Project description DEENESFRITPL Ultrafast lasers hold promise for high-speed electronics Electronics are rapidly accelerating, with miniaturisation approaching atomic dimensions and switching speeds reaching optical frequencies. Lightwave electronics, where atomic-scale charges are controlled by few-cycle laser fields, could advance information processing to a thousand times faster than microwave frequencies. Realising lightwave electronics depends on the ability to measure electronic motion within and around atoms. Funded by the European Research Council, the DIVI project aims to provide direct visualisation of electronic motion with subatomic spatial resolution and sub-optical-cycle time resolution. DIVI will use stroboscopic electron microscopy and diffraction to visualise fundamental electronic activity in space and time. The study of light-matter interactions in various materials on the atomic scale offers new insight into the future of high-speed electronics. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective Electronics is rapidly speeding up. Ultimately, miniaturization will reach atomic dimensions and the switching speed will reach optical frequencies. This ultimate regime of lightwave electronics, where atomic-scale charges are controlled by few-cycle laser fields, holds promise to advance information processing technology from today’s microwave frequencies to the thousand times faster regime of optical light fields. All materials, including dielectrics, semiconductors and molecular crystals, react to such field oscillations with an intricate interplay between atomic-scale charge displacements (polarizations) and collective carrier motion on the nanometer scale (currents). This entanglement provides a rich set of potential mechanisms for switching and control. However, our ability to eventually realize lightwave electronics, or even to make first steps, will critically depend on our ability to actually measure electronic motion in the relevant environment: within/around atoms. The most fundamental approach would be a direct visualization in space and time. This project, if realized, will offer that: a spatiotemporal recording of electronic motion with sub-atomic spatial resolution and sub-optical-cycle time resolution, i.e. picometers and few-femtoseconds/attoseconds. Drawing on our unique combination of expertise covering electron diffraction and few-cycle laser optics likewise, we will replace the photon pulses of conventional attosecond spectroscopy with freely propagating single-electron pulses at picometer de Broglie wavelength, compressed in time by sculpted laser fields. Stroboscopic diffraction/microscopy will provide, after playback of the image sequence, a direct visualization of fundamental electronic activity in space and time. Profound study of atomic-scale light-matter interaction in simple and complex materials will provide a comprehensive picture of the fundamental physics allowing or limiting the high-speed electronics of the future. Fields of science natural sciencesphysical scienceselectromagnetism and electronicselectromagnetismnatural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsmicroscopyelectron microscopynatural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata sciencedata processingnatural sciencesphysical sciencesopticslaser physicsnatural sciencesphysical sciencestheoretical physicsparticle physicsphotons Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-CoG-2014 - ERC Consolidator Grant Call for proposal ERC-2014-CoG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Host institution UNIVERSITAT KONSTANZ Net EU contribution € 110 000,00 Address UNIVERSITATSSTRASSE 10 78464 Konstanz Germany See on map Region Baden-Württemberg Freiburg Konstanz Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 110 000,00 Beneficiaries (2) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITAT KONSTANZ Germany Net EU contribution € 110 000,00 Address UNIVERSITATSSTRASSE 10 78464 Konstanz See on map Region Baden-Württemberg Freiburg Konstanz Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 110 000,00 LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN Germany Net EU contribution € 1 882 083,00 Address GESCHWISTER SCHOLL PLATZ 1 80539 Muenchen See on map Region Bayern Oberbayern München, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 882 083,00
