This grant provides funding for development of material systems and assembly methods to create highly ordered arrays of functional nanomaterials aimed at components of quantum computation. Endohedral fullerene dimers containing nitrogen atoms will be synthesized and templated into organic matrices of either cylinder phases of a nano-phase-separated block copolymer, or incorporated by complexation with a rigid ditopic host into a nano-rod. To achieve the appropriate cylinder diameter using the block copolymer strategy, triblock copolymers, highly incompatible diblock copolymers, and homopolymer-diblock copolymer blends will be employed. For the nano-rod strategy, bis- cyclodextrins and bis-calixarenes will be synthesized. Once templated, the anisotropic fullerene-containing organic materials will then be aligned using mechanical shear, solvent annealing, magnetic fields, or a combination of these methods. Quantum computing demonstration on the templated and ordered endohedral fullerene materials will be accomplished using electron spin resonance.
This research is part of an integrated joint effort between researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in the US and Oxford University in the UK. The Georgia Tech group is working on the synthesis and characterization of hierarchically ordered nanocomposite materials. The Oxford group is leading an extensive national research activity to create the necessary components for a practical quantum information processor. This project will involve undergraduate and graduate students that will be trained in the area of polymers and nanostructured composite materials. The students' education will be enhanced by the international experience and training received in collaborating laboratories in the UK. High school students and a high school teacher will also participate in laboratory research during the summers. This highly multidisciplinary project will provide fundamental and applied knowledge for a variety of current and future industries. While the promise of quantum computers is great, the technical challenges are far greater. Thus, progress toward such a device will broadly and significantly impact many fields. In general, the results from the proposed activity will impact construction methodologies for all materials based on the inclusion of functional nanostructures into larger devices.
