4 ms·

What are “artificial atoms”?

tzs 6y ago
Quantum dots, perhaps? From the Wikipedia article on those [1]: > In the language of materials science, nanoscale semiconductor materials tightly confine either electrons or electron holes. Quantum dots are sometimes referred to as artificial atoms, emphasizing their singularity, having bound, discrete electronic states, like naturally occurring atoms or molecules. It was shown that the electronic wave functions in quantum dots resembles the ones in real atoms. By coupling two or more such quantum dots an artificial molecule can be made, exhibiting hybridization even at room temperature. There is a comment in the "Talk" section for that Wikipedia article that expands on this: > Artificial atoms refer to a whole class of systems that behave like atoms in the sense of discrete energy levels, not just quantum dots. Large metal objects that respond in peculiar ways to microwave radiation, for example, are called artificial atoms as well. Anyway, I must sound like a loony without any references, but if I have time I'll come back with some. and there is a response to that: > I can link this YouTube video by Andrea Morello explaining artificial atoms and quantum dots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUKKwyQLG2c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUKKwyQLG2c [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_dot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_dot
beervirus 6y ago
I'd never heard that term either, but it sounds like this is what they're referring to: > "We were the first to isolate single-photon emitters in the most widespread material of the microelectronics industry: silicon," Dr.éau said. "Furthermore, these artificial atoms based on single fluorescent point defects have the great advantage of emitting single-photons directly at telecom wavelength, which is convenient for long-distance propagation inside optical fibers."
bocklund 6y ago
The first paragraph in the "Isolation of single emitters in silicon" section of the scientific paper[1] says that they "implanted" carbon ions into silicon. The rest of the paper discusses how they were able to detect these point defects (carbon atoms). The outlook, as other commenters mentioned, is that this means we could theoretically detect other single atom point defects in silicon, such as impurities or quantum dots. [1] http://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-020-00499-0 http://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-020-00499-0

tzs 6y ago

Quantum dots, perhaps? From the Wikipedia article on those [1]: > In the language of materials science, nanoscale semiconductor materials tightly confine either electrons or electron holes. Quantum dots are sometimes referred to as artificial atoms, emphasizing their singularity, having bound, discrete electronic states, like naturally occurring atoms or molecules. It was shown that the electronic wave functions in quantum dots resembles the ones in real atoms. By coupling two or more such quantum dots an artificial molecule can be made, exhibiting hybridization even at room temperature. There is a comment in the "Talk" section for that Wikipedia article that expands on this: > Artificial atoms refer to a whole class of systems that behave like atoms in the sense of discrete energy levels, not just quantum dots. Large metal objects that respond in peculiar ways to microwave radiation, for example, are called artificial atoms as well. Anyway, I must sound like a loony without any references, but if I have time I'll come back with some. and there is a response to that: > I can link this YouTube video by Andrea Morello explaining artificial atoms and quantum dots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUKKwyQLG2c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUKKwyQLG2c [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_dot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_dot

beervirus 6y ago

I'd never heard that term either, but it sounds like this is what they're referring to: > "We were the first to isolate single-photon emitters in the most widespread material of the microelectronics industry: silicon," Dr.éau said. "Furthermore, these artificial atoms based on single fluorescent point defects have the great advantage of emitting single-photons directly at telecom wavelength, which is convenient for long-distance propagation inside optical fibers."

bocklund 6y ago

The first paragraph in the "Isolation of single emitters in silicon" section of the scientific paper[1] says that they "implanted" carbon ions into silicon. The rest of the paper discusses how they were able to detect these point defects (carbon atoms). The outlook, as other commenters mentioned, is that this means we could theoretically detect other single atom point defects in silicon, such as impurities or quantum dots. [1] http://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-020-00499-0 http://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-020-00499-0