CAREER: Chiral Phenomena of Excited States in Spintronics

职业：自旋电子学中激发态的手性现象

• 批准号: 2339615
• 负责人: Wencan Jin
• 金额: $ 73.81万
• 依托单位: Auburn University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-02-01 至 2029-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2339615&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Chiral; Phenomena; Excited; States

Nontechnical Abstract: Chirality is a ubiquitous phenomenon in nature, ranging from elementary particles to chemistry and biomolecules. Most studied chiral phenomena rely on a static view of chirality, that is, whether an object can be superimposed on its mirror image. In fact, the concept of chirality can be extended to moving objects: rattleback, for example, is a spinning top that only rotates in a preferred direction. In condensed matter systems, dynamic chirality can lead to a variety of interesting phenomena and applications. Here, the research team focuses on the chiral interactions between structural, electronic, magnetic dynamics in atomically thin van der Waals materials. The research project brings together advanced spectroscopy and modeling techniques to investigate the optical and transport properties emerged from chiral interactions. These properties hold the promise of producing circularly polarized light and realizing unidirectional dynamics of electrons, which can be implemented into novel opto-electronic device applications. The research aspects of this CAREER plan are integrated with extensive opportunities for education and outreach activities. Graduate and undergraduate students are not only trained in materials science, nanofabrication, and laser physics in the principal investigator’s lab, but also involved in spectroscopy experiments using national lab facilities. Also, the research team actively engage the K-12 students and general public to convey the concept of chirality and the beauty of symmetry by developing new STEM demos and games. Technical Abstract: In condensed matter systems, the concept of dynamic chirality expands the scope of spintronics with various intriguing properties. In this process, chirality plays a critical role in the energy and angular momentum transfer among different degrees of freedom. The objective of this project is to study novel magneto-optical effects and nonreciprocal transport properties that emerge from chiral interactions between magnetic, phononic, and photonic excitations in two-dimensional materials and van der Waals heterostructures. The research team are seeking to address several most current and relevant scientific problems in spintronics: 1) How to coherently excite chiral phonons and lift chiral phonon degeneracy in an achiral material? 2) How does chirality mediate the magnon-phonon coupling in the two-dimensional limit? and 3) How to implement chiral interactions in a phonon diode device for nonreciprocal signal operation? A battery of state-of-the-art experimental techniques at the home institution and the national laboratories such as nonlinear optics, helicity-resolved Raman scattering, and ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy are employed to carry out the research tasks. This research project shed light on the emergent chiral phenomena in a broader class of materials and advance spintronics towards the interdisciplinary regime with quantum information science.This project is jointly funded by the Condensed Matter Physics Program (CMP) in the Division of Materials Research and by the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.

非技术摘要：手性是自然界中普遍存在的现象，从基本粒子到化学和生物分子，大多数研究的手性现象都依赖于手性的静态视图，即物体是否可以叠加在其镜像上。手性的概念可以扩展到移动物体：例如，响尾蛇是一个只沿首选方向旋转的陀螺，在凝聚态物质系统中，动态手性可以带来各种有趣的结果。在这里，研究团队专注于原子薄范德华材料中的结构、电子、磁动力学之间的手性相互作用，该研究项目汇集了先进的光谱学和建模技术，以研究手性相互作用产生的光学和传输特性。这些特性有望产生圆偏振光并实现电子的单向动力学，可以将其应用于新型光电器件应用中，该职业计划的研究方面与研究生和推广活动的广泛机会相结合。本科生不仅在首席研究员实验室接受材料科学、纳米制造和激光物理方面的培训，而且还利用国家实验室设施参与光谱实验。此外，研究团队还积极与 K-12 学生和公众交流。通过开发新的 STEM 演示和游戏来展示手性概念和对称之美 技术摘要：在凝聚态物质系统中，动态手性概念通过各种有趣的特性扩展了自旋电子学的范围。该项目的目标是研究二维磁、声子和光子激发之间的手性相互作用所产生的新型磁光效应和非互易输运特性。研究团队正在寻求解决自旋电子学中几个最新且相关的科学问题：1）如何相干地激发手性声子并提升手性声子简并性。在非手性材料中？2）手性如何介导二维极限中的磁子-声子耦合？以及3）如何在声子二极管器件中实现非互易信号操作的手性相互作用？利用本单位和国家实验室的非线性光学、螺旋分辨拉曼散射、铁磁共振光谱等实验技术开展研究该研究项目揭示了更广泛的材料中出现的手性现象，并推动自旋电子学迈向量子信息科学的跨学科领域。该项目由材料研究部的凝聚态物理计划（CMP）共同资助。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过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，被认为值得支持。