Atomic "transistor" proposed using quantum cloud material

Intel might be oh-so-smug about its fancy new insulators and 45nm process, but doesn't have nothing on these upcoming atomic transistor dealios -- other than that whole "shipping" thing, of course. Scientists working at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts and compadres at the University of Colorado Boulder have proposed implementing a "Bose-Einstein condensate" to pull this off -- a super-cold gas cloud of atoms all in the same quantum state -- which is manipulated with three adjacent chambers that are created by trapping atoms with magnets or laz0rs. By swapping atoms between the two side chambers, and controlling that action with the center chamber, a behavior is created similar to that of an electronic field-effect transistor. Which is apparently a good thing. So yeah, the tech definitely flies over our heads, but if this works it sounds like it's a pretty big breakthrough in building atomic "circuits" some day by connecting basic atom elements and should hopefully keep Moore's law alive and well a few decades down the road.

[Thanks, Jeremy]

[Cosmos @ Jan 31st 2007 11:46PM]

Why didn't I think of that?!

[yoinkers @ Feb 1st 2007 12:31AM]

Ok, this is what scientists do when they're trying to score some more funding. BEC is very, very hard to work with and only several dozen groups can produce gaseous BECs. The two labs next to ours both work with BEC's and the amount of optics and electronics are mindnumbing. Not to mention the fact that optics and lasers are a notorious bitch to keep aligned and tuned.

This stuff is fascinating but you'll most likely never see a BEC implemented in a consumer device using gasses. Researchers are working on similar problems in the solid state, which could be used in common devices, but there are problems keeping the states coherent.

It would be ironic if gaseous BECs were used because we'd have transitioned from the vacuum tube of old, to solid state transistors, and back again to [quantum] vacuum tubes. good times

[etruscan @ Feb 1st 2007 2:22AM]

lol, that was a pretty good comment. i'd only say that you know, the future and all that.. it's always suprising what them scientists will squeeze into a breadbox... even if this tech was only used for backbone/infrastructure or in large installation type environments it still seems like it'd be the logical conclusion, or at least direction for things to go. until we are flipping individual atoms with perfect precision things can only get tinier, eh?

[sciphy @ Feb 3rd 2007 10:11AM]

The article connected two things that, actually, aren't linked at all. Consequently, the predictions and discussions are incorrect.

Manipulating atoms (plural, that is to say there are many in a BEC) with the BEC is an interesting thing. What was proposed by the scientists is an atomic transistor or a way of moving atoms around in a controlled fashion analogous to the way transistors can control the motion of electrons. With an atomic transistor and collections of BEC atoms, one might make "atomic circuits". That would be enable atoms to be moved around in a controlled fashion.

"Atomic-scale" circuits refer to electronic circuits that have size comparable to the size of individual atoms. Electrons move around, from single atom to single atom, in an atomic-scale circuit. If atomic-scale circuits can overcome their technical hurdles, then Moore's Law can be kept alive.

[blaQ @ Feb 1st 2007 6:29AM]

The day a breakthrough comes in atomic transistors the world will become a very very differnt place. this will be the biggest breakthrough since the internet.

[Andrew @ Feb 1st 2007 6:49AM]

You know yoinkers things always come back into fashion eventually.
blaQ. Bring it on! I dont want to be an old man tottering around playing bingo. Give me nano inhanced gonads and QD neurons.

[strider_mt2k @ Feb 1st 2007 9:59AM]

Not to be confused with Bose-Firesign condensate, which is what collects in your bong after listening to old comedy albums on an overpriced sound system.

Forward, into the past!

What?

[Chuckles McGee @ Feb 1st 2007 9:17PM]

Thanks to these breakthroughs in science, I know I'll be getting my porn faster than ever.

[ddoubledog @ Feb 2nd 2007 11:11PM]

Ya know, people have asked me why i decided to go to Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and here's the answer, so I can be around and learn from teachers who are doing some of the most exciting work in their field.