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A fundamental understanding of the spin dynamics in organic multi-spin systems is essential to the development of organic spintronic devices and could provide the basis for the development of new quantum-information processing strategies. To be able to control the spin dynamics on a molecular level, we require a profound knowledge of the structure-function relationships in organic systems that can create, store, and transfer spin information.

Our research combines (pulse) electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and optical spectroscopy with the aim to study the factors influencing spin-information transfer in organic multi-spin systems. This involves the establishment of pulse EPR methodology for the characterisation of spin-information transfer in photogenerated multi-spin systems as well as the characterisation of the factors determining (i) coherence transfer and (ii) coherence dephasing.

By photoexcitation, well-defined initial spin states can be generated, while modern pulse EPR techniques provide a powerful means of manipulating and examining these states. The magnetic resonance studies are complemented by optical spectroscopic investigations of the spin dynamics from the femtosecond to the millisecond time scale. Systematic variations of the molecular design will eventually enable us to establish a link between the molecular properties of a chemical system and its ability to store and transfer spin information efficiently. 

 

Collaborations

We are currently collaborating with the following people:

  • Prof. Peter Gilch, University of Düsseldorf, Germany (femtosecond laser spectroscopy)
  • Prof. Olav Schiemann, University of Bonn, Germany (synthesis)
  • Prof. Frank Neese, Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Germany (theory)
  • Prof. Michael R. Wasielewski, Northwestern University, U.S.A. (synthesis)
  • Prof. Michel Rickhaus, University of Geneva, Switzerland (synthesis)

 

Funding

Our research is funded by the Emmy Noether Programme of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and by the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie (FCI).

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