Periodic Reporting for period 3 - SPRING (SPin Research IN Graphene)
Période du rapport: 2022-04-01 au 2024-03-31
Future Information Technology will use quantum materials for efficient information processing and communication. In SPRING, we proposed to utilize custom-crafted graphene nanostructures as elementary active components of a new generation of nanoscale quantum spintronic devices. In a ground-breaking discovery, we found that customized graphene nanostructures can spontaneously develop intrinsic π-paramagnetism, a novel form of magnetism, arising from a combination of certain unbalances in the structure of the flake and electronic interactions. This unconventional magnetism is mobile, long-range ranged, and can be electrically addressable. Therefore, in this last period, the efforts of the SPRING consortium focused on exploring the implications of this new form of magnetism in spintronics, quantum technologies and quantum chemistry. These studies addressed several problems that could facilitate the application of magnetic graphene flakes in future technologies.
Among the various research experiments performed in the last part of the project, the consortium worked together to develop methods for manipulating spin properties of the organic system using electronic currents, electrostatic voltages, mechanical forces, or simply by controlling the environment around the magnetically active molecule. The combination between organic synthesis, experimental observations and theoretical simulations was essential to resolve the understanding of the new phenomenology arising when electronic spins are measured one at the time. In this approach, it was possible to explore new forms of unconventional magnetism arising at the single molecule level, where controlled bond breaking and reorganization reactions could be induced with high energy and space precision.
In line with the application of organic spins in quantum technologies, we had a look to the quantum phenomenology arising from entangled spins in graphene nanostructures, as well as understanding and demonstrating the scales of the interaction of electronic spins with nuclear spins, mediated by hyperfine interactions, and their coherent dynamical evolution. It is crucial to emphasize that these investigations were amply collaborative, involving a unique combination of concepts and tools of chemistry, condensed matter physics, quantum physics, and physical engineering, making each of you an integral part of this research.
In line with the application of organic spins in quantum technologies, we had a look to the quantum phenomenology arising from entangled spins in graphene nanostructures, as well as understanding and demonstrating the scales of the interaction of electronic spins with nuclear spins, mediated by hyperfine interactions, and their coherent dynamical evolution. It is crucial to emphasize that these investigations were amply collaborative, involving a unique combination of concepts and tools of chemistry, condensed matter physics, quantum physics, and physical engineering, making each of you an integral part of this research.
The project ended successfully, with all the planned milestones completed. Behind us, we left many discoveries, like novel chemical pathways for synthesizing open-shell carbon nanostructures and methods to investigate and manipulate their properties. We provided tools and strategies for customizing atomic structures, and electronic and magnetic configurations which are mature enough to advance toward new frontiers of knowledge and technology. Novel forms of carbon were discovered with unstable ground states that only existed in textbooks. Furthermore, the sizable strength found for the interaction of electronic spins with the spin of atomic nuclei envisions using strategies to perform controlled error correction for quantum computation protocols. An essential impact of SPRING is the formation of a new generation of scientists who grew up and were educated in the interdisciplinarity aroma of SPRING. They accumulated knowledge and developed a collaborative attitude to science that is the germen of future success in research. Several of these are currently pursuing academic and R&T careers.