News & Events

  • Optimizing Dynamic Nuclear Polarization

    April 1, 2014

    Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) is a technique used to transfer spin polarization from electron to nuclear spins. Since the magnetic moment of the electron is over three orders of magnitude larger than that of most nuclear spins, this results in a dramatic increase in the magnitude of nuclear magnetic resonance signals. DNP is increasingly being used across a wide range of applications to improve the sensitivity of NMR measurements.

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  • High-Fidelity Control and Readout of Spins in Semiconductors

    April 1, 2014

    Our improving ability to control quantum mechanical systems is heralding a new generation of quantum devices whose performance is ultimately only limited by the laws of physics. Spins in semiconductors are a promising platform for such devices as they can have long coherence times, and could leverage the existing capabilities of the semiconductor industry. Our goal is to demonstrate high fidelity control and readout schemes for electron and nuclear spins in semiconductors such as silicon and silicon carbide.

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  • Engineering Quantum Dynamics of Low Dimensional Spin Networks

    April 1, 2014

    Solid state nuclear spin systems are an excellent platform on which to explore many-body quantum dynamics, as the spins are well-isolated from other degrees of freedom and the Hamiltonian of the system is well-known. We use the tools of magnetic resonance to engineer specific Hamiltonians in both 1D (naturally-occurring crystals of fluorapatite) and 2D (the 13-C spins of a graphene layer) spin systems. Our goal is to understand the emergence of quantum chaos in the dynamical behavior of the spins and to study its importance in the equilibration dynamics of the system.

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  • Life on Earth and Elsewhere

    April 1, 2014

    We have a research program in astrobiology, in particular in modeling the role of the environment on the emergence of early life on Earth and how it may inform our search for life elsewhere. Topics of interest include the origin of biochirality and the role of information on the origin of the genetic code. FACULTY CONTACT: Marcelo Gleiser

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  • Information Theory and the Complexity of Nature

    April 1, 2014

    We have been developing a formalism to describe and quantify the role of information theory in Nature. For this purpose, we use tools from field theory, in particular as applied to localized structures such as solitons and other nonlinear configurations from the subatomic to the astrophysical scale, to explore the connection of order and complexity in the natural world. The overarching theme of this research is How did the universe evolve from a soup of free particles to being a crucible for complex, localized forms?

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