March 2004

Institute of Physics

Silicon chips with ultra-cold atoms – the future of computing

Developments in snap-shot MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), organic semiconductor technology, high temperature superconductivity, and progress towards quantum computers are some of the topics being presented at a major conference organised by the Institute of Physics next month. The four-day conference, CMMP 2004, will take place from Sunday 4th to Wednesday 7th April 2004 at the University of Warwick.

Silicon microchips touch our lives in many ways – they power personal computers and enable high-speed medical imaging. Inside silicon chips, electrons move along microscopic wires that form complex electrical circuits. At this conference, on Tuesday 6th April, Professor Jakob Reichel from the University of Munich will describe a revolutionary new type of microchip in which entire atoms, rather than just electrons, move around circuits. In these "atom chips", thousands of atoms hover in a cloud above the surface of the chip, and move along air wires produced by tiny magnetic fields – like microscopic magnetic levitation trains floating above a track.

The atom clouds themselves are very special – they are so cold that all of the atoms merge into one "superatom", known as a Bose-Einstein Condensate, which behaves like a wave and exhibits bizarre quantum behaviour. Bose-Einstein Condensates have just entered the Guinness Book of Records as the coldest ever place – within a few billionths of a degree of the lowest possible temperature, absolute zero. Using atom chips to move and manipulate Bose-Einstein Condensates could enable the development of "quantum computers", which would exploit unique features of quantum mechanics, and, for certain tasks, be vastly more powerful than the conventional electronic computers available today.

There will be twenty-two symposia within the conference including 'Nanomagnetism and Spintronics', 'Quantum Fluids and Solids', 'Semiconductor Optics and Photonics', 'Applied Superconductivity' and 'Bose-Einstein Condensates'. In addition to the presentations in each symposium, there will be a series of plenary lectures by world-renowned researchers. These include 'Snap Shot MRI' by Nobel prize-winner Sir Peter Mansfield, 'Carbon Nanotube Electronics and Optoelectronics' by P Avouris of IBM USA, 'Single Photon Devices for Quantum Cryptography' by A Shields of Toshiba UK, 'Dynamic Phenomena in Magnets: Investigations over Five Orders of Magnitude' by RL Stamps of the University of Western Australia and 'Liquids, Solids and Elastic Heresy in Between - is there a 2 ½th State of Matter?' by M Warner of the University of Cambridge, UK.

Notes to editors:

1. Journalists are welcome to attend all or any part of the proceedings at no charge. For more information, please contact David Reid, Press Officer, Institute of Physics, Tel: 020 7470 4815 or 07734 256729. E-mail: [email protected].

2. For more information on the cold atoms on silicon chips prior to the conference please contact Prof Mark Fromhold at the University of Nottingham via email at [email protected] or phone 0115-951-5192.

3. The Institute of Physics is a leading international professional body and learned society with over 37,000 members, which promotes the advancement and dissemination of a knowledge of and education in the science of physics, pure and applied. It has a world-wide membership and is a major international player in:

scientific publishing and electronic dissemination of physics;

setting professional standards for physicists and awarding professional qualifications;

promoting physics through scientific conferences, education and science policy advice.

The Institute is a member of the Science Council, and a nominated body of the Engineering Council. The Institute works in collaboration with national physical societies and plays an important role in transnational societies such as the European Physical Society and represents British and Irish physicists in international organisations. In Great Britain and Ireland the Institute is active in providing support for physicists in all professions and careers, encouraging physics research and its applications, providing support for physics in schools, colleges and universities, influencing government and informing public debate.