Dr. Dmytro Bozhko, Assistant Professor of Physics and Energy Science, contributed to a study just published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. In Dmytro’s words: “This work describes a novel way to create Bose-Einstein condensate of quasi-particles (magnons) in nano-structured materials (ferromagnets). I believe that this work is one of the key achievements in the area and it is expected to boost development of quantum computing technologies at room temperature.”
Read more about the project from the press release below.
Advancement of quantum nanotechnology by rapid cooling
An international team of scientists proves that rapid cooling of a magnetic material provides an effective way to create an extraordinary state of matter – Bose-Einstein condensate. The novel approach described in the journal Nature Nanotechnology is expected to boost development of quantum technologies at room temperature.
The team of scientists from Germany, Austria, and USA, created the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) through an abrupt change in temperature: first heating up quasi-particles, and then rapidly cooling them down back to room temperature. The new method was tested using the quanta of magnetic excitations of a solid body – magnons.
“The technique can be described very simply, although it was technically challenging to make it work” – says one of the authors of the discovery Dr. Dmytro Bozhko, Assistant Professor from Department of Physics and Energy Science, UCCS. “First we heat up our magnetic sample up to 400°F. At this elevated temperature phonons’ and magnons’ populations grow up. Then we turn the heater off. Because the sample is very small – only a few hundreds of nanometers, – it cools down to room temperature rapidly, in about a nanosecond. The phonons are very quick and escape from the sample, but magnons are much slower and remain trapped inside the magnetic nanostructure. The excess magnons have no choice but to reduce their energy to remain in equilibrium with “cold” environment. Thus, they spontaneously jump to the same lowest quantum energy state – this is called Bose-Einstein condensation.”
The original research article:
M. Schneider, et al., Bose-Einstein Condensation of Quasi-Particles by Rapid Cooling, Nature Nanotechnology (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41565-020-0671-z