Research Highlights
Transforming the Impossible into Reality
At NAME, we're not just pushing boundaries – we're redefining what's possible at the atomic scale. Our research highlights represent breakthrough moments where fundamental science meets transformative application, where years of dedication crystallize into discoveries that will shape the future of technology.
From Laboratory to Global Impact
These selected achievements showcase how our unique facilities and collaborative approach are solving challenges once thought insurmountable. From creating the world's purest silicon for quantum computing to miniaturizing room-temperature MASERs that once filled entire rooms, each highlight represents a leap forward in our understanding and control of materials at the nanoscale.
Our Key Achievements
1. The World's Purest Silicon
Quantum computing (QC) will fundamentally change how we are able to understand, design and adapt the materials and technologies we rely on. At the heart of QC is the qubit, the quantum analogue of the computer bit. Qubits are highly sensitive to their environment and under normal conditions quickly lose the quantum property required for QC. For QC to become a usable technology many thousands of qubits are required presenting a scaling challenge in their manufacture that lends itself to fabrication in silicon semiconductor platforms.
Silicon is comprised of three isotopes ²⁸Si, ²⁹Si and ³⁰Si with each isotope containing an increasing number of neutrons. Of the three ²⁹Si with its odd number of neutrons has a non-zero nuclear spin, a quantum property which in silicon creates a fluctuating background field. Qubits created from electrons within the silicon carry electron spin (also a quantum property) which interacts with the fluctuating nuclear spin background leading to the qubit 'losing' coherence (the quantum information used in QC). To overcome this critical limitation NAME has developed the world's purest silicon by removing the ²⁹Si (and ³⁰Si) isotopes from the silicon crystal to below 3 atoms in a million.
Publication: 'Highly 28Si Enriched Silicon by Localised Focused Ion Beam Implantation'. R. Acharya, M. Coke, M. Adshead, K. Li, B. Achinuq, R. Cai, A. B. Gholizadeh, J. Jacobs, J. L. Boland, S. J. Haigh, K. L. Moore, D. N. Jamieson, and R. J. Curry. Commun. Mater., 5 57 (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s43246-024-00498-0
2. "Maser-in-a-shoebox": A portable plug-and-play maser device at room temperature and zero magnetic field
We present a maser device with a miniaturized maser cavity, gain material, and laser pump source that fits within the size of a shoebox. The gain medium used is pentacene-doped para-terphenyl, and it is shown to give a strong masing signal with a peak power of −5 dBm even within a smaller form factor.
DOI: 10.1063/5.0181318
3. Exploring the spin dynamics of a room-temperature diamond maser using an extended rate equation model
We develop and numerically solve an extended rate equation model to present a detailed phenomenology of masing dynamics and determine the optimal properties required for the copper cavity, dielectric resonator, and gain medium in order to develop portable maser devices. We conclude by suggesting how the material parameters of the diamond gain media and dielectric resonators used in diamond masers can be optimized, and how rate equation models could be further developed to incorporate the effects of temperature and nitrogen concentration on spin lifetimes.
DOI: 10.1063/5.0164930
