QuSeC-TAQS: Driving Advances in Magnetic Materials and Devices with Quantum Sensing of Magnons

该项目的目的是加快量子传感平台的开发和采用，以推动磁性材料方面的技术相关进步，包括应对关键清洁能源挑战所需的短期材料，例如电动汽车对微型和高效电力转换器的需求。在更基本的层面上，该项目还将加快理解尖端超薄磁性材料的进展。该项目汇集了一个由实验物理学家、理论家和工程师组成的跨学科团队，以开发一个磁性量子传感平台，并将其从概念验证带入实际应用。所提出的量子传感方法是基于金刚石中缺陷(氮空位缺陷)的电子自旋。自旋的量子态将被用来检测新型磁性材料中被称为磁子的磁波，以高空间和时间分辨率产生关于材料的磁性和动力学的信息。在量子传感的基础科学方面，该团队将利用试验台系统和理论来开发新的磁振子量子传感模式。这些新模式的开发将着眼于解决磁性材料中的突出问题。为了加快进展，该团队将基于微纳机电系统(MEMS/NEMS)的专业知识设计量子启用的磁振子传感(QuEMS)设备，以允许这些量子传感技术在不同材料中的高通量应用。该团队将把QuEMS平台应用于目前相关的两种磁性材料系统：原子薄磁体和纳米晶软磁(NSM)合金。从基本的角度来看，原子薄磁性材料是很有趣的，因为它们的二维性质导致了单个层的新颖磁性，以及当这些层堆叠时的复杂相互作用。NSM合金是一种新兴的磁性材料，由于其在变压器和功率转换器等设备中具有极低的能量损耗，因此具有近期的应用前景。这两个材料类别都展示了快速时间尺度和纳米尺度上的现象，使本项目中的量子传感平台成为理解和开发这些材料的强大工具。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。

The aim of this project is to accelerate the development and adoption of quantum sensing platforms to drive technologically-relevant advances in magnetic materials, including near-term materials needed to address critical clean energy challenges, such as the need for miniature and efficient power converters in electric vehicles. At a more fundamental level, this project will also accelerate progress in understanding cutting edge ultrathin magnetic materials. The project brings together an interdisciplinary team of experimental physicists, theorists, and engineers to develop a magnetic quantum sensing platform and bring it from proof-of-concept to practical application. The proposed quantum sensing approach is based on the electron spins of defects in diamond (the nitrogen-vacancy defect). The quantum state of the spins will be used to detect magnetic waves known as magnons in novel magnetic materials, yielding information about a material’s magnetic properties and dynamics with high spatial and time resolution. On the basic science of quantum sensing, this team will use testbed systems and theory to develop new modalities of magnon quantum sensing. These new modalities will be developed with an eye towards solving outstanding problems in magnetic materials. In order to accelerate progress, the team will engineer Quantum-Enabled Magnon Sensing (QuEMS) devices based on micro/nano-electromechanical system (MEMS/NEMS) expertise to allow high throughput application of these quantum sensing techniques with diverse materials. The team will apply the QuEMS platform to two currently relevant magnetic materials systems: atomically-thin magnets and nanocrystalline soft magnetic (NSM) alloys. Atomically-thin magnetic materials are interesting from a fundamental perspective, as their two-dimensional nature results in novel magnetic properties for individual layers, and complex interactions when these layers are stacked. NSM alloys are an emerging class of magnetic materials with near-term application due to their extremely low energy loss in devices such as transformers and power converters. These two materials classes both exhibit phenomena on fast time scales and nanometer length scales, making the quantum sensing platform in this prject a powerful tool for understanding and developing these materials.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.