Three Dimensional Topological Insulators

The amount of electronic devices I rely on to make it through the day is astonishing. From my cell phone to mp3 player, I’m pretty much strapped with multiple gadgets at all times. I’m not entirely sure I could survive without my laptop and an internet connection for any extended period of time. And given the current growth of mobile internet technology all over the world, it would seem that we are all addicted to the microchip.

But the microchip as we know it might soon be changing. New research from the Department of Energy in cooperation with Stanford University has found a promising new material that may have profound effects on the geography of our circuit boards. The three dimensional topological insulator, only recently theorized to exist, has been experimentally observed in their recent publication. These materials may help reduce the amount of energy lost in electronic devices and may be another step towards quantum computing.

While not a superconductor, a topological insulator allows for electron transport with no loss of energy at room temperature. With no resistance in circuits, electronics would require less energy to operate and components comprised of topological insulators wouldn’t produce any heat, further reducing energy demands of an electronic system. The material would also increase computing speeds. Topological insulators only behave this elegantly under low current, so applications such as super-conducting power lines are not within their capabilities.

Because topological insulators rely on coupled spin states of electrons, the materials have natural implications for spintronics, a new computing field where data is stored in the spin states of electrons, allowing for vastly more storage than conventional media. Though still in its infancy, many see spintronics as the inevitable future for memory storage, as our data needs continue to grow.

The secret to the operation of these rare materials is a phenomenon known as the Quantum Spin Hall Effect, which dramatically changes the behavior of electrons in a material. In a topological insulator, the spins of the electrons are aligned with their direction of motion, causing a reduction of backscattering to essentially nothing. It is this inability of electrons to bounce back in the reverse direction of motion that leads to the resistanceless conduction.

The study, published in Science Express, also investigated the properties of Bismuth Telluride (Bi2Te3), theorized to be a topological insulator. The investigation showed not only the tell-tale signs of topological insulators, but that the compound actually performs even better than the theorists predicted. With performance capabilities at higher temperatures than expected, Bismuth Telluride is approaching viability for commercial uses. The compound is also easy to manufacture with current semiconductor technology and can be easily doped—a process that scatters atoms of different elements throughout the material to change its properties and an essential step to making many electronic components.

It seems that computer scientists are opening more and more doors to better computers these days. With innovations like optical microchips, spintronics and advances in material sciences, computers are likely to become exponentially more powerful in the near future. While this will undoubtedly have profound effects for science around the world, I’ll be happy to have more ways to procrastinate from any meaningful productivity.