Rachets
The ratchet as a ‘scientific device’ was conceived about a century ago as a thought experiment to test the 2nd law of thermodynamics. While ratchets are most easily visualized as marbles on a washboard, we investigate electronic ratchets defined by lithographic or molecular patterns. Specifically, we aim to ultimately use ratchets to convert (long wavelength) light and heat into electrical power; being inherently nonequilibrium devices, ratchet performance is not fundamentally limited by equilibrium thermodynamics.
Effective Temperature Seebeck Voltage
When a high electric field is applied to a disordered semiconductor the electrons are theorized to behave as if they had a higher than lattice effective temperature. We hope to prove this effect by showing that it can produce a Seebeck voltage. The main difficulty lies in the high necessary field strengths which require very small mesurement structures. If successful this might be useful for high frequency rectifiers.
Contact: Anton Kompatscher
1D Organic Magnetoresistance
Organic Semiconductors show a relatively pronounced change in resistance when exposed to magnetic fields. Different theories have been proposed to explain this effect. One explanation relies on the Pauli exclusion principle preventing two electrons with the same spin from entering a site effectively hindering conduction. This effect should become stronger the more dimensionality is limited towards a single path trough the device. We attempt to create such a geometry in order to verify the theoretical predictions. If successful this might open up applications for various electronic switching circuits.
Contact: Anton Kompatscher