NSF Award
2326528
The aim of this project is to accelerate the development and adoption of quantum sensing platforms to drive technologically-relevant advances in magnetic materials, including near-term materials needed to address critical clean energy challenges, such as the need for miniature and efficient power converters in electric vehicles. At a more fundamental level, this project will also accelerate progress in understanding cutting edge ultrathin magnetic materials. The project brings together an interdisciplinary team of experimental physicists, theorists, and engineers to develop a magnetic quantum sensing platform and bring it from proof-of-concept to practical application. <br/><br/>The proposed quantum sensing approach is based on the electron spins of defects in diamond (the nitrogen-vacancy defect). The quantum state of the spins will be used to detect magnetic waves known as magnons in novel magnetic materials, yielding information about a material’s magnetic properties and dynamics with high spatial and time resolution. On the basic science of quantum sensing, this team will use testbed systems and theory to develop new modalities of magnon quantum sensing. These new modalities will be developed with an eye towards solving outstanding problems in magnetic materials. In order to accelerate progress, the team will engineer Quantum-Enabled Magnon Sensing (QuEMS) devices based on micro/nano-electromechanical system (MEMS/NEMS) expertise to allow high throughput application of these quantum sensing techniques with diverse materials. The team will apply the QuEMS platform to two currently relevant magnetic materials systems: atomically-thin magnets and nanocrystalline soft magnetic (NSM) alloys. Atomically-thin magnetic materials are interesting from a fundamental perspective, as their two-dimensional nature results in novel magnetic properties for individual layers, and complex interactions when these layers are stacked. NSM alloys are an emerging class of magnetic materials with near-term application due to their extremely low energy loss in devices such as transformers and power converters. These two materials classes both exhibit phenomena on fast time scales and nanometer length scales, making the quantum sensing platform in this prject a powerful tool for understanding and developing these materials.<br/><br/>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.
