Quantum Coherent Applications of Superfluid 3He

超流体 3He 的量子相干应用

• 批准号: 2210112
• 负责人: William Halperin
• 金额: $ 65.53万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-07-01 至 2025-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2210112&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Quantum; Coherent; Applications; Superfluid; 3He

Nontechnical Description:There are two important challenges today where physics plays an essential role. The first is to develop a new generation of computers that can handle the complexity and vastness of the digital information age. These putative quantum computers take advantage of quantum states of matter which contain information that can be stored and manipulated at sufficiently low temperature that neither thermal fluctuations nor impurities destroy their coherence. One important class of such quantum states is a robust form of superconductivity which does not have mirror symmetry and is called chirality, analogous to twisted strands of DNA. The paradigm quantum material having this property is superfluid 3He. Investigation in this project of quantum coherence in 3He tests a fundamental prediction that the anomalous thermal Hall can provide an unambiguous identification of chirality in any superconductor that is a candidate material for quantum computation. There is a second challenge. Our universe appears to be missing 70% of its mass, so-called dark matter. Dark matter is unobserved except for its gravitational impact on star distributions in galaxies. Its absence from all other observation is an existential problem. Many attempts have been launched to develop high resolution sensing tools to identify this missing mass as it floods throughout our environment. A possible detector is based on high coherence of i nuclear spin precession states in superfluid 3He. Its known coherence makes it a very attractive choice for this purpose; yet the limits of coherence have not yet been fully explored. A second unique benefit of 3He spin precession for mass sensing, is its tunability allowing continuous measurements in situ to be made over a wide range of dark mass.Technical Description:Superfluid helium-three is a known topological quantum condensed system, a model for understanding complex quantum materials and in particular, odd-parity chiral superconductors; a subject of interest to researchers in the burgeoning field of quantum information science. The project Quantum Coherent Applications of Superfluid 3He, is a platform to improve and demonstrate quantum coherence among chiral quantum systems including superconducting quantum materials. Additionally, these materials provide an opportunity for instrumentation development based on quantum sensing. One such important application addresses the existential problem, how to determine the nature of dark matter. For superfluid 3He, the paradigm system of choice, the quantum degrees of freedom are its nuclear spin and orbital angular momentum coherently manifest on a macroscopic scale. Superfluid 3He imbibed into very high porosity (98%) uniformly anisotropic silica aerogel controls both the spin and orbital angular momentum quantization axes. Using nuclear magnetic resonance, the directions of these axes can be unambiguously determined. Recent theory predicts that observation of a non-zero thermal Hall effect in the superfluid in uniformly anisotropic silica aerogel defines the chiral axis perpendicular to a thermal gradient. Confirmation of this theory provides a unique tool, measurement of the transverse thermal conductance, that can be used to determine chirality. The application extends to superconducting materials relevant to quantum information science. Quantum sensing is a second application in this project. The long-lived, quantum-spin coherent state of superfluid 3He provides a promising detector for light dark matter. Importantly, in this case high sensing sensitivity is combined with the advantage of continuous tuning for the putative dark mass, thereby at the very least establishing limits on galactic axion production, an existential problem in modern physics. Key to this project is its partnership with theoretical physicists in both the fields of superfluid 3He and dark matter, together with cryogenic and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy expertise at Northwestern.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.

非技术描述：当今物理学起着至关重要的作用有两个重要的挑战。首先是开发新一代的计算机，这些计算机可以处理数字信息时代的复杂性和广泛性。这些推定的量子计算机利用物质的量子状态，其中包含可以在足够低温下存储和操纵的信息，以使热波动或杂质都破坏其连贯性。这种量子状态的一类是一种强大的超导性形式，它没有镜像对称性，被称为手性，类似于DNA的扭曲链。具有该特性的范式量子材料是超氟3He。在3HE测试中，该量子相干性的研究中的调查是一种基本预测，即异常的热室可以在任何超导体中都可以明确地识别手性的明确鉴定，这是用于量子计算的候选材料。有第二个挑战。我们的宇宙似乎缺少其质量，所谓的暗物质的70％。暗物质没有观察到的，除了其对星系中恒星分布的重力影响。它缺乏所有其他观察是一个存在问题。已经开始了许多尝试开发高分辨率传感工具，以识别这种缺失的质量，因为它在我们的环境中泛滥成灾。可能的检测器是基于I核自旋进动状态在超氟3HE中的高相干性。它已知的连贯性使其成为此目的的非常吸引人的选择。然而，连贯性的极限尚未得到充分探索。 3He自旋进液对质量感应的第二个独特优势是，其可调性允许在广泛的深色质量中进行连续测量。技术描述：超氟三种氦气是一种已知的拓扑量子凝结系统，一种用于理解复杂的量子材料，尤其是奇怪的质量手学手性超大型超导管的模型；量子信息科学新兴领域的研究人员感兴趣的主题。 Superfluid 3He的项目量子相干应用是一个改善和证明包括超导量子材料在内的手性量子系统之间的量子相干性的平台。此外，这些材料为基于量子传感的仪器开发提供了机会。这样的重要应用程序解决了存在问题，即如何确定暗物质的性质。对于超级流体3HE，选择的范式系统，量子自由度是其核自旋和轨道角动量在宏观尺度上相干表现出来。超氟3HE被吸收到非常高的孔隙率（98％）均匀的各向异性硅胶气凝胶控制自旋和轨道角动量量化轴。使用核磁共振，可以明确确定这些轴的方向。最近的理论预测，在均匀各向异性硅胶气凝胶均匀流体中，观察到非零热霍尔的效应定义了垂直于热梯度的手性轴。对该理论的确认提供了一种独特的工具，即测量横向导热率，可用于确定手性。该应用扩展到与量子信息科学相关的超导材料。量子传感是该项目的第二个应用。超氟3HE的长寿命，量子旋转相干状态为轻质暗物质提供了有前途的检测器。重要的是，在这种情况下，高传感敏感性与推定的深色质量的连续调整相结合，因此至少在银河系产生的限制下，这是现代物理学中的存在问题。该项目的关键是它在超级氟3e和暗物质领域与理论物理学家的合作伙伴关系，以及Northwestern上的低温和核磁共振谱专业知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过该基金会的知识绩效和广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务。

项目成果

Axion Wind Detection with the Homogeneous Precession Domain of Superfluid Helium-3

利用超流 Helium-3 的均匀进动域进行轴子风探测

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.129.211801
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Physical Review Letters
• 影响因子: 8.6
• 作者: Gao, Christina;Halperin, William;Kahn, Yonatan;Nguyen, Man;Schütte-Engel, Jan;Scott, John William
• 通讯作者: Scott, John William

Planar Aerogel and Superfluid 3He, Structure and Transitions

平面气凝胶和超流体 3He，结构和转变

• DOI: 10.1007/s10909-024-03069-2
• 发表时间: 2024
• 期刊: Journal of Low Temperature Physics
• 影响因子: 2
• 作者: Scott, J. W.;Nguyen, M. D.;Park, D.;Halperin, W. P.
• 通讯作者: Halperin, W. P.