In quantum materials, macroscopic behavior is governed in nontrivial ways by quantum phenomena. This is usually achieved by exquisite control over atomic positions in crystalline solids. Here, it is demonstrated that the use of disordered glassy materials provides unique opportunities to tailor quantum material properties. By borrowing ideas from single-molecule spectroscopy, single delocalized π-electron dye systems are isolated in relatively rigid ultrasmall (<10 nm diameter) amorphous silica nanoparticles. It is demonstrated that chemically tuning the local amorphous silica environment around the dye over a range of compositions enables exquisite control over dye quantum behavior, leading to efficient probes for photodynamic therapy (PDT) and stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM). The results suggest that efficient fine-tuning of light-induced quantum behavior mediated via effects like spin-orbit coupling can be effectively achieved by systematically varying averaged local environments in glassy amorphous materials as opposed to tailoring well-defined neighboring atomic lattice positions in crystalline solids. The resulting nanoprobes exhibit features proven to enable clinical translation.

中文翻译：

---

非晶量子纳米材料。

在量子材料中，宏观行为是由量子现象以非平凡的方式支配的。这通常是通过对结晶固体中原子位置的精确控制来实现的。在此，证明了无序玻璃态材料的使用为定制量子材料的特性提供了独特的机会。通过借鉴单分子光谱学的思想，将单个离域π电子染料系统隔离在相对刚性的超小（直径小于10 nm）的非晶态二氧化硅纳米粒子中。结果表明，在一定范围的组成范围内对染料周围的局部无定形二氧化硅环境进行化学调节，可以精确控制染料的量子行为，从而为光动力疗法（PDT）和随机光学重建显微镜（STORM）带来了高效的探针。结果表明，通过有系统地改变玻璃态非晶态材料中的平均局部环境，而不是在结晶固体中定制明确定义的相邻原子晶格位置，可以有效地实现通过自旋轨道耦合等效应介导的光诱导量子行为的有效微调。 。所得的纳米探针具有经证实可实现临床翻译的功能。