Molecular Quantum Information Science with Electron Spins

Abstract: Quantum technologies based on molecules afford unique potential in miniaturization, spatial localization, and tunability through synthetic chemistry. Paramagnetic molecules constitute a platform for implementing quantum bits (qubits) and quantum sensors (qusors). While electron spin decoherence can potentially be leveraged in quantum sensing applications, its use is ultimately limited by spin relaxation, which effectively leaks quantum information into the environment. This talk will first describe the development and application of ligand field spin dynamics, a molecular paradigm to construct spin relaxation structure-function relationships and elucidate the critical bonding, symmetry, and ligand field vibronic excited state coupling factors enabling room temperature coherence. The talk will then describe a proof-of-concept approach to biological quantum sensing using metalloprotein active sites