TU/e researchers Shuxia Tao and Björn Baumeier have received NWO funding to tackle a long-standing mystery in quantum materials science, using advanced computer simulations and machine learning. Their research could lead to the design of smarter quantum materials for next-gen computing and ultra-efficient communication devices.
The project, dubbed uniCISS, aims to address a long-standing mystery known as Chiral Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS). Discovered over two decades ago, CISS describes the remarkable ability of certain materials with a spiral, or 'chiral' structure to filter electrons by their spin. Understanding and controlling this quantum property is highly valuable, as it could one day power faster, more energy-efficient computing and communication technologies.
Building new materials
Despite being discovered over two decades ago, nobody has been able to fully explain why this happens, making it difficult to deliberately design materials that exploit the effect. Over its five-year duration, the uniCISS team will bring together expertise in physics, computational chemistry, and AI to build a predictive tool to guide the design of new materials with tailored spintronic properties. These could be used for next-generation computing and ultra-efficient communication devices.
The funding will also support the recruitment of two PhD candidates. Two departments are involved: Shuxia Tao is from the Department of Applied Physics and Björn Baumeier hails from the department of Mathematics and Computer Science.
The two researchers share a passion for quantum-mechanical modelling and the theory of chirality, research areas supported by VIDI and ERC Consolidator Grants, respectively. They have recently joined forces around another shared interest: leveraging AI to accelerate the discovery of materials with novel quantum functionalities.
Spintronics, the property behind the research
While traditional electronics relies solely on the electrical charge of electrons to move and process data, spintronics (short for spin electronics) taps into an additional quantum property: the electron's intrinsic spin, which can be thought of as a tiny, built-in magnetic orientation.
By manipulating both charge and spin, spintronic devices can store and transfer information much faster while consuming a fraction of the energy of conventional microchips. Developing for tailored spintronic properties means engineering a material's structure to control and direct these electron spins in specific, predictable ways.
When this material is designed to be spiral-shaped, using the CISS effect, electrons traveling through it are filtered by their quantum spin. In essence, the material acts as a customizable, nanoscale spin filter, opening new possibilities for spintronic devices and future quantum technologies.
About NWO Open Competition Domain Science
The uniCISS project is one of 16 innovative research projects officially approved by the NWO Science Board in this highly competitive Open Competition Domain Science round, which evaluated a total of 75 applications. These fundamental research grants tackle a wide range of scientific questions, like the study of the folding patterns of each person's brain, the detection of neutrino's and cosmic rays, and understanding how viruses are capable of killing dormant bacteria. Read the full NWO article here .
