Being able to manipulate and monitor single electrons in predesigned atomically-defined structures has been a long-standing goal for condensed matter physicists. A team led by Robert Wolkow of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, has now succeeded in doing just this. As well as being useful for fundamental studies, such designer lattices could also be used to make atomic circuits in the future.
“We are now able to play with single charges (electrons) in atomically-defined structures of our own design for the first time,” explains team member Mohammad Rashidi, who is also at the Nanotechnology Research Centre and Quantum Silicon, both in Edmonton. “Previously, this had only been done on isolated atoms and molecules on insulating substrates. In our work, we can place atoms at will and compose structures of dangling bonds on a hydrogen-terminated silicon surface. We can then follow how electrons ‘jump’ between the atoms in the artificial atom structures.
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