About the project
This project will use quantum optimal control to design and experimentally demonstrate new Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) quantum optimal control methods.
NMR uses magnetic moments from nuclear spin in a magnetic field. Complex, correlated spin states involving multiple spins and higher order quantum coherences can be created, with a severe efficiency cost.
NMR is wide-spread as one of the most common analytical tools for characterization of materials in a range of physical states and temperature regimes. However, as most quantum mechanical methods at the moment, it is very far from the sensitivity and accuracy that it could potentially have. Manipulation of correlated spin states provide a powerful source of information on the local atomic environment, symmetry and proximities. Experimental efficiency drops steeply in large spin systems to create high-level correlated spin states, i.e., for homonuclear or heteronuclear correlations and higher order multiple quantum excitation: our current ability to control nuclear spin dynamics is limited and many existing methods are highly inefficient.
This project will explore the use of quantum optimal control theory to design magnetic resonance methods with radically better performance for correlated spin states involving multiple spins and higher order quantum coherences, in the context of magic-angle spinning solid state NMR, and demonstrate experimentally the new approaches.
Applications will include gaining a better understanding of catalytic processes; for example using these advancements to follow hydrogen spillover processes on supported metal nanoparticles.
This project will develop skills and expertise in:
- quantum theory
- quantum control
- supercomputing
- microelectronics and magnetic fields
- nuclear magnetic resonance
A good background in some of these topics to start with would be beneficial.
