<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
</head>
<body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">
That does indeed sound very promising. Of course there also seem to be a lot of practical obstacles. So this may take many decades to become practical on any substantial scale.
<div class=""><br class="">
<div>
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div class="">On Jul 26, 2015, at 10:13 PM, John Clark <<a href="mailto:johnkclark@gmail.com" class="">johnkclark@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<div class="">
<div dir="ltr" class="">
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-size: 13.3333330154419px;" class="">
<div class="im">
<div dir="ltr" class="">
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">I have a hunch </span>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px;display:inline">that in the near future </div>
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">we'll be hearing a lot more about Weyl Fermions and their use in electronics and possibly Quantum Computers</span>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px;display:inline">.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px;display:inline"></div>
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">Because these quasiparticles </span>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px;display:inline">are </div>
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">massless they can move electrical charge around much more quickly than electrons and because they </span>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px;display:inline">don't </div>
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class=""> bounce off imperfections and move backwards as electrons do but instead use quantum tunneling to move right through them </span>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px;display:inline">they </div>
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class=""> produce no heat.</span> <br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">Three different solutions to Dirac's equation for 1/2 spin particles have been found:</span> <br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">1) Dirac Fermions: These are what people usually mean when they talk about Fermions, particles like electrons protons and neutrons.</span> <br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">2) Majorana Fermions: They would be their own antiparticle and would be great for quantum computing. There is some indications these quasiparticles exist but nothing definite yet.</span> <br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">3) Weyl Fermions: Thanks to the July 16 2015 issue of the journal Science we </span>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px;display:inline">now </div>
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">know that these quasiparticles do exist.</span> <br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class=""> </span> <br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">In June of this year writing in the journal Nature Communications Princeton professor M. Zahid Hasan predicted from pure theory that Weyl Fermions should exist in tantalum arsenide
crystals. In the July 16 issue of </span>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px;display:inline"> </div>
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">Science 2 different teams reported that they had indeed seen Weyl Fermions in crystals of tantalum arsenide. Shortly after that Weyl Fermions were also found in niobium and perhaps
more importantly silicon-based crystals. I smell a Nobel Prize.</span> <br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">Hasan said:</span> <br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">“Weyl fermions could be used to solve the traffic jams that you get with electrons in electronics—they can move in a much more efficient, ordered way than electrons. They could
lead to a new type of electronics we call ‘Weyltronics.’ Weyl fermions could exist in certain crystals known as “Weyl semimetals,” which can essentially split electrons inside into pairs of Weyl fermions that move in opposite directions. The fact that Weyl
fermions are less prone to interacting with their surroundings could lead to new ways of encoding quantum information. It’s like they have their own GPS and steer themselves without scattering. They will move and move only in one direction since they are
either right-handed or left-handed and never come to an end because they just tunnel through. These are faster</span>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px;display:inline"> </div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px;display:inline">than </div>
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class=""> electrons </span>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px;display:inline">and</div>
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class=""> behave like unidirectional light beams and can be used for new types of quantum computing</span>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px;display:inline">. </div>
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">The physics of the Weyl fermion are so strange, there could be many things that arise from this particle that we're just not capable of imagining now. Weyl </span>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px;display:inline">quasiparticles </div>
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">could become a motherboard for future electronic devices</span>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px;display:inline"> </div>
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class="">because they combine high mobility with topological protection</span>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:12.8000001907349px;display:inline">. [against quantum decoherence]" </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px" class=""><br class="">
John K Clark</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class=""></div>
</div>
</div>
<span class="HOEnZb" style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-size: 13.3333330154419px;"><font color="#888888" class="">-- </font></span><br class="">
</div>
</div>
_______________________________________________<br class="">
extropy-chat mailing list<br class="">
<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org" class="">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a><br class="">
http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat<br class="">
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br class="">
<div apple-content-edited="true" class=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; ">
<div class="">
<div style="font-size: 12px; " class="">Robin Hanson <a href="http://hanson.gmu.edu" class="">http://hanson.gmu.edu</a><br class="">
Res. Assoc., Future of Humanity Inst., Oxford Univ.<br class="">
Assoc. Professor, George Mason University</div>
<div style="font-size: 12px; " class="">Chief Scientist, Consensus Point<br class="">
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030<br class="">
703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323</div>
</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
</span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
</div>
<br class="">
</div>
</body>
</html>