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Single-atom devices

Quantum engineering

Nature Materials volume 12, pages 480–481 (2013)Cite this article

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A series of breakthroughs is making the fabrication of single-atom devices possible. Their behaviour is controlled by the quantum state of single dopants, and they hold promise for applications such as quantum bits, magnetometers and memories.

In 1959, Richard Feynman famously gave a lecture he entitled 'There is plenty of room at the bottom'1, and posed a question that has inspired scientists and engineers ever since: “whether, ultimately — in the great future — we can arrange the atoms the way we want; the very atoms, all the way down!” The striking results presented at the symposium 'Single Dopant Semiconductor Optoelectronics' at the 2013 MRS Spring Meeting in San Francisco are providing a positive answer to this question, with encouraging implications for the future.

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Figure 1: Single-atom transistor.
Figure 2: Antiferromagnetic chain functioning as a bit.

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  1. J. Fernández Rossier is at the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Braga 4715-330, Portugal,

    Joaquin Fernández Rossier

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  1. Joaquin Fernández Rossier
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Correspondence to Joaquin Fernández Rossier.

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Fernández Rossier, J. Quantum engineering. Nature Mater 12, 480–481 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3670

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