Faraday-Force Magnetometer for Spin Liquid Measurements above 8 T and below 0.1 K
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Under Dr. Yasumasa Takano of University of Florida Physics, I am developing a sensitive Faraday-Force Magnetometer for spin liquid measurements.
As Quantum Computers inch closer to becoming a reality, many are realizing that original designs fail to account for crucial factors such as decoherence. Topological Quantum Computers aim to fix these issues. One key development in order to bring these computers to life is the existence of majorana fermions. Majorana fermions have exotic properties which make them extremely useful as qubits for a quantum computer. These majorana fermions are predicted to be in quantum spin liquids. To date, majorana fermions have not been experimentally found. However, there are promising materials which may host majorana fermions, although confirmation is up in the air due to technological limitations.
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My research involves pushing past these technological limitations by creating a sensitive Faraday Force magnetometer to take magnetic field measurements at higher magnetic fields and lower temperatures than before.
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Microsoft's Quantum Computer in development
The conceptual design of the magnetometer is shown on the left.
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Consider a capacitor composed of two electrodes, one stationary and the other movable. The stationary electrode rests on the base of the magnetometer, and the movable plate is held up by strings. The magnetized sample rests on the movable electrode.
We then impose a field gradient on the sample which will induce a force on the sample. Assume the force points downwards from the sample towards the stationary electrode. The strings will bend until the spring force equals the force from the field gradient, and thus the distance between the two electrodes decreases. This change in distance will cause the capacitance between the electrodes to change as they have an inverse relationship. We can run the capacitor through a capacitance bridge to measure the capacitance. Thus, with the capacitance, we can calculate the displacement, spring force, field gradient force, and ultimately, the magnetization of the sample.
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We have made further tweaks to this design for cost effectiveness and to fit the lab requirements we are performing our experiment on. We will be testing this device on α-RuCl3 at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee.
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This is an ongoing project from Fall of 2023 to present.