While pursuing the goal of turning a cloud of ultracold atoms into a completely new kind of circuit element, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated that such a cloud—known as a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC)—can display a sort of "memory."
The findings, featured as the cover article of the Feb. 12, 2014, issue of Nature, pave the way for a host of novel devices based on "atomtronics," an emerging field that offers an alternative to conventional electronics.
Just as electronic devices manipulate the flow of electrons, atomtronic devices manipulate the flow of atoms. Since atoms have properties that are very different from electrons, atomtronic devices have the potential to go beyond the capabilities of electronics. The newfound effect of the BEC could be an important tool for constructing atomtronic devices similar to computer memory, according to the research team's leader, Gretchen Campbell.
The atomtronic circuit could be useful in applications such as rotation sensors, playing the part that gyroscopes have in spacecraft and aeroplane navigation. The devices could also some day perform rudimentary quantum computations.
And because superfluidity in atoms is analogous to the way electrons flow without resistance in a superconductor, studying the transitions in atomtronics could drive theoretical work in superconductivity, says Campbell. Still, she acknowledges that practical devices are far in the future. “We’re still in the infancy of learning how to control our systems and what we can do. But that is our hope,” she adds.
Nature - Atom circuits a step closer, Ring-shaped flow of ultracold atoms remembers how it has been stirred
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The findings, featured as the cover article of the Feb. 12, 2014, issue of Nature, pave the way for a host of novel devices based on "atomtronics," an emerging field that offers an alternative to conventional electronics.
Just as electronic devices manipulate the flow of electrons, atomtronic devices manipulate the flow of atoms. Since atoms have properties that are very different from electrons, atomtronic devices have the potential to go beyond the capabilities of electronics. The newfound effect of the BEC could be an important tool for constructing atomtronic devices similar to computer memory, according to the research team's leader, Gretchen Campbell.
The atomtronic circuit could be useful in applications such as rotation sensors, playing the part that gyroscopes have in spacecraft and aeroplane navigation. The devices could also some day perform rudimentary quantum computations.
And because superfluidity in atoms is analogous to the way electrons flow without resistance in a superconductor, studying the transitions in atomtronics could drive theoretical work in superconductivity, says Campbell. Still, she acknowledges that practical devices are far in the future. “We’re still in the infancy of learning how to control our systems and what we can do. But that is our hope,” she adds.
Nature - Atom circuits a step closer, Ring-shaped flow of ultracold atoms remembers how it has been stirred
Read more »
