A discovery that promises transistors – the fundamental part
of all modern electronics – controlled by laser pulses that will be 10,000
faster than today’s fastest transistors has been made by a Georgia State
University professor and international researchers.
Professor of Physics Mark Stockman worked with Professor
Vadym Apalkov of Georgia State and a group led by Ferenc Krausz at the
prestigious Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics and other well-known German
institutions.
There are three basic types of solids: metals,
semiconductors, used in today’s transistors, and insulators – also called
dielectrics.
Dielectrics do not conduct electricity and get damaged or
break down if too high of fields of energy are applied to them. The scientists
discovered that when dielectrics were given very short and intense laser
pulses, they start conducting electricity while remaining undamaged.