Miniaturization of electronic chips could improve computers Published Jan. 7, 2009 By Maria Callier Air Force Office of Scientific Research ARLINGTON, Va. -- An electrical and computer engineering professor at Johns Hopkins University is conducting Air Force Office of Scientific Research-supported work on the miniaturization of electronic chips, which would allow for lighter, smaller and faster computers for the Air Force. Dr. Alexander Kaplan has found an exception to the Lorentz-Lorentz theory, which maintains that, given the regular set of circumstances, atomic electrons will move in a uniform way when exposed to laser light. "I started my first inroads into the problems of Lorentz-Lorentz theory about 14 years ago and observed many strange effects playing with the problem on my computer, but then put those results aside being unable at the moment to make good sense out of them," Dr. Kaplan said. He then returned to the problem and advanced his research the last two years. One year ago he was joined by Dr. Sergei Volkov, a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University. Together they were able to elaborate on Dr. Kaplan's initial theory and their pilot results have just been published in "Physical Review Letters." The researchers have found that relatively small groups of atomic atoms create strongly different conditions and break the uniformity of their motion. In particular they may violently separate from each other and then come back together. For atoms to behave in this fashion, there must be fewer than a few hundred of them in one- or two- dimensional structures; all of them have to be in close proximity of each other, with the laser frequency chosen close to their atomic frequency. "We would expand on one-, two- and three-dimensional atomic ensembles, made by a combination of different atoms and molecules," Dr. Kaplan said. "We also plan to explore various atoms, configurations and lasers in strongly nonlinear mode and then design environments in which the atoms behave like a computer's memory and logic elements." Manufacturers who are using semiconductor parts to make the newest and smallest computers have a problem that Dr. Kaplan's theory, once confirmed, may alleviate. "The biggest challenge in the way of minimizing computer chips is the heat released by the active electronic components," he said. "Most of them are based on semiconductors, whereas the proposed effect is based on the collection of atoms with no free electrons, which releases substantially less heat."