Paramagnetic transition metal ions are a promising candidate class for the development of sensors that exploit spin-based quantum properties. Indeed, this strategy could unite chemical reactivity and the coherent properties of spins to enable access to a new landscape of potential chemical sensing platforms. We seek to design and synthesize porous platforms that exploit embedded spin centers to create new types of sensing materials. Specifically, metal-organic frameworks offer a unique set of advantages owing to their chemical tunability, which could be used to create remarkably sensitive quantum sensors. Yet, key obstacles exist that need to be surmounted before realizing this envisioned application. Primarily, spin-based sensing functions rely on the ability to control the spin of the paramagnetic ion for extended periods of time, yet this timescale is generally very short for transition metal spins. The prime focus of our work is extending this timescale by applying the power of coordination and synthetic inorganic chemistry. The presented work will focus on a novel approach to developing quantum sensors by explicit design of metal-based building units for metal-organic frameworks. The building units to be presented demonstrate remarkably long control times from pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. The origin such control times is an unusually large hyperfine coupling constant. This large hyperfine coupling and its consequences for the control time of the electronic spin will be discussed in the context of the potential use of the sensor. Moreover, the extension of these design principles to other applications, for example, quantum computing, will be presented.<br/>

Design principles for porous materials containing quantum sensors

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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