Inorganic Seminar: Prof. Ryan Hadt (California Institute of Technology)

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1315 Seminar Hall
@ 3:30 pm

Title: Enabling Molecular Quantum Information Science with Electron Spins

Abstract: 

Quantum technologies based on molecular electron spin coherence afford unique potential in miniaturization, spatial localization, and tunability through synthetic chemistry and biomolecular integration. However, many applications within molecular quantum information science hinge on slowing down spin relaxation, a process that effectively leaks quantum information into the environment. Additionally, applications such as quantum sensing with molecular quantum bits (qubits) have only recently undergone exploration. This talk will summarize the development and application of ligand field spin dynamics, a molecular paradigm to construct spin relaxation structure-function relationships from physical inorganic spectroscopic observables. This approach elucidates the critical bonding, symmetry, and ligand field vibronic excited-state coupling factors enabling room-temperature coherence, as measured by pulse electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). The talk will further describe the development of a new spectroscopic technique to achieve ultrafast, all-optical measurements of molecular electron spin coherence in an unprecedented manner. This approach represents a paradigm shift for designing and using molecular qubits and paves the way for future quantum sensing applications under ambient chemical conditions.

Bio: 

Ryan G. Hadt was born on January 27, 1985 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. His initial interest in chemistry was inspired by his high school chemistry teacher, Mr. Michael Harden. He went on to receive his B. S. and M. S. degrees in chemistry at the University of Minnesota Duluth (with Victor N. Nemykin) and his Ph. D. at Stanford University (with Edward I. Solomon). He was a visiting postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University (with Daniel G. Nocera) before continuing research at Argonne National Laboratory as a postdoctoral appointee (with Lin X. Chen) and later as an Enrico Fermi Fellow. In 2018, he joined the faculty in the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (CCE) at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He is the recipient of numerous awards. These include the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) in 2021, the Cottrell Scholar Award in 2022, the Department of Energy (DOE) Early Career Award in 2022, the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award in 2022, and the International Conference on Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines (ICPP) / Society of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines (SPP) Young Investigator Award in 2024. Professor Hadt is also a Kavli Fellow, having participated in the Kavli Frontiers Science Program of the National Academy of Sciences in 2023. Research in the Hadt laboratory employs a range of steady state and time-resolved spectroscopies to understand the role of transition metal electronic structure across interdisciplinary areas of chemistry, biology, and physics. Some aspects of his research currently focus on understanding the geometric and electronic structure contributions to ground- and excited-state first-row transition metal catalyzed cross-coupling reactions, as well as connecting molecular electronic structure and spin decoherence mechanisms for quantum information science (QIS).

Keywords: EPR spectroscopy, magneto-optical spectroscopy, quantum mechanics, spin dynamics, ligand field theory, quantum sensing