A team of researchers from UNSW School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications has developed a new device to measure spins in materials with extraordinary accuracy. This cutting-edge technology promises to revolutionize our understanding of materials and their properties, opening doors to new discoveries and breakthroughs in various fields. Their findings were published in the journal Science Advances.
Associate Professor Jarryd Pla and his team from UNSW School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications have developed a new device that can measure the spins of electrons in materials with exceptional accuracy. The spin of an electron is a fundamental property of nature, used in a range of applications from magnetic hard disks to MRI machines and quantum computers. Measuring spins inside materials is critical for understanding the structure and purpose of materials, which can lead to the design of better drugs, chemicals, and more.
The device they developed is a spin resonance spectrometer that can detect spins of electrons in the order of thousands, making it a million times more sensitive than commercially produced spectrometers. This is a significant achievement since many systems cannot be measured with commercial tools due to too few spins to create a measurable signal.
The team developed the device by chance when they were creating a quantum memory element for a superconducting quantum computer. They found that the device was extremely efficient at measuring the spin ensemble. By sending microwave power into the device as the spins emitted their signals, they could amplify the signals before they left the device with very little added noise, almost reaching the limit set by quantum mechanics.
Unlike other sensitive spectrometers using superconducting circuits, this device can be integrated into a single chip and is compatible with relatively large magnetic fields. The device can be operated at a temperature more than 10 times higher than previous demonstrations, meaning there’s no need to use a dilution refrigerator. The team has patented the technology with the potential to commercialize it in the future, but further work is required.
The technology could help chemists, biologists, and medical researchers who currently rely on tools made by large tech companies that work but could do something orders of magnitude better.
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