chemistry (for example, by developing new technologies for sensing, computing, materials science, and biomedicine). The CSQC works to ensure that that a Center climate of inclusion and diversity is embraced so that underrepresented minority and women students are included in the interdisciplinary, team-based research. The students at all sites will be trained by Duke's Program in Science Communication to explain the significance of their research to a broad audience, contributing to our society's scientific literacy, as well as creating core knowledge of use to the chemistry community.The goal of CSQC is to discover how coherent dynamic processes in electronically excited multi-chromophoric systems and single-walled carbon nanotube superstructures enable the collection, manipulation, and direction of energy, charge, and spin in ways that challenge classical conceptions of temperature and reaction rates. The team applies the tools of synthesis, molecular and nanoscale design, 2D electronic and electronic-vibrational spectroscopies, pulse-EPR spectroscopy, and theoretical/computational quantum chemistry to understand the coherent flow of electronic excited states and charges, along with their coherent spin-spin interactions, through precisely tailored nanostructures and molecules. The development of the underlying principles will have wide ranging impact in areas related to quantum information systems, energy conversion, molecular sensing, and quantum computing. Students receive training in a wide spectrum of disciplines (chemical synthesis, laser technology, theory and computation) as well as in science communication.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.