Next Article Table of Contents

Letter

Playing Pinball with Atoms

Amirmehdi Saedi^†, Arie van Houselt^†, Raoul van Gastel, Bene Poelsema and Harold J. W. Zandvliet*

Physical Aspects of Nanoelectronics and Solid State Physics, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, NL-7500AE Enschede, The Netherlands

Nano Lett., 2009, 9 (5), pp 1733–1736

DOI: 10.1021/nl8022884

Publication Date (Web): September 10, 2008

†

Both authors contributed equally to this work.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract

We demonstrate the feasibility of controlling an atomic scale mechanical device by an external electrical signal. On a germanium substrate, a switching motion of pairs of atoms is induced by electrons that are directly injected into the atoms with a scanning tunneling microscope tip. By precisely controlling the tip current and distance we make two atom pairs behave like the flippers of an atomic-sized pinball machine. This atomic scale mechanical device exhibits six different configurations.

View: Full Text HTML | Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links

Tools

SciFinder Links

History

Published In Issue May 13, 2009
Article ASAPSeptember 10, 2008
Received: July 29, 2008
Revised: August 28, 2008

Recommend & Share

Related Content

Imaging of Photocurrent Generation and Collection in Single-Layer GrapheneNano Letters
- Imaging of Photocurrent Generation and Collection in Single-Layer Graphene
  Jiwoong Park , Y. H. Ahn , Carlos Ruiz-Vargas
  Nano Letters 2009 9 (5), pp 1742–1746
  Abstract: Unlike in linear nanostructures, photocurrent generated in single-layer graphene (SLG) is expected to display two-dimensional characteristics. This allows the investigation of carrier dynamics, in relation to several spatially varying factors (such as the ...
  Abstract | Full Text HTML | PDF w/ Links | Hi-Res PDF
Synthesis of N-Doped Graphene by Chemical Vapor Deposition and Its Electrical PropertiesNano Letters
- Synthesis of N-Doped Graphene by Chemical Vapor Deposition and Its Electrical Properties
  Dacheng Wei, Yunqi Liu, Yu Wang, Hongliang Zhang, Liping Huang and Gui Yu
  Nano Letters 2009 9 (5), pp 1752–1758
  Abstract: To realize graphene-based electronics, various types of graphene are required; thus, modulation of its electrical properties is of great importance. Theoretic studies show that intentional doping is a promising route for this goal, and the doped graphene ...
  Abstract | Full Text HTML | PDF w/ Links | Hi-Res PDF
Electroluminescence from Suspended and On-Substrate Metallic Single-Walled Carbon NanotubesNano Letters
- Electroluminescence from Suspended and On-Substrate Metallic Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
  Liming Xie, Hootan Farhat, Hyungbin Son, Jin Zhang, Mildred S. Dresselhaus, Jing Kong and Zhongfan Liu
  Nano Letters 2009 9 (5), pp 1747–1751
  Abstract: In this work, we carried out electroluminescence (EL) measurements on metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and compared the light emission from the suspended section with the on-substrate section along the same SWNT. In addition to the lowest ...
  Abstract | Full Text HTML | PDF w/ Links | Hi-Res PDF

Letter

Playing Pinball with Atoms

Abstract

Tools

SciFinder Links

History

Recommend & Share

Related Content

Imaging of Photocurrent Generation and Collection in Single-Layer Graphene

Synthesis of N-Doped Graphene by Chemical Vapor Deposition and Its Electrical Properties

Electroluminescence from Suspended and On-Substrate Metallic Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Other ACS content by these authors:

JOURNALS

BOOKS

MAGAZINE

COMMUNITIES

DIRECTORIES & DATABASES