Goldschmidt team funded for quantum research on rare-earth atoms

Associate Professor and Scialog Fellow Elizabeth Goldschmidt's team received funding for their research "Quantum Sensing from Within: Optical Defects as Internal Probes of Correlation" for the inaugural year of Scialog: Quantum Matter and Information.

Why it matters: Studying novel quantum materials at the microscopic level is vitally important for understanding a wide range of important phenomena such as superconductivity, topological order, and other exotic many-body states.  

"Most probes are of global or bulk properties. Quantum sensors can probe at much shorter length scales, but current state of the art quantum sensors cannot get quite close enough to materials to really operate down to the atom scale. Thus, our idea of using a new type of quantum sensor based on embedded rare-earth atoms to get at the true microscopic behavior." - Associate Professor Elizabeth Goldschmidt   

The research: The team will use optical measurements of rare-earth atoms in different materials to probe quantum and other behaviors in those materials in new and novel ways.   

The details: Atoms measured will be inside the material, closer to the effects being probed—a level of observation that can’t be achieved with an external sensor.

• Goldschmit's collaborators are experts in identifying, synthesizing, and understanding novel quantum materials. They will take lead in understanding the materials' effects of being probed. As an expert in optical measurements of rare-earth atoms in materials, Goldschmidt will take lead on taking measurements of samples. 

The bigger picture: Scialog: Quantum Matter and Information is a three-year initiative that aims to promote broader interactions among different sectors of the quantum science community and spark interdisciplinary projects to enhance understanding of the quantum world.  

Seven teams received funding, with 19 researchers each receiving $66,000. Goldschmidt's team includes three other researchers from Indiana University Bloomington, University of California, Irvine, and University of California, San Diego.  

"The Scialog program is unique in its encouragement of high risk, interdisciplinary, and collaborative projects. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to engage in this research and work with my colleagues around the country." - Associate Professor Elizabeth Goldschmidt  

Elizabeth Goldschmidt is an Illinois Grainger Engineering associate professor of physics in the Department of Physics and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She is affiliated with the Materials Research Laboratory and the Holonyak Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory. Goldschmidt is also the Associate Director of the Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center.