Researchers demonstrate new methods for electron and heat control

Researchers have achieved two significant breakthroughs in nanoscale physics and engineering. At the University of Michigan, a team demonstrated the ‘electron lighthouse’ effect, where the flow of electrons through a semiconductor is controlled using only laser light. By rotating the polarization of two phase-coherent optical fields, the researchers steered electrons in a narrow, steerable beam without requiring electrical power or applied voltage. This phenomenon, driven by quantum interference, offers potential applications in telecommunications and advanced sensing devices.

Separately, scientists from Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, and Purdue Universities have demonstrated a method to enhance heat transfer across nanoscale gaps using engineered metamaterials. By patterning microscopic gold structures onto thin membranes, the team showed that near-field radiative heat transfer could be amplified by as much as four times. This ability to engineer heat flow through electromagnetic interactions at distances of only a few hundred nanometers could lead to revolutionary cooling strategies for high-performance electronic chips.