Atomtronics is the branch of
scienceScience is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
,
engineeringEngineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
and
technologyTechnology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
that deals with the creation of analogues to
electronic circuitAn electronic circuit is composed of individual electronic components, such as resistors, transistors, capacitors, inductors and diodes, connected by conductive wires or traces through which electric current can flow...
s and devices by the use of
atomThe atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...
s. Atomtronics is an emerging technology that offers a wide range of applications.
Theory
When super-cooled to form Bose-Einstein condensates, atoms placed in an
optical latticeAn optical lattice is formed by the interference of counter-propagating laser beams, creating a spatially periodic polarization pattern. The resulting periodic potential may trap neutral atoms via the Stark shift. Atoms are cooled and congregate in the locations of potential minima...
may form states analogous to electrons in solid-state crystalline media such as
semiconductorA semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
s. Impurity doping allows the creation of n and p-type semiconductor analogue states, and an atomtronic
batteryAn electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...
can be created by maintaining two contacts at different
chemical potentialChemical potential, symbolized by μ, is a measure first described by the American engineer, chemist and mathematical physicist Josiah Willard Gibbs. It is the potential that a substance has to produce in order to alter a system...
s. Analogues to diodes and transistors have also been theoretically demonstrated.
Application
Atomtronic devices are still in the experimental stage, and for the future, the properties of condensed atoms offer a wide range of possible applications. The use of ultra-cold atoms leads to circuit elements that allow for the coherent flow of information and may be useful in connecting classical electronic devices and
quantum computerA quantum computer is a device for computation that makes direct use of quantum mechanical phenomena, such as superposition and entanglement, to perform operations on data. Quantum computers are different from traditional computers based on transistors...
s. The use of atomtronics may allow for quantum computers that work on macroscopic scales and do not require the technological precision of
laserA laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
-controlled few-ion computing methods. Since the atoms are Bose-condensed, they have the property of superfluidity and, therefore, have resistance-free current in which no energy is lost or heat dissipated, similar to superconducting electronic devices. The vast knowledge of electronics may be leveraged to easily adapt to ultra-cold atomtronic circuits. Atomtronics does not can replace electronics due to atoms is too slow.
External links
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