Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for controlling nonequilibrium electron transport process and generating phonons in low dimensional materials. The systems can include a conductive sheet sandwiched between a first insulation layer and a second insulation layer; a first electrode conductively coupled to a first end of the conductive sheet; a second electrode conductively coupled to a second end of the conductive sheet; and a current source conductively coupled to the first electrode and the second electrode and configured to pass a current from the first electrode through the conductive sheet to the second electrode such that current generates a drift velocity of electrons in the conductive sheet that is greater than the speed of sound to generate phonons.

Abstract: A method for probing the properties of nanoscale materials, such as 2D materials or proteins, via nanometer-scale nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) spectroscopy using individual atom-like impurities in diamond. Coherent manipulation of shallow nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers enables the probing of the NQR spectrum of nanoscale ensembles of nuclear spins. Measuring the NQR spectrum at different magnetic field orientations and magnitudes and fitting to a theoretical model allows for the extraction of atomic structural properties of the material with nanoscale resolution.