EAGER: Quantum Manufacturing: Developing a Deterministic, 3D Printer for Quantum Defects

EAGER：量子制造：开发用于量子缺陷的确定性 3D 打印机

• 批准号: 2240479
• 负责人: Matthew Crane
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: Colorado School of Mines
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-01 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2240479&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Quantum; Manufacturing; Developing; Deterministic

New devices based on quantum phenomena, like quantum computers and networks, require new reliable and scalable manufacturing methods with extreme precision. These devices are often comprised of discrete atoms or nanoscale structures that must be exactly placed into desired locations. Existing methods to create these devices are time-consuming, incompatible with many materials, lack atomic precision, and, most significantly, are unreliable. As a result, scalable device production, which requires interfacing networks of indistinguishable nanostructures, is difficult. This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) Quantum Manufacturing award supports fundamental research to develop a robust and scalable manufacturing approach to incorporate nanomaterials into devices with the atomic precision required for quantum technologies. The new process enables the deterministic printing of nanomaterials with desired qualities from solutions into precise locations with full orientation control. This approach separates material synthesis from device manufacturing to improve performance and enables quantum devices based on more precisely synthesized materials. These capabilities address manufacturing limitations for not only quantum devices, but also energy, communication, and medicine applications based on nanomaterials. Thus, advances from this award benefit both the U.S. economy and society by establishing manufacturing expertise in the emerging quantum technologies market, by securing national defense in a new generation of sensors and networks, and by advancing energy security (chemical catalysis and solar). The multi-disciplinary research project incorporates fluid mechanics, simulations, optics design, and materials science to provide unique training for graduate and undergraduate students. The core knowledge, simulation tools, and equipment designs will be disseminated so that the manufacturing approach can be broadly adopted to accelerate research and development in these critical fields.The successful production of quantum technologies requires incorporating high-quality qubits into 100 nm3 regions. Current manufacturing approaches are stochastic, restricted to materials that can be processed by lithography, and often lack this precision. This manufacturing method involves an approach whereby nanostructured qubits are synthesized, characterized, and printed via thermo-optic forces. Separating these processes lifts compatibility restrictions, enables deterministic manufacturing, and mitigates sources of decoherence. This project aims to achieve 100 nm3 printing by assessing critical variables identified by first-principles simulations. These include nanomaterial optical properties, such as their geometry and refractive index, and the colloidal environment and forces, such as solvent thermophysical parameters. These results will be incorporated into a physics-based model to optimize printing precision. Leveraging this method, the research team aims to develop structure-property relationships to establish how enhanced printing precision and material properties influence device behavior, including coherence.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.

基于量子现象的新设备，如量子计算机和网络，需要新的可靠和可扩展的制造方法，并具有极高的精度。这些装置通常由离散的原子或纳米级结构组成，必须精确地放置在所需的位置。现有的制造这些装置的方法耗时长，与许多材料不兼容，缺乏原子精度，最重要的是，不可靠。因此，需要不可区分的纳米结构的接口网络的可扩展设备生产是困难的。这项探索性研究（EAGER）量子制造奖的早期概念资助支持基础研究，以开发一种强大且可扩展的制造方法，将纳米材料整合到量子技术所需的原子精度设备中。新工艺使纳米材料的确定性打印具有所需的质量，从溶液到精确的位置，并具有完全的方向控制。这种方法将材料合成与器件制造分离开来，以提高性能，并使量子器件基于更精确的合成材料。这些能力不仅解决了量子器件的制造限制，而且解决了基于纳米材料的能源、通信和医学应用的限制。因此，通过在新兴量子技术市场建立制造专业知识，通过确保新一代传感器和网络的国防，以及通过推进能源安全（化学催化和太阳能），该奖项的进展将使美国经济和社会受益。这个多学科的研究项目结合了流体力学、模拟、光学设计和材料科学，为研究生和本科生提供独特的培训。核心知识、仿真工具和设备设计将被传播，使制造方法可以广泛采用，以加速这些关键领域的研究和开发。量子技术的成功生产需要将高质量的量子比特集成到100 nm3的区域中。目前的制造方法是随机的，局限于可以用光刻技术加工的材料，而且往往缺乏这种精度。这种制造方法涉及一种通过热光学力合成、表征和打印纳米结构量子比特的方法。分离这些过程解除了兼容性限制，实现了确定性制造，并减轻了退相干的来源。该项目旨在通过评估由第一性原理模拟确定的关键变量来实现100 nm3的打印。这些包括纳米材料的光学性质，如几何形状和折射率，以及胶体环境和作用力，如溶剂热物理参数。这些结果将被整合到一个基于物理的模型中，以优化打印精度。利用这种方法，研究小组旨在发展结构-性能关系，以确定增强的打印精度和材料特性如何影响器件行为，包括相干性。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。