CAREER: QUANTUM MATERIALS IN SQUARE-NET BASED COMPOUNDS

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。非技术性材料--也就是所谓的量子材料--指的是不遵循经典物理定律的材料。例如超导体、复合磁体或拓扑材料。拓扑材料是一类量子物质，它有望实现未来的技术，如用于数据存储或量子计算的新设备。然而，关于拓扑物质的材料化学，人们了解的还不多。普林斯顿大学的Leslie Schoop教授获得了这个职业奖，他的目标是了解固态化学学科如何影响对拓扑物质的理解。为了实现这一目标，该团队将专注于一类特殊的晶体化合物：那些原子以方形网的方式排列的化合物。在这些材料中，电子性质可以根据正方形晶格中的化学键来理解。了解化学键的性质，然后允许有意修改这些键，以及这如何影响物理性质，如电子和磁性。最终，斯库普教授的团队将创造一种配方，用于发现具有方形网状结构的材料中的量子特性。这项提议还包括向社区大学提供支持，让新泽西州社区大学的学生在斯库普实验室度过一个夏天，学习更多关于量子材料合成的知识。国际和平协会将访问这些社区大学，向普通观众讲课，提供对复杂和令人兴奋的量子材料领域的基本见解。技术总结通过这个职业奖项，普林斯顿大学的Leslie Schoop教授旨在为基于一类具有共同结构主题的化合物-正方形网络-的新量子材料的开发建立预测能力。在这类材料中，拓扑电子结构可以与方形网状结构中的化学键类型联系在一起。这种离域成键被归类为超价键，与电荷密度波型晶格扭曲直接竞争。这里的目的是了解这种扭曲对拓扑带结构的影响。拓扑材料中的电荷密度波最近引起了人们的关注，因为它们为创造多种尚未发现的新的相关拓扑相提供了一条途径。该项目从化学角度解决当前的挑战。第二个目标是利用结构扭曲作为一种工具来创造具有复杂磁性的材料。磁性有可能为拓扑材料增加电子-电子关联。这种相关的拓扑材料被认为导致了未知物理的发现，这可能会导致新的量子设备。这一目标将通过合成和表征多种方形网状材料以及改变它们的组成来实现。结构数据将被用来推导结构扭曲的化学规则。最后，对合成的化合物的磁性和电学性质进行了研究。更广泛的影响包括学生教育；对多样性的承诺；对社区的服务；以及推动技术进步的潜力。PI将为新泽西社区学院的学生提供在她的实验室工作的机会，同时通过公开讲座接触这些校园，帮助未被充分代表的少数族裔学生了解不同可能的STEM职业道路。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARYSo-called "Quantum-materials" are materials that do not follow the laws of classical physics. Examples are superconductors, complex magnets, or topological materials. Topological materials are a class of quantum matter that show promise to enable future technologies such as new devices for data storage or quantum computing. Not much is yet understood, however, about the materials chemistry of topological matter. With this CAREER award, Professor Leslie Schoop at Princeton University aims to understand how the discipline of solid-state chemistry can impact the understanding of topological matter. Towards this goal, the team will focus on a particular class of crystalline compounds: those in which atoms arrange in a square-net fashion. In these materials, electronic properties can be understood on the basis of the chemical bonds in the square lattice. Understanding the nature of the chemical bonds then allows the intentional modification of these bonds and how this effects physical properties, such as electronic and magnetic properties. Ultimately, Prof. Schoop’s team will create a recipe for discovering quantum properties in materials with square nets. This proposal also includes outreach to community colleges by providing support for students from New Jersey-based community colleges to spend a summer in the Schoop lab to learn more about quantum materials synthesis. The PI will visit these community colleges to give lectures targeted to a general audience to provide basic insights to the complex and exciting field of quantum materials. TECHNICAL SUMMARY With this CAREER award, Professor Leslie Schoop at Princeton University aims to establish predictive power for the development of new quantum materials based on a class of compounds with a common structural motif - a square net. In this class of materials, a topological electronic structure can be linked to the type of chemical bonding within the square net. This delocalized bonding has been classified as hypervalent and is in direct competition to a charge density wave-type lattice distortion. The aim here is to understand the effect of such distortions on the topological band structure. Charge density waves in topological materials have recently gained attention because they provide a pathway for the creation of multiple new correlated topological phases that still have yet to be discovered. This project addresses the current challenges from a chemical angle. The second aim is to use the structural distortions as a tool to create materials with complex magnetism. Magnetism has the potential to add electron-electron correlation to a topological material. Such correlated topological materials are believed to result in the discovery of yet unknown physics, which could lead to new quantum devices. The goal will be reached by synthesizing and structurally characterizing multiple square-net materials, as well as by varying their composition. The structural data will be used to derive chemical rules for structural distortions. Finally, the magnetic and electronic properties of the synthesized compounds will be investigated. The Broader Impacts consists of student education; a commitment to diversity; service to the community; and the potential for advancing technology. The PI will provide opportunities to New Jersey community college students to work in her lab while reaching out to these campuses with public lectures to help underrepresented minority students understand different possible STEM Career paths.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.