Dr. S. S. Verma, Department of Physics, S.L.I.E.T., Longowal, Distt.-Sangrur (Punjab)-148106
In comparison to phenomenal certainty of macro world, quantum world is full of probabilities of unexpected phenomena. These quantum world probabilities of unexpected outcomes can be observed and exploited to the level best in various applications of engineering and technology. Quantum electronics is the area of physics dealing with the effects of quantum mechanics on the behavior of electrons in matter. Quantum mechanics is not only fascinating in its own right, but also offers the possibility of revolutionary applications. We create electronic devices that exploit quantum behaviours of superposition and entanglement. We aim both to develop new technology and to explore fundamental science in quantum engineered devices. We work in semiconducting and molecular materials using techniques of nanofabrication, quantum transport, and spin resonance. The field concerned with the interaction of radiation and matter, and on the effects of quantum mechanics on the behavior of electrons. The quantum behavior of electrons and light, as well as the interaction mechanism between them, are responsible for a wide variety of complex physical phenomena. Studies are carried out on optical communications – fiber optics, optical devices and research on ultrafast phenomena. The field deals with methods for the amplification and generation of electromagnetic oscillations based on the use of the effect of stimulated emission, and also with the properties of quantum mechanical amplifiers and generators and with their use. Scientists and engineers are exploring all ways to exploit quantum world phenomena based electronic devices with great advantages of speed, storage, reduced size, efficiency etc. There are significant advances in the understanding of quantum electronics phenomena or the demonstration of new devices, systems, or applications.
The coherence of quantum systems is the foundation upon which hardware for future information technologies is based. Quantum information is carried by units called quantum bits, or qubits. They can be used to secure electronic communications – and they enable very fast searches of databases. Researchers have developed a new electronic component which will help to process, transfer and store superposition states such as the overlapping of the binary digits zero and one. The atoms are trapped in a magnetic field above the surface of the microchip. Because superconductors allow an electric current to flow without resistance, the current does not become weaker in a superconducting ring. Researchers have made use of this to construct a complex superconducting ring-circuit and a particularly stable storage space for atoms. And the researchers can test how long atoms remain in the quantum superposition states within the system – by using the atoms themselves as a clock. The researchers are now planning experiments on atoms in superconducting microwave resonators – which could serve as a shuttle for data between integrated circuits and atoms.
Advantages
- The study of quantum electronics is enabling the miniaturization of technology and the development of the transistors and integrated circuits of tomorrow.
- As the size of devices shrinks and reaches the nanometer scale, the effects of quantum mechanics on electrons becomes more pronounced and, eventually, determines their electronic properties.
- Quantum generators of radio waves differ from other radio apparatus in that the frequency of the oscillations generated is very stable; quantum magnetic amplifiers of radio-frequency waves are distinguished by their extremely low noise level.
Developmental status
Interconnect can often take up most of the space on silicon chip and the limits of the interconnect often form the limits of a computing system’s performance. Scientists have found a way to connect quantum devices together, transmitting entanglement — and crucially the quantum properties that could deliver the next-generation of electronics.
- A team of scientists of around the world have managed to build and test a quantum interconnect that links two chips and carries both photons (and that entanglement) between them. Entanglement is where quantum particles share the same existence, even while apart: preserving this state is the hard part, and the scientists managed it using optical fiver and a quantum quirk where photons traveling along two channels overlap, entangling, and then carrying on.
- A team of scientists has discovered a new way of using light to draw and erase quantum-mechanical circuits in a unique class of materials called topological insulators. In contrast to using advanced nanofabrication facilities based on chemical processing of materials, this flexible technique allows for rewritable optical fabrication of devices. This finding is likely to spawn new developments in emerging technologies such as low-power electronics based on the spin of electrons or ultrafast quantum computers.
- The electrons in topological insulators have unique quantum properties that many scientists believe will be useful for developing spin-based electronics and quantum computers. However, making even the simplest experimental circuits with these materials has proved difficult because traditional semiconductor engineering techniques tend to destroy their fragile quantum properties. Even a brief exposure to air can reduce their quality.
- The researchers report the discovery of an optical effect that allows them to “tune” the energy of electrons in these materials using light, and without ever having to touch the material itself. They have used it to draw and erasep-n junctions—one of the central components of a transistor—in a topological insulator for the first time.
- The researchers found that the surface of strontium titanate, the substrate material on which they had grown their samples, becomes electrically polarized when exposed to ultraviolet light, and their room lights happened to emit at just the right wavelength. The electric field from the polarized strontium titanate was leaking into the topological insulator layer, changing its electronic properties.
- Researchers found that by intentionally focusing beams of light on their samples, they could draw electronic structures that persisted long after the light was removed. Since the electrical polarization occurs in an adjacent material, and the effect persists in the dark, the topological insulator remains relatively undisturbed. This effect could allow electrical tuning of materials in a wide range of optical, magnetic and spectroscopic experiments where electrical contacts are extremely difficult or simply impossible.
