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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: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday May 27 2020, @03:22PM (1 child)
Thank you, Wobzter, very interesting.
Is the placement of the sensors strictly limited by the substrate, ie. such that radial configurations aren't possible? Are you able to play with the substrates like, say, etching a circuit board?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Wobzter on Wednesday May 27 2020, @03:41PM
Correct. This substrate (CuN on Cu3Au(100)) has a square lattice. We could've also done this on a hexagon lattice (Cu3Au(111)), though the coupling strengths between the different components (interchain and intrachain) would be very different, as well as the ease of building such structures.
In a world with infinite money it would be possible build an algorithm that builds these structures for us to scale things up. For now things are done manually at the atomic level - etching of circuit boards is still too big for that (1-2 orders of magnitude, according to the latest etching techniques). Even then, the exact spacing of the atoms is difficult to do with etching techniques, but very crucial.
I hope it helps!
Cheers, Wobzter (i.e. RJG Elbertse)