Understanding and controlling electronic correlation and instability: toward functional quantum matter

理解和控制电子相关性和不稳定性：走向功能量子物质

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-04554
• 负责人: Julian, Stephen
• 金额: $ 5.1万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=633510
• 关键词: Understanding; controlling; electronic; correlation; instability

The development of quantum mechanics in the early 20th century gave us the power to understand and control the properties of materials, such as semiconductors and ferromagnets, that led to the technological revolution that produced computers, high-speed communications devices, remote sensors, and so on. To put it simply, without the several decades of condensed matter research that led to our understanding of semiconductors, the cell phone that you carry around in your pocket would be the size of a house.Our understanding of simple materials such as semiconductors comes from understanding what happens at the atomic scale. Starting in the latter part of the 20th century, however, a new class of materials emerged whose properties are much more subtle, because they result from interactions of vast numbers of electrons spread over distances much larger than an atom. The theory of these so-called "strongly correlated" systems is a deep intellectual problem that may hold the key to the next generation of technology. The goal of our research is to discover and understand these new “emergent” materials, through a combination of chemistry, and measurements at high pressures and high magnetic fields. We believe that the high pressure route in particular offers a good way to discover novel and potentially useful states of materials. The properties that we seek are things like high temperature superconductivity and so-called “topological” states, that may provide electronics with low heat dissipation, or even elements for quantum computation. In the short-term our results will be important to other physicists who are investigating similar materials, but in the longer term it is likely that research on strongly correlated materials will lead to breakthrough technologies. Indeed this is already happening, for example, with high temperature superconductors that are leading to important advances in magnet technology, which will greatly improve magnetic resonance probes used in biomedical research.Our results will be published in scientific journals, however the benefits of our research are only partly in the knowledge gained: even more important are the people who we train in advanced materials science research, who can help to establish a thriving materials science industry in Canada.

20世纪初期的量子力学的发展使我们有能力理解和控制材料的特性，例如半导体和铁磁体，这导致了产生计算机，高速通信设备，远程传感器等的技术革命。简而言之，如果没有数十年的凝结问题研究，这会使我们对半导体的理解，您在口袋里随身携带的手机将是房屋的大小。我们对简单材料（例如半导体）的理解来自理解原子量表的情况。然而，从20世纪后期开始，出现了一种新的材料，其特性更加微妙，因为它们是由于大量电子的相互作用而造成的，远远超过原子。这些所谓的“密切相关”系统的理论是一个深刻的智力问题，它可能是下一代技术的关键。我们研究的目的是通过化学和高压和高磁场的测量来发现和理解这些新的“新兴”材料。我们认为，高压途径特别是发现新颖且潜在有用的材料状态的好方法。我们寻求的特性是高温超导性和所谓的“拓扑”状态，这些状态可能会为电子设备提供低热量耗散，甚至可以为量子计算提供元素。在短期内，我们的结果对于研究类似材料的其他物理学家将很重要，但是从长远来看，对强相关材料的研究可能会导致突破性技术。实际上，例如，高温超导体导致磁铁技术的重要进展，这将大大改善磁共振问题，这将在生物医学研究中使用。您的结果将出版在科学期刊上，但是我们的研究的好处仅在我们的知识中得到了部分知识：甚至我们更重要的是我们在高级材料科学研究中培训的人，他们可以帮助他们建立一项蓬勃发展的蓬勃发展，这是我们在蓬勃发展的趋势上培训的。