Presents
The KITP Public Lecture Series
Building Things With Atoms: A Report From The Small Frontier
sponsored by Friends of KITP
The scanning tunneling microscope, invented in the early 1980\'s, has
proven to be a very powerful tool that gives scientists an unprecedented
view of the atomic world. What came as a bit of a surprise was the
discovery that this marvelous imaging tool, a tool for "seeing," could also
be used like a pair of hands for manipulating single atoms and molecules: a
tool which allows us to control the structure of matter atom-by-atom. This
ability makes possible new opportunities for scientific research and allows
us to explore how we might utilize nanometer-scale structures in future
technologies.
In this talk I will discuss how we use the scanning tunneling microscope to
manipulate atoms and molecules. I will give examples of how we exploit
atom manipulation to deepen our knowledge of the physics of very small
structures. And, if the atoms are agreeable, we will have the opportunity
to explore and interact with the land of atoms through a real-time
web-based link to the microscope.
Don Eigler is a physicist at IBM\'s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA.
His research is concentrated on creating and studying the physical
properties of nanometer-scale structures. In 1989 Don demonstrated for the
first time the ability to build structures at the atomic level by spelling
out "I-B-M" with individual xenon atoms. Since then, his group\'s research
has been aimed at extending basic knowledge about the physics of
atomic-scale structures and exploring the potential for atomic-scale logic
and data-storage technologies. The group\'s results include the invention of
"quantum corrals," discovery of the "quantum mirage" effect, and
demonstration of a fundamentally new way to transport information through a
solid. Don received both his bachelors and doctorate degrees from the
University of California San Diego and was named its Outstanding Alumnus of
the year in 1999. Don has been recognized for his accomplishments with
numerous prizes from scientific societies, most recently the
Davisson-Germer Prize awarded by the American Physical Society. He was
named an IBM Fellow in 1993, the highest technical honor in the IBM
Corporation.