July 30, 2026 -- The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded University of California San Diego researchers a six-year $18M grant to fund a Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) focused on making new kinds of quantum materials. Quantum materials show promise for a broad range of national priorities including low-power computing, data encryption, secure communications, medical diagnostics, sensors, stealth materials and high-performance electronics.

The U.S National Science Foundation Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers provide the resources and interdisciplinary environment needed for materials research activities of ambitious scope and complexity, and are transformative for the schools that earn them. Supported by the NSF Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, the centers produce innovations that create a scientific foundation for future technologies that enhance the U.S. economy, strengthen national security and improve quality of life.

At UC San Diego, the MRSEC is a joint initiative between the Jacobs School of Engineering and the School of Physical Sciences. This new grant brings together physicists, chemists, materials scientists and engineers to collaborate on quantum materials, which are materials that derive their properties from quantum mechanical interactions between atoms, molecules and larger structures.

"This MRSEC grant is a powerful confirmation that UC San Diego stands at the very forefront of materials science and engineering research in this country. This is exactly the kind of bold, cross-disciplinary collaboration that defines who we are — bringing together physicists, chemists, materials scientists and engineers to tackle the most consequential scientific challenges of our time. This investment by the National Science Foundation will accelerate discoveries in quantum materials that will shape the devices and technologies of tomorrow and it will train the next generation of scientists and engineers to lead that charge," said UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla.

The quantum materials research themes of the UC San Diego MRSEC stem from two areas of historic strength on campus: metamaterials and two-dimensional superlattices, both of which will be described below.

The UC San Diego MRSEC team is composed of 17 UC San Diego faculty members from engineering and physical sciences. It also includes one faculty member from UC Irvine, UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. It is led by Michael Sailor, professor in the Department of Chemistry at the UC San Diego School of Physical Sciences, and co-led by Andrea Tao, professor in the Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

“Our MRSEC capitalizes on some great strengths at UC San Diego — our leadership in metamaterials and quantum science, our position as a national resource in high-performance computing, our collaborative culture, and our focus on training the innovation workforce of tomorrow,” said Sailor.

UC San Diego was awarded its first MRSEC in 2020, also led by Sailor, with a six-year $18M grant from the NSF to bridge disciplines in order to create new kinds of nanomaterials and polymers.

Quantum Metamaterials

One of the two research themes of the UC San Diego MRSEC focuses on the development of quantum metamaterials, which are materials that are engineered at the nanometer scale to exhibit unique optical properties that do not exist in nature. To create these materials, researchers must move beyond classical design rules and instead utilize quantum mechanical effects. By doing so, the team aims to create a new generation of materials that have the potential to support future AI infrastructure and optical computing.

UC San Diego MRSEC researchers in the Quantum Metamaterials research group will employ a bottom-up, self-assembly approach to overcome the limitations of traditional manufacturing, which cannot currently achieve the precision needed to create these structures.

The Quantum Metamaterials research team is co-led by Zhaowei Liu, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Richard Averitt, a professor of physics.

Liu studies nanophotonics, plasmonics and metamaterials. His research focuses on engineering the physics of light at the nanoscale to develop new optical materials and related technologies such as super-resolution microscopy, nonlinear optical devices and ultrafast optical light sources.

Averitt uses ultrafast, time-resolved optical spectroscopy, spanning terahertz through visible frequencies, to probe and actively control the fundamental properties of quantum materials, with the goal of understanding and manipulating novel phases of matter.

Liu and Averitt had to tap into a diverse set of expertise to build their team: nanomaterials, condensed matter physics, optical engineering and quantum theory.