Physics Colloquium

Prof. Jeremy Levy, University of Pittsburgh

"Etch-a-Sketch Nanoelectronics"

4:00pm, The John A. Wheeler Lecture Hall (RLM 4.102). Coffee and cookies will be served at 3:45pm in RLM 4.102

Abstract: Electronic confinement at nanoscale dimensions remains a central means of science and technology.  I will describe a novel method for producing electronic nanostructures at the interface between two normally insulating oxides, LaAlO3 and SrTiO3.  Conducting nanostructures are written, erased and reconfigured under ambient conditions at room temperature, analogous to the operation of an Etch-a-Sketch toy.  A wide variety of devices can be created, including nanowires, tunnel junctions, diodes, field-effect transistors, single-electron transistors, superconducting/ballistic nanowires, nanoscale THz emitters and detectors, and quantum point contacts.   After an overview, I will focus on two recent results: the discovery of a novel phase in which electrons form pairs without becoming superconducting, and the development of single-mode and few-mode electron waveguides.  I will end by describing a grand challenge we are currently pursuing: development of a solid-state quantum simulator.