ABSTRACT

Atoms are the building blocks of all materials, and the ways that atoms of different elements are arranged and interact ultimately determine the properties and performance of the materials that make up the products we use. Novel atomic arrangements and interactions can make steels stronger, lights brighter, and computers faster and more efficient.

Technology for creating materials with atomic-level precision is advancing. ORNL researchers are investigating ways to rearrange atoms of different elements in a material, thus controlling the synthesis and fabrication of a novel material down to the single-atom level. ORNL’s advanced microscopes use either highly focused electron beams or very sharp tips. They interact with materials to enable scientists not only to see and study materials atom-by-atom but also to add or remove and push or pull atoms to desired positions (“writing with atoms”).

I will describe developments at ORNL and elsewhere that will enable scientists to move and rearrange individual atoms to engineer atomic structures, providing new and useful properties that would be difficult or impossible to achieve any other way. This capability is particularly important for emerging quantum technologies needed to enhance quantum computing, the security of communications, and the sensitivity of detectors. The technologies’ goals include leveraging the quantum nature of atoms to perform calculations and transform and transmit information in “quantum-enhanced” ways.

I will cover some aspects of what quantum technology may be able to provide and how, as well as some of the techniques being developed and insights being gained at ORNL to control materials with atomic precision for quantum applications. 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Dr. Stephen Jesse is a distinguished scientist and head of the Nanomaterials Characterizations Section at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS) at ORNL. A native of Hendersonville, Tenn., Jesse obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering and Ph.D. degree in materials science from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He started participating in research at ORNL as an undergraduate and conducted half of his graduate school research at UT and half at ORNL, working with David Geohegan on lasers and nanotubes. He first was employed at ORNL as a postdoctoral researcher at CNMS from its beginning. His research focused mainly on atomic force microscopy in collaboration with John Wendelken, Ward Plummer and Art Baddorf. Jesse has received five R&D awards (Oscars for invention) and numerous other awards from ORNL, UT-Battelle, the American Ceramics Society, Microscopy Today and Materials Research Society. He has 14 patents and is the author of more than 300 articles in refereed scientific journals.