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Nanoelectronic guns can help defeat cancer and power new classes of lasers.
Scientists are exploring the possibility of creating particle accelerators the size of a chip, which could be a revolutionary breakthrough in technology. Such devices can be used in radiation therapy for the treatment of skin cancer and, in the long term, in the development of new types of lasers and light sources.
Traditional particle accelerators range in size from a few meters for medical applications to several kilometers for basic research. However, dielectric materials can withstand light fields that are thousands of times stronger, which has prompted scientists to explore building dielectric accelerators based on lasers. These devices can lead to "accelerators on a chip" that are much smaller and cheaper than traditional machines.
"The idea of creating such a device is almost as old as a laser," says senior author Peter Hommelhoff, a physicist at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. As part of the new study, physicists created a channel with a width of 225 nanometers and a length of up to 0.5 millimeters. Inside the channel, two rows of 733 columns of silicon, each 2 micrometers high, interacted with laser pulses to generate accelerating forces.
Peter Hommelhoff notes that their success is due to the quality of manufacturing, thanks to which it was possible to eliminate almost all obstacles that could destroy the electron beam. The scientists believe that their results represent a big step forward in this area.
The use of nanophotonic electron accelerators is determined by their energy characteristics. Treating skin cancer requires electrons with an energy of 10 million electron volts. Now for such medical purposes, accelerators with a size of 1 meter are used. However, according to the main author of the study, Tomas Hlub, in the future it will be possible to replace them with chips of just 1 centimeter.
Scientists are working on creating a compact accelerator that can primarily be used to treat skin cancer. Hommelhoff says, "We definitely need to offer this idea to startups in the near future."
Scientists are exploring the possibility of creating particle accelerators the size of a chip, which could be a revolutionary breakthrough in technology. Such devices can be used in radiation therapy for the treatment of skin cancer and, in the long term, in the development of new types of lasers and light sources.
Traditional particle accelerators range in size from a few meters for medical applications to several kilometers for basic research. However, dielectric materials can withstand light fields that are thousands of times stronger, which has prompted scientists to explore building dielectric accelerators based on lasers. These devices can lead to "accelerators on a chip" that are much smaller and cheaper than traditional machines.
"The idea of creating such a device is almost as old as a laser," says senior author Peter Hommelhoff, a physicist at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. As part of the new study, physicists created a channel with a width of 225 nanometers and a length of up to 0.5 millimeters. Inside the channel, two rows of 733 columns of silicon, each 2 micrometers high, interacted with laser pulses to generate accelerating forces.
Peter Hommelhoff notes that their success is due to the quality of manufacturing, thanks to which it was possible to eliminate almost all obstacles that could destroy the electron beam. The scientists believe that their results represent a big step forward in this area.
The use of nanophotonic electron accelerators is determined by their energy characteristics. Treating skin cancer requires electrons with an energy of 10 million electron volts. Now for such medical purposes, accelerators with a size of 1 meter are used. However, according to the main author of the study, Tomas Hlub, in the future it will be possible to replace them with chips of just 1 centimeter.
Scientists are working on creating a compact accelerator that can primarily be used to treat skin cancer. Hommelhoff says, "We definitely need to offer this idea to startups in the near future."
