Mirage or Real?

S cientists

may have discovered the nanotech method of communication! In a

step that could lead to electronic circuits the size of atoms,

scientists have found a way to move information by using

electrons instead of wires. The IBM team at its Almaden Research

Centre recently demonstrated the so-called "quantum mirage

effect", which carries the potential of miniaturizing

microprocessors a million-fold.

When the Almaden

scientists placed a magnetic atom (cobalt) at one focus of an

elliptical "quantum corral," the Kondo Effect shield

appeared at both foci, even the one where no cobalt atom was

present. Donald M Eigler, IBM’s lead researcher on this

project said, "We call it a mirage because we project

information about one atom to another spot where there is no

atom."

This

"quantum mirage" effect demonstrates how information

can be transmitted from one place to another using the wave

nature of electrons instead of conventional wires. It may enable

data transfer within future nanoscale electronic circuits too

small to use wires. (Just to give an idea of how small we are

talking here, a nanometre is one billionth of a metre–about 40

billionths of an inch–or about the size of a five atoms placed

side by side.)

The breakthrough brings

visions of microprocessors millions of times smaller and

billions of times more powerful than the "brains"

behind most of today’s computerized devices–and without the

limitations of wiring.

IBM’s new quantum mirage

technique may prove to be just such a substitute for the wires

connecting nanocircuit components.

And the discovery could

pave the way for the future nanotechnicians.

But lots of significant improvements are

needed before this method of transporting information becomes

useful in actual circuits.