Molecular quantum devices
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Materials
Abstract
Whenever a fundamental new principle of science is discovered, the chances are that sooner or later a way will be found to use it for a new technology. The quantum mechanical principles of superposition and entanglement, identified back in the 1930s, are now understood to offer spectacular potential for technological applications. Superposition describes how an object can be in two states at once, as it were 'here' and 'there' at the same time. Two or more objects in superposition states can be entangled, so that measurements on each of them are correlated in a way that goes beyond anything we would expect from everyday intuition. Exploiting these effects in practical devices would provide new capabilities for fields such as molecular light harvesting and for molecular quantum technologies such as sensors, simulators, and quantum computers.
Successful laboratory experiments have shown that molecules of various kinds can exhibit these crucial quantum properties. Molecules are composed of electrons and atomic cores or 'nuclei'. Both electrons and nuclei can have a property called spin associated with them that makes them behave like tiny bar magnets. We have confirmed that electron and nuclear spins can be put into superpositions or entangled, and they can last for a long time in that condition. Most of the experiments so far have been in small test tubes. The crucial step now is to implement the same effects in nanometre scale electrical devices, such as single electron transistors consisting of single sheets of carbon rolled up as nanotubes or flat as sheets of graphene. By making hybrid technologies that combine molecules with nanoelectronics, we will lay the foundation for scaling up to more complex systems.
At this very small size, different atoms or molecules in different places affect the behaviour of the device. A breakthrough in the past few years enables us to see the positions of individual atoms in the materials which we want to use in our devices. The technique is aberration-corrected electron microscopy, and provided the electrons are not too energetic it is possible to look at the structures which we have made without damaging them. In this way we shall be able to relate the device performance to the atomic resolution microscopy of the component materials.
To take this quantum nanotechnology from engineering to application is extremely challenging, and lies at the limit of what is realistically feasible. It needs a team with a remarkable combination of expertise, who know how to collaborate across scientific fields. We must:
1. design the devices which we shall build, based on a deep understanding of how to control their quantum states;
2. produce the materials which we need, such as molecules with suitable spin states with carbon nanotubes and graphene for electrical substrates;
3. make nanoscale devices and examine them in a microscope to see where the individual atoms and molecules are;
4. perform the experiments to develop the quantum control and measurement for the effects which we aim to exploit;
5. undertake theoretical modelling to understand the electron behaviour and to design new materials systems for improved performance.
We are fortunate in having the right people and facilities to do this. The platform grant will sustain a team which brings together all the relevant skills. Together we shall make progress towards the emerging quantum technologies that will implement the deep resources of quantum mechanics in working solid state devices.
Successful laboratory experiments have shown that molecules of various kinds can exhibit these crucial quantum properties. Molecules are composed of electrons and atomic cores or 'nuclei'. Both electrons and nuclei can have a property called spin associated with them that makes them behave like tiny bar magnets. We have confirmed that electron and nuclear spins can be put into superpositions or entangled, and they can last for a long time in that condition. Most of the experiments so far have been in small test tubes. The crucial step now is to implement the same effects in nanometre scale electrical devices, such as single electron transistors consisting of single sheets of carbon rolled up as nanotubes or flat as sheets of graphene. By making hybrid technologies that combine molecules with nanoelectronics, we will lay the foundation for scaling up to more complex systems.
At this very small size, different atoms or molecules in different places affect the behaviour of the device. A breakthrough in the past few years enables us to see the positions of individual atoms in the materials which we want to use in our devices. The technique is aberration-corrected electron microscopy, and provided the electrons are not too energetic it is possible to look at the structures which we have made without damaging them. In this way we shall be able to relate the device performance to the atomic resolution microscopy of the component materials.
To take this quantum nanotechnology from engineering to application is extremely challenging, and lies at the limit of what is realistically feasible. It needs a team with a remarkable combination of expertise, who know how to collaborate across scientific fields. We must:
1. design the devices which we shall build, based on a deep understanding of how to control their quantum states;
2. produce the materials which we need, such as molecules with suitable spin states with carbon nanotubes and graphene for electrical substrates;
3. make nanoscale devices and examine them in a microscope to see where the individual atoms and molecules are;
4. perform the experiments to develop the quantum control and measurement for the effects which we aim to exploit;
5. undertake theoretical modelling to understand the electron behaviour and to design new materials systems for improved performance.
We are fortunate in having the right people and facilities to do this. The platform grant will sustain a team which brings together all the relevant skills. Together we shall make progress towards the emerging quantum technologies that will implement the deep resources of quantum mechanics in working solid state devices.
Planned Impact
Our underlying motivation in the research to be supported by this Platform Grant is that it should contribute to practical technologies which exploit the quantum resources of superposition and entanglement. If and when such technologies become available there will be simultaneous societal benefits, to users, and commercial benefits, to manufacturers.
The EPSRC Physics Grand Challenges include 'Quantum Physics for New Quantum Technologies' as one of four themes to be pursued, recognizing that they should not be addressed exclusively by physics. The societal and economic impacts of quantum technologies are well summarized in the full report, "Progress in this Grand Challenge could have huge economic benefit through leading to the development of new high value, high tech industries. Companies may manufacture devices or use quantum technology to simulate complex systems in areas such as metrology, sensing, cryptography, drug discovery, or energy. The societal impact also has the potential to be large as information and information technology is such a pervasive part of modern life. Quantum technology may help us solve major global challenges and will most certainly change the technology people use everyday."
We foresee three classes of technology from our research:
1. New technologies which use the deeper quantum phenomena of superposition and entanglement. The first of these may be sensors for small changes in magnetic field, with entanglement enhanced sensitivity and nanoscale size. A second application may lie in using synthetic molecular structures as simulators for studying other quantum processes that lie beyond modeling techniques such as mean field theories. Ultimately there is the exciting prospect of quantum computing, which has driven so much of the development of quantum information processing, and to which our research may contribute some building blocks.
2. Existing technologies which will benefit from the enhanced quantum properties which we shall develop such as long coherence times. Electron spin resonance is an established technique for determining distances in biology, and the availability of molecules with longer coherence times will increase accuracy and make it possible to measure larger separations. Suitable biocompatible molecules may also contribute to the application of ESR imaging for certain niche problems in medicine.
3. Technological spin-offs which do not use coherence or entanglement, but which can benefit from the materials and techniques which we develop in pursuit of the quantum goals. Fullerene molecules serve as an excellent acceptor in nanocomposite photovoltaic structures, and what we learn through functionalizing fullerenes may offer new routes to tailoring their electrical and chemical properties. Anything that we learn about carbon materials and their properties in devices has the potential to contribute to the current pursuit of carbon-based electronics.
We also find that our work can be explained in such as way as to excite the imagination of some of the best and brightest school students, and thus motivate them to choose to study mathematical and physical science subjects at A level and beyond, thus helping to sustain a future supply of qualified people for a wide range of professions and industrial careers.
The EPSRC Physics Grand Challenges include 'Quantum Physics for New Quantum Technologies' as one of four themes to be pursued, recognizing that they should not be addressed exclusively by physics. The societal and economic impacts of quantum technologies are well summarized in the full report, "Progress in this Grand Challenge could have huge economic benefit through leading to the development of new high value, high tech industries. Companies may manufacture devices or use quantum technology to simulate complex systems in areas such as metrology, sensing, cryptography, drug discovery, or energy. The societal impact also has the potential to be large as information and information technology is such a pervasive part of modern life. Quantum technology may help us solve major global challenges and will most certainly change the technology people use everyday."
We foresee three classes of technology from our research:
1. New technologies which use the deeper quantum phenomena of superposition and entanglement. The first of these may be sensors for small changes in magnetic field, with entanglement enhanced sensitivity and nanoscale size. A second application may lie in using synthetic molecular structures as simulators for studying other quantum processes that lie beyond modeling techniques such as mean field theories. Ultimately there is the exciting prospect of quantum computing, which has driven so much of the development of quantum information processing, and to which our research may contribute some building blocks.
2. Existing technologies which will benefit from the enhanced quantum properties which we shall develop such as long coherence times. Electron spin resonance is an established technique for determining distances in biology, and the availability of molecules with longer coherence times will increase accuracy and make it possible to measure larger separations. Suitable biocompatible molecules may also contribute to the application of ESR imaging for certain niche problems in medicine.
3. Technological spin-offs which do not use coherence or entanglement, but which can benefit from the materials and techniques which we develop in pursuit of the quantum goals. Fullerene molecules serve as an excellent acceptor in nanocomposite photovoltaic structures, and what we learn through functionalizing fullerenes may offer new routes to tailoring their electrical and chemical properties. Anything that we learn about carbon materials and their properties in devices has the potential to contribute to the current pursuit of carbon-based electronics.
We also find that our work can be explained in such as way as to excite the imagination of some of the best and brightest school students, and thus motivate them to choose to study mathematical and physical science subjects at A level and beyond, thus helping to sustain a future supply of qualified people for a wide range of professions and industrial careers.
Publications
Allen C
(2014)
Optically enhanced charge transfer between C 60 and single-wall carbon nanotubes in hybrid electronic devices
in Nanoscale
Almutlaq N
(2016)
Identification of a positive-Seebeck-coefficient exohedral fullerene.
in Nanoscale
Ares N
(2016)
Resonant Optomechanics with a Vibrating Carbon Nanotube and a Radio-Frequency Cavity.
in Physical review letters
Ares N
(2016)
Sensitive Radio-Frequency Measurements of a Quantum Dot by Tuning to Perfect Impedance Matching
in Physical Review Applied
Bosso P
(2017)
Amplified transduction of Planck-scale effects using quantum optics
in Physical Review A
Briggs GA
(2013)
The Oxford Questions on the foundations of quantum physics.
in Proceedings. Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences
Davidson R
(2016)
Effects of Electrode-Molecule Binding and Junction Geometry on the Single-Molecule Conductance of bis-2,2':6',2?-Terpyridine-based Complexes.
in Inorganic chemistry
Famili M
(2017)
Toward High Thermoelectric Performance of Thiophene and Ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) Molecular Wires
in Advanced Functional Materials
Fruchtman A
(2015)
Quantum dynamics in a tiered non-Markovian environment
in New Journal of Physics
García D
(2016)
A C60-aryne building block: synthesis of a hybrid all-carbon nanostructure.
in Chemical communications (Cambridge, England)
Gehring P
(2016)
Quantum Interference in Graphene Nanoconstrictions
Gehring P
(2016)
Quantum Interference in Graphene Nanoconstrictions.
in Nano letters
Gehring P
(2017)
Field-Effect Control of Graphene-Fullerene Thermoelectric Nanodevices
in Nano Letters
Gehring P
(2017)
Distinguishing Lead and Molecule States in Graphene-Based Single-Electron Transistors.
in ACS nano
George RE
(2013)
Opening up three quantum boxes causes classically undetectable wavefunction collapse.
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Gil-Ramírez G
(2018)
Distance Measurement of a Noncovalently Bound Y@C82 Pair with Double Electron Electron Resonance Spectroscopy.
in Journal of the American Chemical Society
Greplova E
(2017)
Conditioned spin and charge dynamics of a single-electron quantum dot
in Physical Review A
Greplova E
(2017)
Conditioned spin and charge dynamics of a single electron quantum dot
Han H
(2016)
Functionalization mediates heat transport in graphene nanoflakes.
in Nature communications
Harding RT
(2017)
Spin Resonance Clock Transition of the Endohedral Fullerene ^{15}N@C_{60}.
in Physical review letters
Harzheim A
(2020)
Role of metallic leads and electronic degeneracies in thermoelectric power generation in quantum dots
in Physical Review Research
Harzheim A
(2018)
Geometrically Enhanced Thermoelectric Effects in Graphene Nanoconstrictions.
in Nano letters
Higgins K
(2013)
Superabsorption of light via quantum engineering
Higgins KD
(2014)
Superabsorption of light via quantum engineering.
in Nature communications
Ismael A
(2017)
Side-Group-Mediated Mechanical Conductance Switching in Molecular Junctions
in Angewandte Chemie
Ismael AK
(2017)
Side-Group-Mediated Mechanical Conductance Switching in Molecular Junctions.
in Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)
Kelber JB
(2015)
Synthesis and investigation of donor-porphyrin-acceptor triads with long-lived photo-induced charge-separate states.
in Chemical science
Khosla K
(2018)
Displacemon Electromechanics: How to Detect Quantum Interference in a Nanomechanical Resonator
in Physical Review X
Khosla K
(2017)
Quantum optomechanics beyond the quantum coherent oscillation regime
in Optica
Kim H
(2015)
Resilient High Catalytic Performance of Platinum Nanocatalysts with Porous Graphene Envelope.
in ACS nano
Kincer M
(2015)
Shear alignment of fullerenes in nanotubular supramolecular complexes
in Polymer
Knee G
(2018)
Seeing opportunity in every difficulty: protecting information with weak value techniques
in Quantum Studies: Mathematics and Foundations
Knee G
(2013)
Quantum sensors based on weak-value amplification cannot overcome decoherence
in Physical Review A
Lambert C
(2016)
Quantum-interference-enhanced thermoelectricity in single molecules and molecular films
in Comptes Rendus Physique
Lau CS
(2014)
Nanoscale control of graphene electrodes.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Lau CS
(2016)
Redox-Dependent Franck-Condon Blockade and Avalanche Transport in a Graphene-Fullerene Single-Molecule Transistor.
in Nano letters
Lewis A
(2018)
On the low magnetic field effect in radical pair reactions
in The Journal of Chemical Physics
Li Y
(2017)
Detecting continuous spontaneous localization with charged bodies in a Paul trap
in Physical Review A
Li Y
(2016)
A double quantum dot memristor
Li Y
(2015)
'Momentum rejuvenation' underlies the phenomenon of noise-assisted quantum energy flow
in New Journal of Physics
Li Y
(2016)
Interference-based molecular transistors
Li Y
(2016)
Noise Threshold and Resource Cost of Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing with Majorana Fermions in Hybrid Systems.
in Physical review letters
Li Y
(2014)
Electrically driven spin resonance in a bent disordered carbon nanotube
in Physical Review B
Li Y
(2017)
Double quantum dot memristor
in Physical Review B
Title | It Keeps Me Seeking |
Description | The invitation from science, philosophy and religion |
Type Of Art | Creative Writing |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Impact | Book published by Oxford University Press |
URL | http://andrewbriggs.org/ |
Title | The Penultimate Curiosity |
Description | How science swims in the slipstream of ultimate questions |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Impact | Book, film, TV broadcasts, SVOD |
URL | http://andrewbriggs.org/ |
Description | Quantum interference in single molecule devices |
Exploitation Route | Materials for low-energy ICT |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Electronics Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology |
URL | http://andrewbriggs.org |
Description | The Penultimate Curiosity book published by Oxford University Press in 2016 The Curious Science Quest series published by Lion Hudson 2018-2019 It Keeps Me Seeking published by Oxford University Press in 2018 Human Flourishing published by Oxford University Press in 2021 |
First Year Of Impact | 2016 |
Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Electronics,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal Economic Policy & public services |
Description | EPSRC Programme Grant |
Amount | £5,296,044 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/N017188/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2016 |
End | 12/2021 |
Description | Quantum Technology Capital |
Amount | £1,445,889 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/N014995/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2016 |
End | 03/2019 |
Description | Molecular sensing |
Organisation | Oxford Nanopore Technologies |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Patented method for forming graphene nanogaps |
Collaborator Contribution | Genome sequencing |
Impact | Publications and technology |
Start Year | 2016 |
Title | Low cost quantum key distribution system |
Description | Architecture design for surface code fault-tolerant distributed quantum computing |
IP Reference | US20070025551 |
Protection | Patent granted |
Year Protection Granted | |
Licensed | Commercial In Confidence |
Impact | This invention formed the basis of the Oxford led Quantum Technology Hub NQIT. |
Title | Method for forming nano-gaps in graphene |
Description | Method for forming nano-gaps in graphene |
IP Reference | US20170145483 |
Protection | Patent granted |
Year Protection Granted | 2017 |
Licensed | Yes |
Impact | Funded studentship |
Company Name | Designer Carbon Materials |
Description | Designer Carbon Materials develops technology for the synthesis of endohedral fullerenes, a nanomaterial that has electronic properties and applications, including in quantum nanoelectronics. |
Year Established | 2014 |
Website | https://designercarbon.com |
Description | Quantum of Spin |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The Quantum of Spin exhibit was the largest and among the most successful of the many exhibits at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in 2012. Over the course of 1 week from 3 to 8 July, our team explained their research to over ten thousand visitors. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://sse.royalsociety.org/2012/exhibits/ |
Description | The Curious Science Quest (OUMNH) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | The Curious Science Quest: presentation by Julia Golding of her series for children based on The Penultimate Curiosity by Roger Wagner and Andrew Briggs, held at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://goldinggateway.com/julia-golding/curious-science-quest/ |
Description | Wigner Distinguished Lecture (ORNL) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | ORNL's Eugene P. Wigner Distinguished Lecture Series in Science, Technology, and Policy promotes dialogue among Oak Ridge researchers and renowned leaders in science, industry, and government. The invited lecturers bring distinct perspectives to the lab's community of scientists and engineers, whose scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs target some of the world's most pressing problems. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | https://www.ornl.gov/content/wigner-distinguished-lecture-series |