Challenging the limits of electronics using nano flashes

Wallenberg Academy Fellow Markus Ludwig is exploring a new way of powering electronics, where ultrashort pulses of laser light generate electric currents inside nanomaterials. The project aims to lay the foundations of a completely new type of electronics, with a potential that far exceeds what we have today.

As researchers have managed to miniaturize our computer components, these have become faster and better, but transistors and wires are now so thin that various quantum mechanical phenomena are putting a stop to development. If we are to have even faster computers, we need to develop a new basis for electronics.

Dr Markus Ludwig at the University of Luxembourg is exploring lightwave electronics, where he creates electrical currents using ultrashort pulses of laser light. They last less than a femtosecond – less than one millionth of a billionth of a second.

The laser light generates something that can be likened to a nano flash of lightning. When it hits a nanomaterial, it induces a current that contains one or a few electrons. Markus Ludwig will detect this current using a second laser pulse. By adjusting the time between laser pulses, he can follow the current’s development inside the nanomaterial. He will explore how nanomaterials can be engineered to amplify, control, and change currents. The aim is to lay the foundation for potentially revolutionary electronics.

As a Wallenberg Academy Fellow, Markus Ludwig will work at Umeå University. 

Photo: Patrik Lundin