Workshop: Midscale Instrumentation to Accelerate Progress in Quantum Materials

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Abstract

The Division of Materials Research, the Division of Physics, and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities in the Directorate of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences provide support for the Workshop on Midscale Instrumentation for Quantum Materials which will be held on December 5-7 2016 in Arlington Va (http://sites.krieger.jhu.edu/miqm/). The workshop addresses two of the 10 Big ideas of the Director of the National Science Foundation: Quantum Leap and Midscale Instrumentation. The focus is on midscale instrumentation for quantum materials that would support the next quantum revolution, Quantum Leap. The workshop will discuss and describe midscale instrumentation that would advance our understanding and applications of a broad array of quantum materials. These include topological semimetals and insulators, high temperature superconductors, quantum spin liquids, multiferroic materials, nano-structured quantum materials devices, as well as ultra-cold atomic gases realizing novel quantum correlated states of matter. The workshop will focus on midscale instrumentation in the $5M to $60M range that could have transformative impacts on the science and applications of quantum materials. Examples of instrumentation include beam line, sample environment, and detector systems that extend capabilities of existing user facilities, advanced stand-alone instrumentation employing new sources and/or methods to probe quantum materials, new tools for synthesis in bulk or nanostructured forms, quantum simulators based on ultra-cold atoms, and advanced computational platforms, software, and data sharing systems for quantum materials. The outcome of the workshop result in a concise report describing opportunities to stimulate scientific and technological progress in quantum materials through new midscale instrumentation As in the solid state research and development work that gave us the transistor, advances in quantum materials and their applications require a multidisciplinary approach that links the basic science of hard condensed-matter physics to chemistry, materials science, and engineering. The Workshop on Midscale Instrumentation for Quantum Materials has correspondingly broad representation from all areas of science and engineering of advanced electronic materials. The resulting workshop report would provide an overview of midscale instrumentation to accelerate a field of research where fundamental scientific progress has great potential for transformative technological impacts. These would result in the next technological revolutions that is captured in the Quantum Leap idea.