Electrons surf that wave
1 min read
Researchers at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory have found a new way to control the movement of individual electrons – making them ride the crests of energy waves like surfers. By controlling individual electrons, they hope to develop new computing systems and increase the security of digital communication.
According to the researchers, the technique operates much like a conveyor belt. The NPL’s ‘electron surf machine’ delivers electrons one by one in a steady stream at more than 1billion a second – the first time electrons have been delivered in a controlled fashion at such a high rate.
Waves of electrostatic force are created and a single electron is placed on the crest of each wave. The waves are then focused in a particular direction or at a particular object.
Applications for the technique include better computers and absolute security for digital communications.
By controlling individual electrons, exactly the right amount of current can be targeted at the processor at exactly the right time, allowing the computer to undertake more tasks, run more efficiently and cope with more requests at once.
The ‘surf machine’ could also be used to encode a message into individual photons, making it simpler to identify any which have been ‘removed’ by eavesdroppers, deterring snooping and alerting the sender or recipient to tampering.
