Chiral Strain Engineering of Polar Semiconductors

极性半导体的手性应变工程

• 批准号: 2312944
• 负责人: Jian Shi
• 金额: $ 42.52万
• 依托单位: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2312944&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Chiral; Strain; Engineering; Polar; Semiconductors

Nontechnical descriptionChirality, a concept that describes objects (such as crystals, molecules, or the relationship between electron spin and momentum) that possess a distinct configuration from their mirror image, plays a pivotal role in driving many fundamental phenomena in materials physics. Crystalline chiral solids exhibit a unique spin-momentum relation and robust chiral-induced spin selectivity, making them highly promising for energy-efficient spintronic computing at room temperature. The proposed approach of chiral elastic strain engineering offers a framework that facilitates the exploration and discovery of new chiral materials and phases. This approach not only enables the enriching of basic understanding of chiral electronic properties and their relations with strain, but also has the potential to accelerate the implementation of chiral materials in future spintronics and computing technologies. This award also aims to promote science and engineering education and research training among a diverse range of students, including those from historically underrepresented groups in the field, on the topic of chiral electronic materials. The results gained from this award will contribute to the advancement of future microelectronics, benefiting the overall societal progress of the United States.Technical descriptionChiral spin-orbit coupling, observed in the surface states of topological insulators, Weyl semimetals, and Rashba/Dresselhaus crystals/systems, plays a crucial role in the design of emerging photonic and spintronic devices for integrated quantum photonics and electronics. Chiral crystals, featuring Kramers-Weyl chiral spin-orbit coupling, can be either metals or insulators, providing a larger energy window for topologically non-trivial behavior compared to topological insulators or Weyl semimetals. Moreover, robust room temperature chiral-induced spin selectivity has been discovered in chiral materials. However, the availability of crystalline chiral semiconductors is limited, which significantly hinders the selection of suitable model systems for studying Kramers-Weyl physics, chiral electronic transport properties, and the development of spintronic devices based on chiral materials. In this project, the principal investigator proposes to utilize elastic strain to transform non-chiral semiconductors into chiral phases that possess topological chiral electronic structures. The goal is to uncover the fundamental relationship between chiral properties and strain fields. The role of electric fields in switching chiral handedness will also be investigated. This project will advance the fundamental understanding of chiral electronic structures, electronic transport, optical and optoelectronic properties, and will expand the materials database concerning chiral spintronic properties and devices for future computing.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.

非技术描述手性是一个概念，描述具有与其镜像不同的构型的物体（例如晶体、分子或电子自旋与动量之间的关系），在驱动材料物理中的许多基本现象方面发挥着关键作用。晶体手性固体表现出独特的自旋动量关系和强大的手性诱导自旋选择性，使其在室温下的节能自旋电子计算中具有广阔的应用前景。所提出的手性弹性应变工程方法提供了一个框架，有助于探索和发现新的手性材料和相。这种方法不仅能够丰富对手性电子特性及其与应变关系的基本理解，而且有可能加速手性材料在未来自旋电子学和计算技术中的应用。该奖项还旨在促进各类学生（包括来自该领域历史上代表性不足群体的学生）关于手性电子材料主题的科学与工程教育和研究培训。该奖项获得的成果将有助于未来微电子学的进步，有益于美国的整体社会进步。技术描述手性自旋轨道耦合，在拓扑绝缘体、Weyl半金属和Rashba/Dresselhaus晶体的表面态中观察到/系统，在集成量子光子学和电子学的新兴光子和自旋电子器件的设计中发挥着至关重要的作用。手性晶体具有克莱默-外尔手性自旋轨道耦合特征，可以是金属或绝缘体，与拓扑绝缘体或外尔半金属相比，为拓扑非平凡行为提供了更大的能量窗口。此外，在手性材料中发现了强大的室温手性诱导自旋选择性。然而，晶体手性半导体的可用性是有限的，这极大地阻碍了选择合适的模型系统来研究克拉默斯-韦尔物理、手性电子输运特性以及基于手性材料的自旋电子器件的开发。在该项目中，主要研究者提出利用弹性应变将非手性半导体转化为具有拓扑手性电子结构的手性相。目标是揭示手性特性和应变场之间的基本关系。电场在切换手性旋向性中的作用也将被研究。该项目将增进对手性电子结构、电子传输、光学和光电特性的基本理解，并将扩展有关手性自旋电子特性和未来计算设备的材料数据库。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为值得通过以下方式支持：使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。