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Researchers at Delft University of Technology have developed a sensor that is only 11 atoms in size. The sensor is capable of capturing magnetic waves and consists of an antenna, a readout capability, a reset button and a memory unit. The researchers hope to use their atomic sensor to learn more about the behaviour of magnetic waves, so that hopefully such waves can one day be used in green ICT applications.
In theory, engineers can make electronic data processing much more efficient by switching to spintronics. Instead of using electrical signals, this technology makes use of magnetic signals to transmit data. Unfortunately, magnetism tends to get incredibly complicated, especially at the tiny scale of computer chips. A magnetic wave can be viewed as millions of compass needles performing a complex collective dance. Not only do the waves propagate extremely quickly, causing them to vanish in mere nanoseconds, the tricky laws of quantum mechanics also allow them to travel in multiple directions at the same time. This makes them even more elusive.
Journal Reference:
Elbertse, R.J.G., Coffey, D., Gobeil, J., et al. Remote detection and recording of atomic-scale spin dynamics, (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3759448)
The sensor is intended to help make progress with spintronics.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @01:23PM (1 child)
So the sensor is just 11 (13, 15, 17) iron atoms appropriately spaced in a Cu2N lattice?
I mean, bravo at getting the number of atoms into the teens, but if you aren't counting the lattice (nor the system to keep the whole thing at 1.5K), it seems a bit... hyperbolic.
Still impressive, I'd love to understand it better.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Wobzter on Wednesday May 27 2020, @01:46PM
Correct. The sensor was 11 atoms, and we attached a chain of 3, 5 and 9 atoms to it. So the largest structure would be 20 atoms.
A different research group has managed to about a hundred of them on the same surface in a very closely packed fashion: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/335/6065/196 [sciencemag.org]
So it definitely possible to scale up. The goal of this experiment was moreso for the science: how do these magnetic waves move? That's why we built a sensor.
Once we (science) understands how these magnetic waves operate better, it will be that much easier to design structures that are much easier to scale up: well beyond a hundred atoms.
I understand where you're coming from with calling it a bit... hyperbolic. However, a mouse trap (which is a kind of sensor) requires more than just itself to operate as well: it needs a surface to stand on and it needs to the right temperature, gravity and other variables (fortunately for us "ambient pressure/temperature" usually suffices). With that in mind, if we can consider the mouse trap in isolation, one could argue in favour of considering these 11 atoms in isolation as well. But I definitely see your point. Unfortunately, funding agencies like to stories that are easy to understand for the public without too many "if"s and "but"s - so we are encouraged to present it as such to the public. But I do stand by the title of the article.
If you have any more questions, I'm happy to help!