Monday, April 28, 2014: In a bid to outsmart the current breed of microprocessors by leaps and bounds, a team of researchers at the National University of Singapore have designed a new electronic circuit that could successfully operate at frequencies of hundreds of terahertz. The new ‘molecular’ electronic circuit promises to take the world of high-speed electronics by storm as also open up further avenues in the stream of nano-electronic devices.
The new circuit is based on quantum plasmonic tunneling during which the frequencies of the circuits can be dramatically altered by hundreds of terahertz by simply changing the molecules in the molecular electronic device. “We are very excited by the new findings. Our team is the first to observe the quantum plasmonic tunneling effects directly.
This is also the first time that a research team has demonstrated theoretically and experimentally that very fast-switching at optical frequencies is indeed possible in molecular electronic devices.” Assistant Professor Christian A Nijhuis, one of the authors of the study was quoted as saying. The circuit in question was fabricated using two plasmonic resonators capable of capturing light in the form of ‘plasmons’ when bridged by molecules (precisely one molecule thick layer). It is this layer of molecules that triggers the quantum plasmonic tunneling effect thereby causing the circuit to work at terahertz frequencies.
The new molecular electronic circuit features in the latest issue of the Science Journal and holds key to the development of ultra-fast computers or single molecule detectors in the near future.
