With the advances in nanoscale fabrication and control, new kinds of nanoscale devices can now be considered. One promising example has been quantum dot cellular automata where the locations of just one or two charges can be used to represent 0 or 1 for the basic building units for logic devices. We have been considering a similar approach with superconducting vortices in nanostructured arrays to create vortex cellular automata. We have proposed particular dot arrangements to form NAND and AND gates as well as wire crossing geometries. In addition to new types of logic circuits, we have also been considering new types of mechanical devices such as gears. In addition to the technological applications, there are also many scientific issues that we are exploring in these systems such as using various types of deterministic ratchets for soliton propagation. This work is being done in collaboration with Prof. Boldizar Janko at Notre Dame, Prof. Vitali Metlushko at UIC, the Materials Science Division at Argonne and Dr. Matt Hastings at Los Alamos. A portion of this work has been highlighted in a recent Physical Review Focus article.
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Last Modified: 5/29/02