Public Abstract

DE-SC0020254: Heterostructures of quantum spin liquid and quantum electronic liquid for electrically sensing entangled excitations

Award Status: Active

Institution: The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
UEI: FN2YCS2YAUW3
DUNS:

Most Recent Award Date: 08/09/2024
Number of Support Periods: 6
PM: Cantoni, Claudia

Current Budget Period: 08/01/2024 - 07/31/2025
Current Project Period: 08/01/2024 - 07/31/2027
PI: Zhou, Haidong

Supplement Budget Period: N/A

Public Abstract

Semiconductor electronics has enjoyed great success in computational and information technologies for several decades thanks to the excellent scalability of conventional semiconductors that enables integrated circuits. This paradigm will however reach its limits within the next decade. Looking forward, fundamentally new operation mechanisms and architectures are necessary for the next generation of devices that can handle complex problems that are beyond the semiconductor electronics. While quantum computing and quantum information have been long recognized as the emerging technologies that promise such advancements, there has been a lack of suitable material platforms for scalable realization. This proposal continues to exploit an advance in heterostructure synthesis to electronically expose the collective spin excitations in geometrically frustrated quantum magnets. Geometrically frustrated quantum magnets have been extensively studied due to their unusual magnetic ground states that are beyond the standard paradigm of symmetry-breaking long-range orders. The associated elementary excitations are highly enigmatic and often quantum mechanically entangled. While these properties could afford emergent quantum functionality for new computational and information technologies, it is highly challenging to integrate geometrically frustrated quantum magnets with electrical circuits since they are usually good insulators. The present study will investigate the possibility of metallizing quantum magnets and electrically taming spin entanglements through proximitized transport. Specifically, the project will develop a series of epitaxial heterojunctions where the insulating quantum magnet is interfaced with a nonmagnetic metal such that the quantum magnetism mediates the electronic conduction. Chosen prototypes include materials that are believed to be a quantum spin ice and order by disorder. The project will further pursue synthesizing the spin ice magnetic insulator as ultrathin films to induce novel proximitized transport behaviors. The goal of the proposed work is to understand the proximity effects that enable charge responses to exotic magnetic excitations. The results are expected to present a major step towards functionalizing insulating quantum magnets in integrated electronic technologies.

Semiconductor electronics has enjoyed great success in computational and information technologies for several decades thanks to the excellent scalability of conventional semiconductors that enables integrated circuits. This paradigm will however reach its limits within the next decade. Looking forward, fundamentally new operation mechanisms and architectures are necessary for the next generation of devices that can handle complex problems that are beyond the semiconductor electronics. While quantum computing and quantum information have been long recognized as the emerging technologies that promise such advancements, there has been a lack of suitable material platforms for scalable realization.

This proposal continues to exploit an advance in heterostructure synthesis to electronically expose the collective spin excitations in geometrically frustrated quantum magnets. Geometrically frustrated quantum magnets have been extensively studied due to their unusual magnetic ground states that are beyond the standard paradigm of symmetry-breaking long-range orders. The associated elementary excitations are highly enigmatic and often quantum mechanically entangled. While these properties could afford emergent quantum functionality for new computational and information technologies, it is highly challenging to integrate geometrically frustrated quantum magnets with electrical circuits since they are usually good insulators. The present study will investigate the possibility of metallizing quantum magnets and electrically taming spin entanglements through proximitized transport. Specifically, the project will develop a series of epitaxial heterojunctions where the insulating quantum magnet is interfaced with a nonmagnetic metal such that the quantum magnetism mediates the electronic conduction. Chosen prototypes include materials that are believed to be a quantum spin ice and order by disorder. The project will further pursue synthesizing the spin ice magnetic insulator as ultrathin films to induce novel proximitized transport behaviors. The goal of the proposed work is to understand the proximity effects that enable charge responses to exotic magnetic excitations. The results are expected to present a major step towards functionalizing insulating quantum magnets in integrated electronic technologies.