Living in a world of multiple realities

 

The quanta are coming. That's not a threat - it's a promise. If you have become accustomed to thinking that only one reality prevails in the universe, you are in for a surprise. The multiple reality characterizing quantum mechanics in the microscopic world is out to stake a claim in the macroscopic world - the world in which we live. Dr. Amir Yacoby and Dr. Ady Stern of the Condensed Matter Physics Department are bringing this future closer through their research on microscopic quantum phenomena that influence the properties of large-scale systems.

For example, parts of an electronic system influenced by a magnetic field may act as perfect conductors and perfect insulators simultaneously. This phenomenon, called the quantum Hall effect, affects the electronic properties of the whole system, even if most of the system acts as an ordinary conductor.

Yacoby is investigating the formation of these perfect conducting and insulating regions, using a measurement system that relies on a transistor capable of measuring charges smaller than one-thousandth of the charge of a single electron. Stern is developing theoretical models explaining quantum properties in large-scale systems. The combination of theory and experiment may one day lead to the development of quantum devices, about which we know for certain only that they will be entirely different from anything we have today.