Ligand Radicals as Modular Organic Electron Spin Qubits.

McGuire, Jake; Miras, Haralampos N.; Sproules, Stephen; Donahue, James P.; Richards, Emma

The intrinsic redox activity of the dithiolene ligand is presented here as the novel spin host in the design of a prototype molecular electron spin qubit, where the traditional roles of the metal and ligand components in coordination complexes are inverted. A series of paramagnetic bis(dithiolene) complexes with group 10 metals—nickel, palladium, platinum—provides a backdrop to investigate the spin dynamics of the organic ligand radical using pulsed EPR spectroscopy. The temperature dependence of the phase memory time (TM) is shown to be dependent on the identity of the diamagnetic metal ion, with the short times recorded for platinum a consequence of a diminishing spin‐lattice (T1) relaxation time driven by spin‐orbit coupling. The utility of the radical ligand spin center is confirmed when it delivers one of the longest phase memory times ever recorded for a molecular two‐qubit prototype. Do your qubit: The redox‐active dithiolene ligand is presented as a novel spin host in the design of prototype molecular electron spin qubits. The modularity of the metallodithiolene motif is demonstrated in the assemblage of a prototype two‐qubit system with one of the longest reported phase memory times for a coordination complex (see Figure).

QUANTUM computing; LIGANDS (Chemistry); DITHIOLENES; ELECTRON spin; ELECTRON paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy; SPIN-orbit interactions

Chemistry - A European Journal, 2018, Vol 24, Issue 66, p17598

0947-6539

Academic Journal

10.1002/chem.201804165