CAREER: Quantum Spintronic Device Building Blocks with Magnetically Ordered Materials

该项目将从根本上探索如何有效地利用材料的量子性质，无论是天然的还是人工工程的，通过一类新的基于自旋的设备构建块来提高未来的电子设备性能，这些设备构建块用于纳米电子领域的潜在应用。该项目将有助于回答一些基本问题，如如何将新型混合磁晶结构制成并用作器件构件，以及如何将材料的量子力学特征用作未来稳健、高效的通信和计算的新机制。这些努力可能会给大数据、先进电子和物联网领域的技术带来革命性的变化。该项目预计将使自旋电子学、磁学和量子材料的研究人员受益，并有效地将本科生和研究生教育与研究前沿联系起来。其中开发的研究和教育内容将用于为代表不足的群体的学生量身定做的外联计划，以促进他们对物理的兴趣，并鼓励他们考虑从事科学工作。该项目还将涉及教育和推广活动，为纳米科学和量子技术开发尖端的研究和教育基础设施和工具包。该项目将探索固态有序(结构、电子和磁性)以及凝聚态系统中的量子力学耦合如何影响自旋电子学性质，并研究如何有效地控制这些性质以用于未来的纳米电子器件应用。它专注于通过使用最先进的反铁磁/重金属/铁磁混合异质结构来实现新颖和优化的器件构建块。具体的进展包括：(1)对磁性异质结构中的自旋轨道效应及其对自旋动力学的影响建立坚实的理解；(2)实现纳米级、超快读出的自旋状态变量，用于相干、可靠的信号读出和传播；以及(3)为量子科学的研究和教学开发纳米级的电学和光学测量工具包。该项目具有变革性，因为它有望产生一个将磁性异质结构全面整合到纳米级自旋电子器件中的平台，结合显著的自旋轨道效应，实现高能效和高达太赫兹级别的超快操作频率。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will, at the fundamental level, explore how materials’ quantum properties, either natural or artificially engineered, can be utilized effectively to enhance future electronic device performance through a new class of spin-based device building blocks for potential applications in nanoelectronics. The project will help answer fundamental questions such as how novel hybrid magneticheterostructures can be made into and used as device building blocks and how materials’ quantum mechanical features can be adopted as new mechanisms for future robust, efficient communication and computation. These efforts will potentially revolutionize technologies in Big Data, Advanced Electronics,and the Internet of Things. This project is expected to benefit researchers from spintronics, magnetism, and quantum materials, and effectively links undergraduate and graduate education to the research frontier. The research and education content developed therein will be used in outreach programs tailored for students from underrepresented groups to promote their interest in physics and encourage them to consider careers in science. The project will also involve education and outreach activities, developing cutting-edge research and education infrastructures and toolkits for nanoscience and quantum technology.This project will explore how solid-state orders (structural, electronic, and magnetic), as well as quantum-mechanical couplings in condensed matter systems, can affect spintronic properties, and study how these can be effectively controlled for future nanoelectronics device applications. It focuses on realizing novel and optimized device building blocks by using state-of-the-art hybrid antiferromagnet/heavy-metal/ferromagnet heterostructures. Specific thrusts include: (1) establishing a solid understanding of spin-orbit effects and their impact on spin dynamics in magnetic heterostructures; (2) realizing nanoscale, ultrafast readout spin state variables for coherent, reliable signal readout and propagation; and (3) developing nanoscale electrical and optical measurement toolkits for research and education in quantum science. The project is transformative in that it is expected to produce a platform that comprehensively incorporates magnetic heterostructures into nanoscale spintronic devices combining pronounced spin-orbit effects that enable both high energy-efficiency and ultrafast operating frequencies up to THz levels.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.