Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Science Foundation's Division of Chemistry awarded a $575,078 CAREER grant to the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) for the period of May 1, 2026 through April 30, 2031. The project will advance zero-field nuclear magnetic resonance (ZF NMR) detection spectroscopy to enable high-information chemical analysis using compact, cost-effective instruments. Rather than relying on expensive superconducting magnets employed in conventional NMR spectroscopy, this research will develop methods to briefly polarize samples and measure them in shielded, near-zero-field environments using atomic quantum sensors, potentially enabling parallel operation of multiple instruments and simplified measurements in water-rich samples.

The research effort encompasses four complementary technical thrusts: instrumentation improvements to enhance sensitivity through increased sample-sensor coupling and optically pumped magnetometer arrays; machine-learning tools for predicting J-couplings and zero-field NMR spectra; quantum-computing-assisted algorithms for scalable spectral inference using Hamiltonian learning; and zero-field-compatible optical hyperpolarization methods. The project will also generate significant broader impacts through workforce development by training undergraduate and graduate researchers in research instrumentation, quantum sensing, and quantum information methods, while engaging local high school and community college students through laboratory visits and hands-on exposure to modern chemical measurement science. This work is expected to unlock distributed chemical fingerprinting capabilities for applications including faster reaction screening and quality control processes.