Public Research Seminar by Advanced Materials Thrust, Function Hub, HKUST(GZ) - Dancing with Spins Under Light: Harnessing Electrons in Organic Architectures in Photophysics and Photochemistry
Electronic spins, featuring the superposition between spin up and spin down, emerge as promising quantum bits (qubits) for advancing quantum information science. Organic molecules uniquely provide synthetic flexibility, tunability, and scalability at the atomic level, positioning molecular systems as excellent platforms for constructing spin qubits.
Electronic spins extend their significance in organic reactive intermediates, including carbon cations, nitrenium ions, and oxenium ions. Varied spin configurations in these reactive intermediates lead to distinct chemical reactivities.
This presentation will discuss the generation, detection, and manipulation of electronic spins within photochemical and photophysical processes, with their diverse applications in synthetic methodologies, reaction mechanisms, and quantum information science.
Dr. Yunfan Qiu is currently working with Prof. Michael R. Wasielewski at Northwestern University as a postdoctoral scholar and will start his independent career as an Assistant Professor at Utah State University in July 2024.Yunfan received his B.S. from Nanjing University in 2014 and earned his Ph.D. at Iowa State University in 2020 under the mentorship of Prof. Arthur H. Winter. His research involves exploring electronic spins in photochemical and photophysical processes, focusing on photo-generated high-spin organic species and light-induced spin quantum dynamics in molecular systems.