functioning topological transistor tagged posts

Over the last decade, there has been much excitement about the discovery, recognised by the Nobel Prize in Physics only 2 years ago, that there are two types of insulators: normal insulators which don’t conduct electricity, and topological insulators – newly discovered materials that conduct electricity only on their edges.

Now, FLEET researchers at Monash University, Australia, have for the first time successfully ‘switched’ a material between these two states of matter via application of an electric-field. This is the first step in creating a functioning topological transistor – a proposed new generation of ultra-low energy electronic devices.

Ultra-low energy electronics such as topol...