17
July 2003
Nanotechnology: All SET
A new device can significantly enhance the detection of extremely small movements, just two orders of magnitude away from the smallest movement possible, 'zero-point' motion. The device depends on a single-crystal vibrating wire, coupled to an amplifier in the form of a single-electron transistor (SET), cooled to near absolute zero. Motion sensing for nanomechanical systems is notoriously difficult, both because of the small geometries involved and because the devices tend to be stiffer than their larger micromechanical counterparts. SET-based detectors might have application in magnetic resonance force microscopy and other precision experiments.
Nanometre-scale displacement sensing using a single
electron transistor
ROBERT G. KNOBEL & ANDREW
N. CLELAND
Nature 424, 291–293 (2003); doi:10.1038/nature01773
| First Paragraph
| Full Text (HTML
/ PDF) |
Quantum physics: Uncertain future
MILES
BLENCOWE
Nature 424, 262–263 (2003); doi:10.1038/424262a
| Full Text (HTML /
PDF) |
