ExpandQISE: Track 1: Fingerprinting and engineering tunable carbon-based quantum emitters in hexagonal boron nitride

非技术描述：新兴的量子技术即将彻底改变科学和日常生活，从金融和传感到计算和医学。这些技术的核心是量子比特（quantum bit）。因此，有一个激烈的搜索，以找到可行的，强大的量子位候选人。电绝缘材料中的某些缺陷，称为深能级缺陷，通常被描述为“人造原子/分子”。这是因为在光照下，它们的行为就像原子一样。这种缺陷在量子位的固态实现中是重要的。近年来，在二维层状六方氮化硼中发现了深能级缺陷。然而，它们的身份在很大程度上仍然是一个谜，这使得制造它们和控制它们的属性的能力都受到了挫折。这个联合理论实验项目汇集了来自霍华德大学和俄勒冈州大学的科学家组成的研究团队，通过理论和实验缺陷指纹技术的结合，识别和定制六方氮化硼层中有前途的碳基深能级缺陷。这项工作也影响了这一领域的需求更广泛，通过建立指纹技术的使用，以确定在其他二维分层材料的深层次缺陷。该项目直接吸引了两所大学的研究生和本科生，促进了代表性不足的群体参与量子信息科学与工程（QISE）。研究和劳动力发展工作，如在两所大学建立新的QISE课程，远程访问量子测试平台，以及为本科生提供全年技能培养小型研讨会，旨在帮助培训和扩大学生对QISE的参与。技术描述：量子信息科学和技术处于现代科学的前沿。这些技术需要强大且长寿命的量子比特。宽带隙半导体中基于缺陷的量子发射器由于其可扩展性和集成性的潜力，已成为未来量子信息和量子传感应用中使用的领先量子位候选者。特别是，二维主机提供了无与伦比的机会，近确定性的量子发射器的位置和定制其属性通过应变工程。尽管有这些优点，但由于难以唯一地识别它们，这些量子发射体的全部潜力仍未实现，从而阻碍了设计它们的物理和量子特性的尝试。该项目采用了一种新颖的理论和实验指纹研究的组合，其中涉及应用外部刺激来确定不同缺陷的独特反应，从而独特地识别这些缺陷。应变诱导的量子发射体的不同性质的定制以调谐目标性质（诸如发射频率）允许它们在不同的量子应用中使用。对该领域更广泛的影响包括使用指纹技术来识别其他二维层状材料中的深能级缺陷的潜力。该项目还将促进更广泛的前沿科学研究和发现，包括新的基于量子的传感模式。该项目由多学科活动办公室（OMA）共同资助，历史黑人学院和大学本科课程（HBCU-UP）该奖项反映了NSF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进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。

Non-technical description:Emerging quantum technologies are poised to revolutionize science and everyday life, from finance and sensing to computation and medicine. At the core of these technologies is the quantum bit, or qubit. Hence, there is an intense search to find viable, robust qubit candidates. Certain defects, called deep-level defects, in electrically insulating materials are often described as “artificial atoms/molecules.” This is because under illumination they behave like atoms. Such defects are important amongst the solid-state implementations of qubits. In recent years, deep-level defects have been discovered in two-dimensional layered hexagonal boron nitride. Their identities, however, have largely remained a mystery, which has frustrated both the ability to make them and to control their properties. This joint theory-experiment project brings together a research team of scientists from the Howard University and University of Oregon to identify and tailor promising carbon-based deep-level defects in hexagonal boron nitride layers via a combination of theoretical and experimental defect-fingerprinting techniques. The work also impacts the needs of this field more broadly, by establishing the use of fingerprinting-techniques to identify deep-level defects in other 2D layered materials. The project directly engages graduate and undergraduate students from the two universities, boosting participation of underrepresented groups in quantum information science and engineering (QISE). Research and workforce development efforts, such as the establishment of new QISE courses at the two universities, a remotely accessible quantum testbed, and year-round skill-building mini-workshops for undergraduates are designed to help train and broaden participation of students in QISE.Technical description:Quantum information science and technologies are at the frontiers of modern science. These technologies require robust and long-lived qubits. Defect-based quantum emitters in wide-bandgap semiconductors have emerged as leading qubit-candidates for use in future quantum-information and quantum-sensing applications due to their potential for scalability and integration. In particular, two-dimensional hosts offer unparalleled opportunities for the near-deterministic placement of quantum emitters and tailoring of their properties via strain engineering. Notwithstanding these advantages, the full potential of these quantum emitters remains unrealized due to difficulties in uniquely identifying them, thereby thwarting attempts to engineer their photophysical and quantum properties. This project uses a novel combination of theoretical and experimental fingerprinting studies, which involve applying external stimuli to determine unique responses of different defects, thereby, identifying these defects uniquely. The strain-induced tailoring of different properties of quantum emitters to tune the target properties (such as emission frequencies) allows for their use in different quantum applications. Broader impacts on the field include a potential to use the fingerprinting-techniques to identify deep-level defects in other two-dimensional layered materials. The project also enables a broader range of frontier science studies and discoveries, including new quantum-based sensing modalities.The project is co-funded by The Office of Multidisciplinary Activities (OMA), and the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP).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.