Organic masers for microwave quantum optics

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Portable, chip-scale devices capable of detecting single photons at microwave frequencies would open up many new application including quantum-enhanced radar and more sensitive (thus faster) form or magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging. To date, the only devices capable of detecting single microwave photons require bulky, power-hungry cryogenic refrigerators, ultra-high vacuum systems and/or magnets. By exploiting stimulated emission, a maser can swiftly build up a detectable avalanche of photons from just a single injected photon. Based purely on the quantum-mechanical flipping of static spins, masers avoid the noise processes that plague electronic (semiconductor) amplifiers. Solid-state masers operating at room temperature have been demonstrated in recent years, though only as oscillators. With respect to low-noise amplification at the single-photon level, optically-pumped masers incorporating organic molecular crystals offer advantages over all known types, especially in pulsed (= radar) mode. The PhD student will focus on the discovery and demonstration of novel organic maser materials optimized for single-photon detection. As a well-rounded PhD project in "quantum materials engineering", her/his work will encompass computer-based molecular design, the purification of chemicals, the growth of organic maser crystals, the construction of microwave instrumentation, the characterization of each crystal's spin-dynamics using EPR spectroscopy, and thereupon the construction of practical demonstrators.