Advanced metrologies and instrumentations for the ultrafast characterization of quantum materials

想象一下，与那些用现代材料保护的手相比，冬天的手覆盖着宽幅网眼的羊毛手套，这些材料能让皮肤保持干燥和温暖，并为你的手机充电。这与未来的技术如何从目前处于研究前沿的新的所谓量子材料中获利进行了类比。这些材料能够将量子效应传输到我们的宏观世界，无论是用于光电子、电子或电信行业的新地铁或设备。然而，利用这些特征需要深入的定性，这在目前的都市法中是非常有限的，并需要新的发展。拟议中的项目将允许INRS-EMT及其工业合作伙伴量子谷投资公司(QVI)的研究人员创建这样的新地铁。量子谷投资公司是一家开发量子材料的智库。这需要将基于实验室的超快时间分辨率与短波长粒子(光子和电子)相结合。完全进入这种量子材料的内部需要良好控制的XUV/软X射线光子和超快电子束的组合。利用X射线脉冲，材料的电子将被表征，而电子束则提供互补的晶格信息。在位于瓦伦斯(QC)的ALL工厂，这两种材料都是过去生产的，将在当前的研究提案中进行成形，以满足此类新材料表征所需的高要求。该项目的一个重要组成部分将是将计量设备--高通量谐波源--转移到QVI位于滑铁卢的研发设施(On)。一旦建立了计量学，它们将被应用于研究与QVI高度相关的材料的动力学并得到验证。拟议的计量/仪器和高素质人员的培训将有助于使加拿大保持在快速发展的“量子革命”的前沿，从而加强其在关键部门的领先地位，这些部门极其需要强大的量子计算和计量平台，如先进的环境传感、高精度的化学分析和增强的安全协议。

Imagine hands covered in wide-meshed woolen mittens in winter compared to those protected by modern materials that keep the skin dry and warm and additionally charge your phone. This gives an analogy to how future technologies can profit from new so-called quantum materials that are currently at the forefront of research. These materials are capable of transmitting quantum effects into our macroscopic world, be it for new metrologies or devices used in photonics, electronics or telecommunication industries. To exploit such features however requires in-depth characterization which is greatly limited with current metrologies and calls for new developments. The proposed project will allow researchers from INRS-EMT and its industrial partner Quantum Valley Investments (QVI) - a think-tank developing quantum materials, to create such new metrologies. This requires the combination of conventional laboratory based ultrafast temporal resolution with short wavelength particles (photons and electrons). Fully accessing the interior of such quantum materials demands a combination of well controlled XUV/soft X-ray photons and ultrafast electron bunches. With the X-ray pulses the material's electrons will be characterized, while the electron bunches provide complementary lattice information. At the ALLS facility located in Varennes (Qc), both have been produced in the past and will be shaped within the current research proposal to meet the high requirements necessary for such new material characterization. An important component of this project will be the transfer of a metrology - a high flux harmonic source - to QVI's R&D facility in Waterloo (On). Once the metrologies are set, they will be applied and validated for studying dynamics in materials of high relevance to QVI. The proposed metrologies/instrumentations and the training of highly-qualified personnel will contribute to keep Canada at the forefront of the rapidly moving "quantum revolution", thereby enhancing its leading position across critical sectors that vitally require powerful quantum computation and metrology platforms, such as advanced environmental sensing, high-precision chemical analysis, and increased security protocols.