New Frontiers in Magnetic Quantum Materials

从青铜器时代到铁器时代，再到现在的硅时代，人类历史上的各个时代都是以定义它们的材料来命名的。我们现在可能正处于量子材料时代的边缘。量子材料由于强烈的量子力学效应而具有显著的结构、电学和磁性。正如硅基技术在过去半个世纪里几乎彻底改变了生活的方方面面一样，量子材料也有可能彻底改变许多领域，从计算（马约拉纳模式的量子计算）到医学（用于神经学应用的超灵敏传感器），再到交通运输（用于扩大电动汽车范围的高性能超级电容器电极）。这项研究计划的总体目标是发现新的量子材料并建立结构-功能关系，这将加速解锁新技术的进展。在这些科学影响的同时，该研究项目还将为研究生和博士后提供培训，使他们能够在基于量子材料的新兴产业中工作。

The eras in human history are named for the materials that defined them, from the bronze age, to the iron age, to the current silicon age. We may now be at the precipice of the age of quantum materials. Quantum materials have remarkable structural, electrical, and magnetic properties derived from intense quantum mechanical effects. Just as silicon-based technologies revolutionized almost all aspects of life over the last half century, quantum materials have the potential to revolutionize a wide range of fields, from computing (quantum computing with Majorana modes), to medicine (ultra-sensitive sensors for neurology applications), to transportation (high-performance supercapacitor electrodes to extend the range of electric vehicles). The overarching aim of this research program is to discover new quantum materials and establish structure-function relationships that will accelerate progress towards unlocking new technologies. In parallel with these scientific impacts, this research program will also provide training to graduate students and postdocs who will be ideally equipped to work in emerging industries based on quantum materials. The core of my research program at the University of British Columbia is an interdisciplinary approach to the design, synthesis, and characterization of new quantum materials using state-of-the-art crystal growth techniques. In addition to solid state and flux growth, our group will be the first in Canada operating a high-pressure multi-anvil apparatus for quantum materials research. This apparatus will allow us to synthesize materials under extreme conditions: pressures up to 250,000 times atmospheric pressure and temperatures up to 3000 C. We will also operate a suite of floating zone image furnaces, including Canada's first laser diode image furnace, that will be used to grow pristine, large single crystals. This unique and comprehensive set of crystal growth capabilities will enable the discovery of new materials that were formerly unobtainable due to synthetic barriers. We then characterize the magnetic and electronic properties of these new quantum materials using a suite of in-house (susceptibility, heat capacity and resistivity) and facility-based (neutron scattering and muon spin relaxation) techniques. In the next five years, this research program will focus on emerging topics where materials innovations are poised to have the most significant impact. The first of these considers the unification of two of the most important classes of quantum materials: strongly correlated metals and frustrated magnets, each of which has independently yielded remarkable new states of matter. We will establish a materials foundation to explore the burgeoning topic of metallic frustration. The second theme, magnetic high entropy oxides, will be used to explore magnetism in the limit of extreme disorder. These magnetic high entropy oxides exhibit tremendous promise for applications such as multiferroic functionality.