Quantum information science (QIS) is an emerging field that generated much excitement in recent years. A large number of QIS applications rely on entangled or correlated electron spins, but the enormous toolbox of magnetic resonance and spin dynamics methods are not fully exploited for their studies. The prospects for quantum sensing is particularly attractive for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) that is an information rich spectroscopic method, while it has the most to gain in terms of signal and detection sensitivity. Hence, the design of the spin-optical interface and methods to optically initiate electron spin states and achieve controlled polarization transfer to nuclear spins are important frontiers. My seminar will focus on the controlled polarization transfer from an optically initializable qubit to nuclear spins, routed via a hyperpolarized electron spin of a persistent radical as a relay. I will present a collaborative study with Mike Wasielewski on a chromophore-radical complex that is coherently manipulated by pulsed Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) to transfer polarization to nuclear spins and in reverse at 85 K. In the second part, I will share an exploratory study how to transfer hyperpolarization of NV- centers in diamond to analyte nuclear spins via paramagnetic P1 centers as the relay. There are long ways to go to achieve controlled optical hyperpolarization of the NMR signal of analytes and to achieve optical detection of NMR harboring chemically significant information. On the other hand it takes a community to get there, and when Paul Lauterbur and Sir Peter Mansfield generated the first grainy MRI image of water-filled tubes, they did not imagine that 30 years later anatomical and functional MRI of the human brain would become a routine.
Biodata:
Songi Han is a Physical Chemist and Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Northwestern University (NU) and is also affiliated with NU’s Applied Physics Program. She joined NU in July 2023 after a 20-year career as a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UC Santa Barbara. Her research considers electron and nuclear spins as probes, amplifiers, sensors and detectors. She is on the Executive Committee of the International EPR Society since 2020, on the Executive Council of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance (ISMAR) and the inaugural chair of a new Gordon Research Conference on Magnetic Resonance and Quantum Information Science in 2026. For more details see : https://hanlab.northwestern.edu/songi-han/