Quantum 'mirage' may really boost nanocircuits

	San Jose, Calif. (February 2, 2000) -- Some 5,000 times smaller than a human hair, this elliptical ring of 36 cobalt atoms creates a "quantum mirage" that may lead to an efficient way of moving information within future atom-scale circuits and computers, say its IBM Research inventors. When a single cobalt atom (purple peak) is placed at one of the two focus points of the elliptical ring, some of its properties suddenly appear at the other focus (the purple spot in the lower left), where no atom exists. The size and shape of the ellipse determines where information moves within the ring. The scientists at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., used a scanning tunelling microscope to position the atoms. This news was announced in the cover article of the February 3, 2000, issue of Nature, a prestigious scientific journal. Because the quantum mirage uses the wave nature of electrons to move the information, instead of a wire -- it has the potential to enable data transfer within future nanoscale electronic circuits so small that conventional wires do not work. Many barriers must be overcome to make this scientific discovery useful in this way. But if it can be developed, the quantum mirage could enable the miniaturization of electronic circuits far beyond that envisioned today.

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