Researchers create quantum wire which can transmit a current without movin

[Buttercup McToots]

http://physorg.com/news73128103.html

Exerpt:

Researchers create quantum wire which can transmit a current without moving electrons.

Known as a hole quantum wire, it exploits gaps – or holes - between electrons. The relationship between electrons and holes is like that between electrons and anti-electrons, or matter and anti-matter.

The holes can be thought of as real quantum particles that have an electrical charge and a spin. They exhibit remarkable quantum properties and could lead to a new world of super-fast, low-powered transistors and powerful quantum computers.

Associate Professor Alex Hamilton and Dr Adam Micolich, who lead the UNSW Quantum Electronic Devices group in Sydney, Australia, say the discovery that the holes can carry an electrical current puts the team at the front of its field in the quantum electronics revolution.

"Research groups around the world have been trying to make these devices for more than a decade and we're the first to do so successfully," Professor Hamilton says. "We really do have a big lead now."

Quantum wires are microscopically small, in this case about 100 times narrower than a human hair. They are so narrow that electrons can only pass along them in single file. Manufacturers are keenly interested in them because they hold the potential for new high-speed electronics applications, known as spintronics, where semiconductor devices have both electric and magnetic properties.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I really don't understand all that. Sounds Star Trekky to me, tho, which

makes it way cool!

[AngryAmish]

2. Me too

My head hurts. I need a beer.

[Bretttido]

3. Good stuff, those Aussies keep discovering new technologies!

[Warpy]

4. That's what happens when your GDP isn't dedicated

to funding a bloated military and a bunch of crap like abstinence programs for teenagers.

[Ezlivin]

5. Now electrons are being outsourced!

Electrons are out, quanta are in.

As soon as Bush finds out he'll probably sign a bill protecting the endangered electron.

[Bjornsdotter]

6. Amazing

I've bookmarked the link to read the article later, thanks for the link.

Cheers

[KansDem]

7. There was a time the US would be doing this...

We split the atom and put man on the moon. But, it seems not much since.

Our space program is stagnant--the space shuttle program is nothing more than a glorified Federal Express; we developed "stealth technology" only to drop 2,000-pound Daisy cutters on Iraqi neighborhoods (as it turns out, if you believe the 9/11 commission, all we had to do was have the captain turn off that thingie that identifies aircraft and--voila!--no one can see you! But we spent billions on stealth technology anyway); we can't equip our combat troops properly; we can't evacuate our cities efficiently after natural disasters; we spend our time blocking scientific research methods; our children are lagging behind children of other developed countries (like Australia) in science and math; we put the kibosh on Al Gore's satellite that would give us answers to global warming; we're standing on the precipice of peak oil but no one is doing anything about it; we keep trying to develop a "missile defense system" that keeps failing even though there's nobody around that can fire a missile at us anyway; etc, etc, etc...

I think I see a pattern here...

[porphyrian]

8. Talk about a bitch to repair...

Replacement parts better be cheap and available.

[On the Road]

9. Thank You for This

I hadn't seen it.

Do you understand what the author is saying about quantum holes acting like an actual quantum particle with spin and charge? That's the part that I'm having difficulty with.