Enhancing Concentration and Activity of Magnetic Dopants in Hybrid Layered Semiconductors for Quantum Spintronics and Photonics

Nontechnical Summary This project advances materials research for future quantum and photonic technologies by developing new ways to control magnetism in semiconductors. Spintronics, which uses an electron’s spin as well as its charge, offer a new paradigm to store, transport, and manipulate information. There is a problem. It is extremely difficult to grow high quality crystals of semiconductors with useful spin-related behaviors. Magnetic atoms introduced into semiconductors can distribute unevenly, form unwanted clusters, or migrate over time. This project develops new methods to grow high quality single crystals of layered hybrid semiconductor with precisely controlled magnetic dopants. This approach preserves the crystal structures and the high-performance electronic and photonic properties required for advanced technologies. The project provides interdisciplinary training for undergraduate and graduate students in materials research. The PI also integrates materials science concepts into university courses and engages K-12 students and public audiences through outreach events. Technical Summary The scientific goal of this project is to develop new synthetic methods that enable high-concentration and highly active magnetic doping in hybrid layered semiconductor single crystals and to establish how doping level controls crystal structure, magnetism, and light emission. The research focuses on manganese (Mn (II)) as a magnetic dopant and targets defect-free single crystals with substitutional Mn (II) concentrations exceeding 10%, a regime that is difficult to reach using common solution-based synthesis. The research team develops and applies a custom-designed metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growth approach that increases dopant incorporation and improves dopant supply control through high-vapor-pressure precursors and precise flow regulation. This platform enables systematic tuning of doping levels and supports investigations of doping–structure–property relationships using structural and spectroscopic characterization methods to determine dopant incorporation, lattice distortion, magnetic interactions, and spin-dependent optical responses. The expected outcomes include a quantitative understanding of how magnetic dopants modify the hybrid lattice, identification of regimes that support dopant–dopant interactions and long-range magnetic order, and discovery of spin-dependent photonic behaviors such as spin-polarized emission. These results establish new materials platforms for spin-based optoelectronic, photonic, and quantum technologies. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2531364 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Seokhyoung Kim | Institution: Michigan State University, EAST LANSING, MI | Award Amount: $550,000 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2531364 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2531364.html