A quantum dot is a particle of matter so small that the addition or removal of a single electron changes its properties in some useful way. All atoms are, of course, quantum dots, but for our purposes we use the term "Quantum Dot" only when referring to man made or manipulated atoms...Artificial Atoms. Nanometer-sized semiconductor crystals. (quantum dots have been called artificial atoms). —"fragments of semiconductors," in the words of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory chemist Paul Alivisatos.
Quantum dots fall into the category of nanocrystals, which include quantum rods and nanowires. “the only real requirement for something being classified as a quantum dot is that the object is small enough,” says physicist John Venables of Arizona State University.
In biochemistry, quantum dots are called redox groups. In nanotechnology, they are called quantum bits or qubits. Quantum dots typically have dimensions measured in nanometers, where one nanometer is a millionth of a millimeter.
Quantum dots are also possible materials for making ultrafast, optical switches and logic gates. "We can make all-optical switches and logic gates that work faster than 15 terabits a second," says Physicist Howard Lee Everywhere you see semiconductors used today, you could use semiconducting quantum dots - Semiconductor Quantum Dots
The Ethernet generally can handle only 10 megabits per second. So in effect the integration of quantum dots into computers will make Pentium processors as obsolete as vacuum tubes. See Quantum Computing
The Quantum Dot: A Journey into the Future of Microelectronics..
NanoTech Web October 31, 2003 Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory, US, have employed a genetically modified protein to make unique quantum-dot structures....“There are a number of applications, but we are mostly interested in promoting energy and charge transfer between quantum dots to then become active assemblies in third-generation photovoltaic solar cells,” said researcher Garry Rumbles >Full Story
San Francisco
Business times October 20, 2003 French scientists are using a
Hayward firm's quantum dots to peer more closely into the quixotic
chemistry of the brain. >Full
Story
Sandia Nationl Labs July 14, 2003 Sandia researchers use quantum
dots as a new approach to solid-state lighting ..In a different
approach to creating white light several researchers at the
Department of Energy’s (DOE) Sandia National Laboratories have
developed the first solid-state white light-emitting device using
quantum dots. In the future, the use of quantum dots as
light-emitting phosphors may represent a major application of
nanotechnology. >Full
Story
Chemical & Engineering News June 9, 2003 Studies show that nanoparticles have potential biological applications >Full
Story
MIT News December 18, 2002 MIT researchers
have combined organic materials with high-performing inorganic
nanocrystals to create a hybrid optoelectronic structure—a quantum
dot-organic light-emitting device (QD-OLED) that may one day replace
liquid crystal displays (LCDs) as the flat-panel display of choice
for consumer electronics. >Full
Story
Science Daily November 29, 2002 First Quantum Dots Applied To Living Organism/Quantum dots are nano-sized crystals that exhibit all the colors of the rainbow due to their unique semiconductor qualities. These exquisitely small, human-made beacons have the power to shine their fluorescent light for months, even years. But in the near-decade since they were first readily produced, quantum dots have excluded themselves from the useful purview of biology. Now, for the first time, this flexible tool has been refined >Full Story
Physics Web June 3, 2002 A versatile single-photon detector that works at microwave frequencies has been developed by physicists in Japan. .... The detection of microwave photons is crucial for a wide range of fundamental research ... Microwave radiation is associated with the superconducting energy gap in superconductors, the energy gaps in semiconductor nanostructures, and the rotational and vibrational excitations of molecules >Full Story
EE Times December 6, 2001 Scientists activate neurons with quantum dots By using the molecular-recognition capabilities of living cells, scientists have made selective electrical contacts to neurons. The cadmium sulfide contacts act as photodetectors, allowing researchers to communicate with the cells using precise wavelengths of light >Full Story
Purdue News September 20, 2001 WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Scientists at Purdue University are helping researchers take a quantum leap in computer technology. They have linked two tiny structures – quantum dots – in such a way that is essential for the creation of semiconductor-based quantum computers >Full Story
Los Alamos National Laboratories Oct. 11, 2000 – Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have demonstrated that nanoscale semiconductor particles called "nanocrystal quantum dots" offer the necessary performance for efficient emission of laser light >Full Story
Sandia National Laboratories August 9,1999 Quantum dots repel each
other, researchers find ....and in that just-discovered knowledge
may lie the secret of controlling their formation. Effective control
would turn assemblages of dots ..... into the world's most
effective solid-state lasers, says principal investigator Jerry Floro. >Full
Story
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