Missions

The postdoctoral candidate will use the Molecular Quantum Spintronics team's research chain to grow heterostructures and transfer them in situ to a local UHV probe facility, and will deploy AFM/STM techniques to study the early stages of ferromagnetic metal/molecule interface growth. This main mission could be extended to the design of vertical molecular nanojunction heterostructures and the realization of continuous/alternative magnetotransport measurements.

Activités

The candidate (M/F) will carry out the following tasks:
- deposition of metal/molecule heterostructures in ultra-high vacuum.
- characterization using local AFM/STM probes.
- Close collaboration with project partners
- Write scientific reports and participate in publications.

Compétences

The candidate (M/F) will have a PhD in physics/materials science, and expertise in ultra-high vacuum techniques/deposition and characterization of thin films/molecular ultrathin films. Bonus: expertise in molecular spintronics. The candidate will be part of a multi-skilled research team, this will therefore require interpersonal skills linked to effective teamwork.
English: C1 level referring to the common European Framework of Reference for Languages

Contexte de travail

The position is based at the Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg (IPCMS-UMR 7504) CNRS - Université de Strasbourg, a laboratory with expertise in molecular spintronics, more specifically the “Molecular Quantum Spintronics” team in the “DMONS” department.
The team operates a research chain for growing and characterizing ferromagnetic metal/molecule heterostructures, and transforming them into vertical nanojunctions for magnetotransport measurements.
The successful candidate will work in close collaboration with the members of the platform, and will interact regularly with all external people, whether scientists, collaborators or industrial partners, particularly within the framework of the ANR SpinElec project and the PEPR Spin.

The position is located in an area covered by the protection of scientific and technical potential (PPST), and therefore requires, in accordance with regulations, that your arrival be authorized by the competent MESR authority. Special features: on-site university catering, easy access by public transport...

Numerous hardware platforms exist to implement qubit operations for quantum technologies, but these platforms, while conceptually elegant, do not offer a direct path to mainstream applications in terms of energy/resource utilization (#QEI) [1]: low/very low temperatures, external magnetic fields, lasers/microwave sources, a room full of optical/electrical/vacuum/cryogenic equipment, difficulty in entangling qubits.... To meet this challenge, we are proposing a new platform: the quantum spintronic qubit. It consists of an atomic paramagnetic atom that interacts electronically with a single ferromagnetic metal through a fully spin-polarized interface (“spinterface”, see panel a). Thanks to its solid-state spintronic implementation, this qubit paradigm offers numerous advantages: large/integrated magnetic field (panel b), spintronic initialization/manipulation/readout of the qubit along the Bloch sphere [2] (panel a), room-temperature operating potential [2,3], integrated entanglement [4]. Our previous experiments and theory have identified several candidate qubits, from carbon atoms in MgO [2,5] (the reference spintronic spacer) to commercially available paramagnetic molecules (CoPc [3,6], see panel b).

Despite initial successes in the fields of quantum information [5,6] and energy harvesting [2,3], this platform of quantum spintronic qubits remains extremely immature compared with existing quantum technologies. One of the main reasons for this immaturity lies in ignorance of the local molecular environment at device interfaces.
[1] A. Auffèves, Quantum Technologies Need a Quantum Energy Initiative, PRX Quantum 3, 020101 (2022).
[2] K. Katcko et al., Spin-driven electrical power generation at room temperature, Communications Physics 2, 116 (2019).
[3] B. Chowrira et al., Quantum Advantage in a Molecular Spintronic Engine that Harvests Thermal Fluctuation Energy, Adv. Mater. 34, 2206688 (2022).
[4] M. C. Arnesen, S. Bose, and V. Vedral, Natural Thermal and Magnetic Entanglement in the 1D Heisenberg Model, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 017901 (2001).
[5] M. Lamblin and et al., Encoding information onto the charge and spin state of a paramagnetic atom using MgO tunnelling spintronics, arXiv:2308.16592 (2023).
[6] K. Katcko et al., Encoding Information on the Excited State of a Molecular Spin Chain, Advanced Functional Materials 2009467 (2021).

Le poste se situe dans un secteur relevant de la protection du potentiel scientifique et technique (PPST), et nécessite donc, conformément à la réglementation, que votre arrivée soit autorisée par l'autorité compétente du MESR.

Contraintes et risques

Working hours: 8.40 hours between 9am and 6pm, with some exceptions related to the experiment.