Logically, squeezing more people to fit through a doorway would take significantly more time than having a single person pass through the exit on his own. The people would have trouble making their way through the exit and as such, they would be significantly slowed down. Electrons, on the other hand, prove this logic to be inapplicable in their context.
Physicists have discovered a way in which large groups of electrons can be squeezed through a gap in a piece of metal faster than physics being applied today would conventionally predict. They have called this discovery ‘Superballistic’ flow.
In superballistic flow, electrons traveling concurrently through small spaces have been observed to move faster than an electron moving through a space on its own. This theory could mean electrical conductivity with close to no resistance.
The effects of a discovery like this would be amazing. This is because the only current way to conduct electricity with no resistance is through superconductivity. The use of this means, however, can only be achieved at temperatures below -267 degrees Celsius, or 5.8 Kelvin.
A breakthrough by researchers in superballistic flow within conductors would allow them to enjoy the benefits of superconductivity at the ease of room temperature conditions. Physicists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology discovered that large groups of electrons flowing through a small space at the same time could ‘coordinate’ with each other and travel beyond the fundamental limit on the speed of electrons traveling through a tight space. This limit is referred to as Landauer’s ballistic limit.
Leonid Levitov explained, “[W]e can overcome this boundary that everyone thought was a fundamental limit on how high the conductance could be. We’ve shown that one can do better than that.” Leonid is a member of the research team that achieved this groundbreaking discovery.
The researchers explained in their report, “We … see that electrons in a viscous flow can achieve through cooperation what they cannot accomplish individually.”
Further, they explained how superballistic flow occurs saying, “The reduction in resistance arises due to the streaming effect, wherein electron currents bundle up to form streams that bypass the boundaries, where momentum loss occurs. This surprising behavior is a clear departure from the common view that regards electron interactions as an impediment for transport.”
What impact does this discovery have on society?
Since the team of researchers was able to recreate behavior found in gas particles within the electrons, it means that electronic devices could achieve higher output with lower power. Further, the working of superballistic flow does not require excessively low temperatures which are expensive and difficult to obtain. The flow occurs at average temperatures and is actually aided by increases in temperature. The hotter it is, the better the flow of these electrons gets. This could translate to better current flow if applied to electronic devices.
The applications in the team’s work at this time are purely theoretical. However, a Stanford Physicist has pointed out that a study with regards to this phenomenon can be achieved using graphene.
The team’s research has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
