Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 1 February 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5556, pp. 810 - 811
DOI: 10.1126/science.1069031
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Perspectives

APPLIED PHYSICS:
Ultrasmall Wires Get Excited

Ulrich Zülicke

Modern tunneling spectroscopy methods are providing ever more detailed insights into the electronic behavior of nanoscale materials. In his Perspective, Zülicke highlights the report by Auslaender et al., whose experimental setup enables them to measure the tunneling current across the extended barrier between two parallel ultrasmall wires as a function of applied voltage and magnetic field. Their measurements reveal important changes of the excitation spectrum due to electron-electron interactions, as predicted for one-dimensional systems, providing hints of the expected fractionalization of electrons.

The author is at the Institut für Theoretische Festkörperphysik, Universität Karlsruhe, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany. E-mail: ulrich.zuelicke{at}phys.uni-karlsruhe.de

Read the Full Text

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)