CCI Phase I: NSF Center for Synthesizing Quantum Coherence

CCI第一阶段：量子相干合成中心（CSQC）是由化学部化学创新中心（CCI）计划支持的。第一阶段中心由杜克大学的David Beratan教授领导。其他团队成员包括Michael Therien教授（同样来自杜克大学）、Michael Wasielewski教授（西北大学）、Graham Fleming教授（加州大学伯克利分校）和Nancy Makri教授（伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校）。原子和分子之间的碰撞通常是随机事件，即使两个反应物发生碰撞，碰撞的力也可能不足以使它们相互反应。尽管存在这种随机性，但化学家已经非常擅长预测化学反应的速率和结果。然而，如果我们希望控制化学反应，使它们只产生所需的产物，或者捕获能量或传输信息，则必须将随机性最小化。CSQC的目标是理解如何将化学过程设计成“连贯的”。相干过程的一个例子是激光发出的光。激光产生的光子彼此“同步”移动（技术术语是“同步”）。其他光源（例如白炽灯或紧凑型荧光灯）以随机方式发射光子。因此，CSQC正在设计和合成分子和分子组合，其中原子和电子的运动可以像激光束中的光子一样连贯。相干过程有可能改变我们控制化学反应的方式，并极大地扩展化学的有用应用范围（例如，通过开发传感、计算、材料科学和生物医学的新技术）。CSQC致力于确保中心包容和多样性的氛围，以便将代表性不足的少数民族和女性学生纳入跨学科，基于团队的研究。所有地点的学生都将接受杜克大学科学传播项目的培训，向广大观众解释他们研究的意义，为我们社会的科学素养做出贡献，并为化学社区创造核心知识。CSQC的目标是发现电子激发的多色体系和单壁碳纳米管上层结构中的相干动态过程如何能够以挑战温度和反应速率的经典概念的方式收集，操纵和方向能量，电荷和自旋。该团队应用合成、分子和纳米级设计、二维电子和电子振动光谱、脉冲epr光谱和理论/计算量子化学工具，通过精确定制的纳米结构和分子，了解电子激发态和电荷的相干流动，以及它们的相干自旋-自旋相互作用。这些基本原理的发展将对量子信息系统、能量转换、分子传感和量子计算等领域产生广泛的影响。学生接受广泛学科（化学合成、激光技术、理论和计算）以及科学传播方面的培训。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The CCI Phase I: Center for Synthesizing Quantum Coherences (CSQC) is supported by the Centers for Chemical Innovation (CCI) Program of the Division of Chemistry. This Phase I Center is led by Professor David Beratan of Duke University. Other team members include Professors Michael Therien (also of Duke University), Michael Wasielewski (Northwestern University), Graham Fleming (University of California-Berkeley), and Nancy Makri (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). Collisions between atoms and molecules are typically random events, and even if two reactants collide, the force of the collision may not be sufficient to cause them to react with each other. Despite this randomness, chemists have become quite good at predicting the rates and outcomes of chemical reactions. However, if we wish to control chemical reactions so that they yield only desired products or to capture energy or transport information, randomness must be minimized. The goal of the CSQC is to understand how chemical processes can be designed to be "coherent." An example of a coherent process is the light emitted from a laser. The photons generated by the laser move "in sync" with each other (the technical term is "in phase"). Other light sources (incandescent or compact fluorescent bulbs, for example) emit photons in a random fashion. Thus, the CSQC is designing and synthesizing molecules and assemblies of molecules where the motions of the atoms and electrons within them can be coherent, like the photons in a laser beam. Coherent processes have the potential to change how we control chemical reactions, as well as greatly expand the range of useful applications of chemistry (for example, by developing new technologies for sensing, computing, materials science, and biomedicine). The CSQC works to ensure that that a Center climate of inclusion and diversity is embraced so that underrepresented minority and women students are included in the interdisciplinary, team-based research. The students at all sites will be trained by Duke's Program in Science Communication to explain the significance of their research to a broad audience, contributing to our society's scientific literacy, as well as creating core knowledge of use to the chemistry community.The goal of CSQC is to discover how coherent dynamic processes in electronically excited multi-chromophoric systems and single-walled carbon nanotube superstructures enable the collection, manipulation, and direction of energy, charge, and spin in ways that challenge classical conceptions of temperature and reaction rates. The team applies the tools of synthesis, molecular and nanoscale design, 2D electronic and electronic-vibrational spectroscopies, pulse-EPR spectroscopy, and theoretical/computational quantum chemistry to understand the coherent flow of electronic excited states and charges, along with their coherent spin-spin interactions, through precisely tailored nanostructures and molecules. The development of the underlying principles will have wide ranging impact in areas related to quantum information systems, energy conversion, molecular sensing, and quantum computing. Students receive training in a wide spectrum of disciplines (chemical synthesis, laser technology, theory and computation) as well as in science communication.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.