MRI: Development of a 50-Tesla Ultrabroadband Magneto-optical Spectroscopy System

该项目在莱斯大学开发了一个独特的设施，其中包括一个超紧凑的脉冲磁体，以及一个用于材料研究的最先进的仪器武器库。该系统的一个显著特点是将强磁场与覆盖广泛光谱的超短激光脉冲相结合。这种磁学和光学的非传统耦合可以产生新的科学知识和令人兴奋的突破，推动材料物理和化学的前沿。通过目前与日本和法国研究人员的合作，这个新颖的设施将赖斯大学定位为材料研究人员的国际中心。该项目还包括贯穿整个设施的多方面劳动力发展计划，研究生在课堂演示期间获得开发、制造和传播微型磁铁模型的实践经验。劳动力的影响超越了目前的项目，预计在10年内达到50名博士生，从而产生新一代受过严格教育和培训的材料科学家和工程师，他们拥有推动基础和应用研究良好未来的技术专长。该项目的目标是开发50特斯拉超宽带磁光光谱分析系统，这是一种独特的设施，其中包含一个超紧凑型脉冲磁铁和现代材料最先进的仪器武器库，这有可能以前所未有的方式影响包括计算、通信和传感在内的众多技术。该系统结合了迷你线圈磁铁、超快超宽带激光器和光探测系统，以开发各种磁光谱能力，使科学家能够进行变革性研究。该系统和所进行的研究提供了对独特材料中电子的状态、动力学和行为的新见解，这些材料在强磁场中显示出新的性质，包括激子的宏观相干的自发出现；狄拉克费米子在量子化磁场中的非平衡动力学；强相互作用的一维电子的自旋动力学；高温超导体中的状态；以及磁非极化子。团队成员在一系列研究领域处于世界领先地位：低维系统的磁光和超快光学研究，纳米材料的太赫兹光谱，以及理论和实验凝聚态物理。该系统为来自世界各地的莱斯大学研究人员和外部合作者运营和维护，使赖斯成为国际材料研究人员网络的中心。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 develops a unique facility at Rice University that houses an ultracompact pulsed magnet combined with an arsenal of state-of-the-art instruments for materials research. A distinctive feature of this system is the combination of a strong magnetic field with ultrashort laser pulses covering a broad spectrum. This unconventional coupling of magnetism and optics can produce new scientific knowledge and exciting breakthroughs, advancing the frontier of materials physics and chemistry. With current collaborations with Japanese and French researchers, the novel facility positions Rice University as an international hub for materials researchers. The project also features a multifaceted workforce development plan run through the facility wherein graduate students receive hands-on experience in developing, fabricating, and disseminating miniature magnet models during classroom demonstrations. Workforce impact extends beyond the current project reaching an anticipated ~50 Ph.D. students over 10 years, thereby producing a new generation of rigorously educated and trained material scientists and engineers who are equipped with the technical expertise to advance fundamental and applied research well into the future.The objective of this project is the development of a 50-Tesla ultrabroadband magneto-optical spectroscopy system, a unique facility that houses an ultracompact pulsed magnet combined with an arsenal of state-of-the-art instruments for modern materials, which has the potential to impact numerous technologies, including computation, communications, and sensing, in ways never before possible. The system combines a mini-coil magnet, an ultrafast ultrabroadband laser, and photodetection systems to develop various magneto-spectroscopic capabilities that will allow scientists to conduct transformative research. The system and research conducted therein provide new insights into the states, dynamics, and behaviors of electrons in unique materials that exhibit novel properties in high magnetic fields, including the spontaneous appearance of macroscopic coherence of excitons; nonequilibrium dynamics of Dirac fermions in a quantizing magnetic field; spin dynamics of strongly-interacting, one-dimensional electrons; states in high temperature superconductors; and magnon-polaritons. Team members are world leaders in an array of research areas: magneto-optical and ultrafast optical studies of low-dimensional systems, terahertz spectroscopy of nanomaterials, and theoretical and experimental condensed matter physics. The system is operated and maintained for Rice University researchers and external collaborators from around the world, making Rice a hub for an international network of materials researchers.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.