Center: UC San Diego Materials Research Science and Engineering Center

Nontechnical Description The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at the University of California-San Diego (UCSD MRSEC) serves as a center of excellence that unites innovative, interdisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers to tackle complex, fundamental problems in materials science. Research efforts are conducted within two interdisciplinary research groups. The first group transcends the boundaries of conventional optics by creating a novel class of materials known as quantum metamaterials. Modern technology is typically limited by the natural properties of materials found on Earth. This group uses custom-designed quantum building blocks to make artificial structures that can manipulate light at unprecedented speeds and intensities, paving the way for next-generation computing, communication, and optoelectronic technologies. The second group is harnessing the power of synthetic chemistry to design a new class of electronic materials that are only a few atoms thick. They create highly organized molecular patterns that control how electrons move and interact with one another. Using computer modeling in concert with chemical synthesis, this team designs a new paradigm for the development of ultra-efficient electronic and quantum technologies. Both groups are targeting fundamental breakthroughs that impact national priority areas, including quantum computing, quantum sensing, and quantum information technologies. Empowering this research is an integrated training activity that enhances national proficiencies in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields and cultivates a highly skilled technical workforce through hands-on research opportunities. A partnership with the Fleet Science Center connects the UCSD MRSEC with the wider San Diego community to demonstrate the everyday impact of materials research. Technical Description The UCSD MRSEC engages two Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs) in addressing two fundamental materials research challenges: (1) Overcoming the limitations of natural materials in optics by developing metamaterials that harness quantum confinement, correlations, and ultimately entanglement as new levers of optical functionality, and (2) Deploying the power and precision of synthetic organic and coordination chemistry toward the design of electronic states in two-dimensional (2D) superlattices and related low-dimensional materials. IRG1 uses quantum clusters, particles and quantum wells as the building blocks for quantum metamaterials. Mesoscale assemblies are hierarchically integrated with classical electromagnetic mode engineering to achieve ultrahigh nonlinearities and ultrafast response speed over unprecedented operational range (i.e., terahertz to visible frequencies at femto-to-nanosecond timescales). First/second-principles calculations and deep learning algorithms are being used to explore and predict structure-function relationships in quantum metamaterials, and to build a closed-loop framework for their design, synthesis, and characterization. IRG2 focuses on realizing novel collective phenomena such as superconductivity and quantum spin liquids. Unlike traditional symmetry-breaking approaches, IRG2 assembles molecules onto, or superimposes molecular lattices over, a parent low-dimensional solid-state material, preparing well-defined and synthetically tunable electronic potential modulations. Multiscale modeling guides the design of these long-period superlattices, providing feedback for the synthesis of superlattices with flat electronic bands and novel emergent correlated phenomena. The UCSD MRSEC develops characterization tools and methods (e.g., ultrafast and nonlinear spectroscopies, quantum transport and imaging) and high-performance computing tools for materials modeling/prediction to augment the national network of materials research facilities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.