Mission
The University of Washington Molecular Engineering Materials Center, an NSF MRSEC, executes fundamental materials research that aims to push the frontiers of science and accelerate the emergence of future advanced technologies. MEM-C is a dynamic group of UW faculty, postdocs, graduate students and undergraduate student researchers. The Center’s research targets development of nanoscale materials that allow quantum interactions to be harnessed for use in new “spin-photonic” technologies such as quantum sensing. Additionally, the research addresses development of atomically thin and layered two-dimensional crystalline materials whose quantum properties are ultra-sensitive to external strain stimuli, to vastly expand the reach of quantum materials and thereby open new territory for advancing quantum and energy technologies. This research will lead to the discovery and development of new advanced materials, new experimental and theoretical capabilities, and new fundamental knowledge in quantum materials.
Structure
The Center’s research involves two synergistic interdisciplinary research groups (IRGs). The first IRG (IRG-1) aims to develop functional low-dimensional materials that harness cross-coupling between photons and electron spins — spin-photonic nanostructures — to enable future classical and quantum information processing, sensing, and photonics technologies, such as spin-photonic transduction, Faraday optical isolation, and quantum memory. The second IRG (IRG-2) builds and studies elastic quantum matter — materials with quantum properties that are ultra-sensitive to elastic strain , offering opportunities from all-mechanical control of magnetization and superconductivity to creation of phonon-magnon circuitry, dynamical Josephson junction arrays, and dynamically controlled catalysts.
Both groups integrate materials innovations with theory and computation, aided by a centralized AI Core that develops algorithms and methodologies tailored to assist solution of real research problems. The Artificial Intelligence Core operates as part of the Center’s greater open-access shared user facilities. A competitive Seed program expands upon the Center’s core research goals by initiating new cutting-edge or high-risk research projects, recruiting new and underrepresented participants, and capitalizing on emerging strengths and opportunities.
MEM-C operates a Shared Facilities center at UW Seattle’s campus (MSF) that houses a suite of state-of-the-art equipment available for trained users to access and operate. The MSF is a powerhouse of instrumentation for MEM-C researchers but is also available for non-MEM-C and non-UW users to access and operate.
Research Products
MEM-C-supported research is published in a variety of scientific journals (see the publications page for the list) and the Center’s work is available on the NSF Public Access Repository (PAR). The Center’s support for published research takes many forms and the acknowledgement section each MEM-C publication will include one of these statements:
- This research was primarily supported by NSF through the University of Washington Molecular Engineering Materials Center, a Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (DMR-2308979). Additional support received from . . .
- This research was partially supported by NSF through the University of Washington Molecular Engineering Materials Center, a Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (DMR-2308979).
- The authors acknowledge the use of facilities and instrumentation supported by NSF through the University of Washington Molecular Engineering Materials Center, a Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (DMR-2308979).
MEM-C’s research data is managed in accordance with NSF DMR guidelines and datasets corresponding to published work can increasingly be found in publicly accessible repositories such as Dryad and Zenodo. The data availability section of each MEM-C publication will include a statement about where data can be accessed.
