Dot's Incredible; November 1993; Scientific American Magazine; by Philip Yam; 2 Page(s)

Manipulating small numbers of atomic particles seems to have become a standard part of the repertoire of physics. So devotees of the art are being dazzled by a supreme feat of nanoscale sleight of hand, which has been achieved by researchers at AT&T Bell Laboratories.

The Bell Labs workers, Raymond C. Ashoori, now at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Horst L. Stormer and their colleagues, report in Physical Review Letters that they can control the behavior of as few as one or two electrons in a patch of semiconducting material that is only a few tens of nanometers square. This level of resolution was previously thought to be unattainable. The success should enable investigators to explore quantum phenomena that have never been observed in an experimental setting and might serve as a basis for significant technological advances.