****Technical Abstract**** The emerging area of "quantum information science" has seen rapid advances in exploiting the coherent control of single spins in defect centers in diamond and SiC, opening up a new pathway toward qubits that function at room temperature. This proposal aims to extend these remarkable developments toward the coherent manipulation and full state transfer of quantum information in heterogeneous systems built from disparate materials whose individual quantum properties are already well understood. The ultimate goal is to achieve quantum-coherent communication between physically distinct quantum systems at the single spin level and at room temperature. The PIs will combine spatio-temporally resolved single spin spectroscopies with the design and fabrication of model systems that couple single spins (such as defects in SiC) with ensemble spins in low dimensional communication channels (such as 2DEGs and nanowires). The proposed research offers advanced technical training in quantum materials and measurement and provides ideal training for future careers in academics and industry. The PIs will also enhance the diversity and excellence of undergraduate research through institutional programs and by collaboratively teaching a cross-disciplinary undergraduate course on the Practice of Science.
Modern information technology relies on devices such as lasers, flash memory and magnetic tunnel junctions that exploit the quantum mechanical aspects of the natural world. Such device technologies still do not make use of the full technological potential of quantum mechanics, restricting their functionality to control over the amplitude of quantum mechanical waves and ignoring their phase. The emerging area of "quantum information science" seeks to redress this limitation by exploring the technological possibilities of the more non-intuitive aspects of quantum mechanics, namely quantum coherence and quantum entanglement. A key challenge for quantum information processing is the development of pragmatic scenarios that will allow the exchange of coherent quantum information between disparate parts of a system. This proposal aims to demonstrate such phenomena in heterogeneous systems built from disparate materials whose individual quantum properties are well understood. The ultimate goal is to achieve quantum-coherent communication between physically distinct quantum systems at the single spin level and at room temperature. The proposed research offers advanced technical training in quantum materials and measurement and provides ideal training for future careers in academia and in industry. The PIs will also enhance the diversity and excellence of undergraduate research through institutional programs and by collaboratively teaching a cross-disciplinary undergraduate course on the Practice of Science.
