Artificial atom

1996/09/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Fisika

Physicists at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) have just created an “artificial atom” with no nucleus and totally flat. The negatively charged electron in normal atoms attracts positive central nuclei, but “artificial atoms” are just a set of electrons. The electric field produced by the difference in potential generated inside a semiconductor is the motor of electrons.

These small sets of electrons apparently do not resemble real atoms. They are much wider (100 nanometers wide and natural atoms are only 0.3 or 0.4 nanometers) and are located in the center of the real atoms (between a layer of gallium arsenide).

Artificial atoms, on the other hand, are flat and limited to moving electrons within an atomic layer. However, the forces that support these electrons are the same as those supported by the electrons of the real atom, that is, the central potential attracts and the electrons modify each other. That's why artificial atoms are so interesting.

It can be said that they are microscopic laboratories to perform tests that cannot be performed with real atoms. The energy needed for the incorporation or extraction of an electron can be measured, or the predictions of quantum mechanics can be checked in a controlled manner.