1 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:13,160 Speaker 1: Hey, Daniel, I found another physics related scam recently. Oh 2 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:16,360 Speaker 1: did someone try to sell you quantum girl scott cookies? Again? 3 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:20,279 Speaker 1: Girls cut cookies do seem to quantum tunnel into my 4 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:23,960 Speaker 1: stomach pretty easily. I don't even have to eat him. 5 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:26,319 Speaker 1: So then, what's the scam? I saw an ad for 6 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:31,480 Speaker 1: a quantum television? Can you believe that? Nonsense? Actually? Wait, 7 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,440 Speaker 1: what do you mean? This is the real thing? What 8 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:37,280 Speaker 1: does the quantum TV do? Is it always fuzzy because 9 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,040 Speaker 1: of the uncertainty principle? Yeah, you know, the word quantum 10 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: gets abused a lot, but this one time it's for real. 11 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:47,600 Speaker 1: It's not a scam. No, quantum televisions are a real thing, 12 00:00:47,720 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: and they are extra crispy, just like a girl's Scout cookie. 13 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: I am or Hammaye, cartoonists and the creator of PhD comics. Hi, 14 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: I'm Daniel. I'm a particle of physicists, and I'm at 15 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: least made out of girls Scout cookies. Oh wow, you're 16 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:21,760 Speaker 1: you're a big fan. It's for a good cause, you know, 17 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 1: that's why I eat them. It's for a good cause. 18 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:26,959 Speaker 1: You know you can buy them and not eat them. 19 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: What that would be offensive? You have to throw them 20 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 1: in the trash, and you don't have to tell the 21 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: girls cuts they would know. But welcome to our podcast. 22 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe April, that kind of 23 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,480 Speaker 1: irt radio in which we take our cookie fueled brains 24 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: and try to understand everything about the universe, not just 25 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: the tiny quantum particles and the crazy stuff happening in 26 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: the center of stars, but everything in between. We take 27 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: that immense mental journey all the way out into the 28 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:58,960 Speaker 1: universe and back into the quantum particles and explain all 29 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: of it to you. Yeah, do you have a favorite 30 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: girl Scout cookies? Daniel? Oh, we're getting real here, huh. 31 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:06,320 Speaker 1: I'm not gonna endorse one particular Girls Scott Cookies. I 32 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:08,720 Speaker 1: gotta go. I think with the classic than mint. You know, 33 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:11,000 Speaker 1: It's just it's so easy for them to tunnel into 34 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: your stomach. My spouse would be appalled at the mixing 35 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:21,360 Speaker 1: of mint and chocolate. Do this taste like toothpaste to her? Yeah? 36 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:26,920 Speaker 1: With chocolate. There's probably a reason there's no chocolate toothpaste flavor. 37 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: But there are a lot of interesting and amazing things 38 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: in this universe that we like to talk about in 39 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:35,079 Speaker 1: this podcast. Things that are out there in the vast 40 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: reaches of space, and also things that are right here 41 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:40,320 Speaker 1: at home, and things that are maybe at the tip 42 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: of your fingertip without even knowing. Yes, things that are 43 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 1: harder to understand even then, the combination of herbs and chocolate, 44 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: things that are weird, things that are quantum, things that 45 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:54,919 Speaker 1: make no sense but are actually real. Yeah, because physics 46 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:58,160 Speaker 1: reveals that the universe is a pretty weird place. It 47 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:01,280 Speaker 1: doesn't always work the same way that we grew up 48 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:04,400 Speaker 1: thinking that it worked. There's all kinds of strange things 49 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: going on, especially at the microscopic and at the quantum level. Yeah, 50 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 1: that's basically the job of physics is to figure out 51 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 1: how does the world actually work, Not the way we 52 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:16,480 Speaker 1: thought it should work, or the way we might have 53 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:19,919 Speaker 1: imagined it worked from our experience with rivers and rocks 54 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 1: and stuff, but the way fundamentally things actually happen. And 55 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 1: sometimes that's just for our edification, just to know how 56 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: the universe actually works. But sometimes it's actually useful and 57 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: we can use it to build cool new stuff. Wait, 58 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 1: what physics can be useful? Who told you that? Some 59 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 1: physicists your parents, some physicist After he told me some cookies. 60 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:48,760 Speaker 1: Oh right, right, a limit or professional limit to being 61 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:53,120 Speaker 1: a girl scout. You've never had a physics scott cookie? 62 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 1: Does it taste like particles? I hear the Higgs boson 63 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 1: is pretty tasty. Everything tastes like particles, man, everything particles. 64 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: Particles are also the only things doing any tasting. Yeah, 65 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: you're saying that physics can be useful. Physics can be useful. Yes. 66 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: In fact, you know, the Worldwide Web was invented at 67 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 1: a particle physics laboratory, and all sorts of things come 68 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:17,880 Speaker 1: out of just like gaining knowledge about how the universe works, right, 69 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 1: And we all know how useful the Worldwide Web is. 70 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: That's right. It's contributed to a huge decrease in productivity worldwide. 71 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 1: It's like an anti useful particle there, depends on your 72 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:34,400 Speaker 1: goals man of reducing work. But yeah, well I do 73 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 1: admit this useful to know physics, for sure, and sometimes 74 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: we can use that knowledge to build amazing and and 75 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: cool things that we couldn't do before. And that includes 76 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 1: maybe quantum mechanics, which is like the weirdest and most 77 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: awesomest thing in the universe. It is, and our understanding 78 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: quantum mechanics underlies most modern electronics. It's the reason that 79 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 1: your phone works, it's the reason your computer boots up. 80 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:00,080 Speaker 1: It's also the reason your computer crashes. I guess no, 81 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:02,719 Speaker 1: that's the fault of the girls got cookie crumples that 82 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 1: fell in my keywork. It's like a physical virus infecting 83 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: your computer. Yeah, quantum mechanics helps us not just kind 84 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,320 Speaker 1: of understand what's happening with our electronics and everything around us, 85 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:17,599 Speaker 1: but you can actually use some of these weird quantum 86 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:22,200 Speaker 1: effects to do interesting things like microscopes, right, like electric microscopes. 87 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:25,919 Speaker 1: They work on quantum mechanical principles. Yeah. Basically, everything that 88 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 1: works at the very small scale that uses one or 89 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:32,839 Speaker 1: two or small set of particles has to follow quantum rules. 90 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: So anything that's been super miniaturized or uses particles to 91 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:40,039 Speaker 1: look at super tiny stuff has to follow quantum rules. 92 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: And sometimes those quantum rules are different in a really 93 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:46,680 Speaker 1: useful way. Yeah. And usually this kind of technology is 94 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 1: limited to physics labs and engineering labs and research centers. 95 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:55,479 Speaker 1: But soon quantum mechanics technology might be coming to your home. 96 00:05:55,760 --> 00:06:00,200 Speaker 1: That's right, Get ready to buy quantum cookies, I mean 97 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:04,760 Speaker 1: quantum TVs you know, there is actually something quantized by cookies. 98 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:06,479 Speaker 1: You notice how you can't eat one and a half 99 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 1: cookies or three in a quarters cookies. It's always like 100 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:12,360 Speaker 1: into your numbers of cookies. Oh my god, you just 101 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:17,359 Speaker 1: discovered the whites and quantum cookie principle. I did a 102 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: lot of experiments. It's more of a social science principle though. Yeah, 103 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 1: it's a bit of a soft science there. Cookies, I 104 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 1: get the software my sciences and your stomach and your 105 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:30,960 Speaker 1: body exactly. Well. There there is now a proposed quantum 106 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,599 Speaker 1: television technology and it's based on kind of a and 107 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 1: not a new technology, but a technology that's been around 108 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:39,840 Speaker 1: for a while in quantum mechanics. Yeah, this is really 109 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: fascinating idea that lets us build something like artificial atoms 110 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:46,280 Speaker 1: and manipulate electron energy levels to get all sorts of 111 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:49,720 Speaker 1: fascinating properties that we could use for really a wide 112 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: range of possible technologies. So to be on the program, 113 00:06:52,440 --> 00:07:01,240 Speaker 1: we'll be talking about what are quantum dots? That does 114 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:04,800 Speaker 1: sound like a girl's got a very very small cookie, 115 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 1: the quantum dot. You know, someone what is it? Thin 116 00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 1: min's and snickerdoodles and quantum dots? But how many quantum 117 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 1: dots would be in one box of cookies, right, like 118 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:18,400 Speaker 1: ten to twenty six. That's a pretty good deal, mom, 119 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:20,520 Speaker 1: I only had ten of the twelve quantum dot cookies 120 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 1: for dessert. That's your alignment for the rest of your life. 121 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: So when you heard the phrase quantum dot, did you 122 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:31,360 Speaker 1: think it was another one of these ridiculous schemes. Yeah, 123 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 1: I'd heard of him before. I just never knew what 124 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:37,000 Speaker 1: they are. I mean, I imagine they're just really small 125 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 1: dots at the quantum level. But you know, is it 126 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,120 Speaker 1: like a dot of ink, dot of what? It's a 127 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:47,440 Speaker 1: dot of quantum? Right, pure quantum? All right? Well, as usual, 128 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:49,679 Speaker 1: Daniel went out there into the wild of the Internet 129 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:53,080 Speaker 1: to ask people if they knew what quantum dots are. 130 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,200 Speaker 1: So thank you to everyone who broke through their inhibitions 131 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:59,880 Speaker 1: and answered these random questions without any research. If you 132 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 1: would like to participate in the future, please write to 133 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:05,560 Speaker 1: me at questions at Daniel and Jorge dot com. Yes, 134 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:07,240 Speaker 1: I think about it for a second. Is so, when 135 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:10,360 Speaker 1: asked you what a quantum dot is, what would you answer? 136 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:13,840 Speaker 1: Here's what people had to say. I think a quantum 137 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: dot refers to a single particle such as an electron 138 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 1: that is isolated by means of electromagnetic fields. The particle 139 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: is confined to a small region in space, so it 140 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:36,560 Speaker 1: has a very high um kinetic energy. Okay, I think 141 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:44,040 Speaker 1: quantum dots are really small collections of atoms. Believe often 142 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:48,520 Speaker 1: it's um for gold atoms to lump together. Maybe if 143 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:52,800 Speaker 1: the idea that like the universe is pixelated, maybe quantum 144 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 1: dots are there, the grid points that underly everything. If 145 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:00,280 Speaker 1: I had guess, I would say quantum dots are maybe 146 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:04,160 Speaker 1: something like string theory, where if we break things down 147 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:07,160 Speaker 1: as small as we can get, we're we're stuck with 148 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,880 Speaker 1: these quantum dots, and and they can be the building 149 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:15,640 Speaker 1: blocks for a lot of quantum things. I think, or 150 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: he said it once. The word quantum just goes in 151 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:20,839 Speaker 1: front of anything these days. It seems like I don't 152 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: know for sure, but I think it might refer to 153 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:29,840 Speaker 1: the mathematical concept of a um particle that doesn't have 154 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:32,880 Speaker 1: a volume, so it only has coordinates, but not volume 155 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:37,200 Speaker 1: in space or zero volume. Quantum it's something small and 156 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:44,439 Speaker 1: a dot. It's something small also, so quantum dot. Probably 157 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 1: you'll find it in at the end of a quantum sentence, 158 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:54,200 Speaker 1: how about it. So, I've never actually heard the phrase 159 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:58,840 Speaker 1: quantum dots before. My guess is that it has to 160 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 1: do with the idea of that space itself is quantized, 161 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:07,920 Speaker 1: and that if you were able to zoom in far enough, 162 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 1: there would be a smallest possible point. I've never ever 163 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:17,160 Speaker 1: heard of a quantum dotum afraid. I'm guessing they have 164 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:19,839 Speaker 1: something to do with the idea that space is quantized, 165 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:23,160 Speaker 1: so like pixels on a display. All right, not a 166 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:25,480 Speaker 1: lot of people know what a quantum dot is, apparently no. 167 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:28,360 Speaker 1: But there are some really nice speculations here, like the 168 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:31,560 Speaker 1: math concept of a particle with no volume. That's definitely 169 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:35,360 Speaker 1: something we've talked about in the podcast. I guess everything 170 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:39,640 Speaker 1: is a quantum dot technically, right, like all particles are 171 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:41,960 Speaker 1: just the point particles. Was the difference between a dot 172 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:45,960 Speaker 1: and a point, Daniel get philosophical? One of them has 173 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 1: mint in it, I guess, and the other one doesn't. 174 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:52,080 Speaker 1: I have no idea. I have no idea when it's round, 175 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:55,599 Speaker 1: maybe the other one is pointing. Maybe yeah, I don't know. 176 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:59,360 Speaker 1: A point, technically speaking, is a single value in space, 177 00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:02,480 Speaker 1: whereas I guess a dot could have some width to it. 178 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: You have a good point that dot. All right, let's 179 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:09,720 Speaker 1: jump into it. Daniel, what is the quantum dot? Settle 180 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:12,640 Speaker 1: this for us? Yeah, quantum dot is really fascinating. It's 181 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 1: basically just a piece of semi conductor, but a very 182 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:19,680 Speaker 1: very very small piece, so you get interesting quantum effects 183 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:23,400 Speaker 1: because semiconductors are sort of very flexible electrically and can 184 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:26,200 Speaker 1: be manipulated by doping and adding different kinds of materials. 185 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:29,440 Speaker 1: You can essentially construct any kind of energy levels you 186 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:32,440 Speaker 1: want for your electron, which is really what determines the 187 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:36,079 Speaker 1: sort of like bulk properties of a material. So it's 188 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:39,200 Speaker 1: just a really really tiny piece of anything, right, doesn't 189 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:41,280 Speaker 1: have you a semiconductor. It can be any material that 190 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:43,400 Speaker 1: you can call it a quantum dot. Yeah, it could 191 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 1: be any material, but we typically use semiconductors because of 192 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:49,679 Speaker 1: their interesting electrical properties. And so take some piece of 193 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:51,800 Speaker 1: material and make a really really small version of it, 194 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:55,200 Speaker 1: and then quantum effects take over. Things like the electron, 195 00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:58,079 Speaker 1: for example, gets trapped in your quantum dot, and then 196 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:00,080 Speaker 1: the width of it is now important to how of 197 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:02,680 Speaker 1: that electron behaves. It changes like the energy levels the 198 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:05,439 Speaker 1: electron can have, which changes like how it absorbs light 199 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:08,400 Speaker 1: or a midst light or conducts electricity. How big are 200 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 1: we talking about or how small are we talking about? 201 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:13,280 Speaker 1: These quantum dots being like how many nanometers we're talking 202 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:17,400 Speaker 1: about like one to ten nanometers in size. These are 203 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:19,960 Speaker 1: really tiny, Like you could line up a million of 204 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:23,560 Speaker 1: these things across your finger. They're super duper small, and 205 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:25,520 Speaker 1: they have to be small in order to get to 206 00:12:25,559 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 1: the quantum effects, right, they have to be basically on 207 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 1: the quantum scale, the Antman scale, so one to ten nanometers. 208 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:34,480 Speaker 1: And how does that compare it to like the you know, 209 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: the quote unquote with of an atom. It's about ten 210 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:41,679 Speaker 1: or fifteen times wider than like the hydrogen atom is 211 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:44,080 Speaker 1: defined by like you know, the cloud of electrons around 212 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:46,720 Speaker 1: the nucleus. So you're definitely getting down to that scale. 213 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:49,480 Speaker 1: And I think that's sort of the key idea is 214 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:51,679 Speaker 1: that you know, when you get electrons down to this 215 00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:54,439 Speaker 1: really small scale, like the size of a hydrogen atom 216 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 1: or what happens in atoms, they start to exhibit these 217 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:01,160 Speaker 1: quantum properties, like having very specific energy levels that only 218 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:05,079 Speaker 1: happens when you can strain an electron m all right, 219 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:08,360 Speaker 1: So you know it's like maybe ten atoms wide these dots, 220 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:11,520 Speaker 1: and are they actually like dots? Are they like cubes? 221 00:13:11,559 --> 00:13:14,439 Speaker 1: Are they like little balls? Do we have pictures of them? 222 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:17,240 Speaker 1: We do have pictures of them. Usually they're little crystals. 223 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:19,480 Speaker 1: And it depends a little bit on how they are 224 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: built and how their fabricatum. And we'll get into it 225 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:23,600 Speaker 1: in a minute about how you make these things. And 226 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:25,520 Speaker 1: you can make them in almost any shape. You can 227 00:13:25,559 --> 00:13:28,920 Speaker 1: make cubes, you can make pyramids, you can make you know, 228 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:32,000 Speaker 1: diamond shapes, whatever you like. And the shape of the 229 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:35,760 Speaker 1: nanocrystals changes how the electron is sort of capture it 230 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: in it and can change its behavior. So depending on 231 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:41,040 Speaker 1: what you want for its electrical properties, you might design 232 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:43,960 Speaker 1: a different shape. M M. All right, So it's almost 233 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,040 Speaker 1: like you're kind of making an atom, almost. Yeah. The 234 00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:48,920 Speaker 1: key idea here is that when you look at the 235 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:51,400 Speaker 1: periodic table, you see lots of different elements, and those 236 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:54,000 Speaker 1: elements all have really different properties, right, Some of them 237 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,920 Speaker 1: conduct a lot of electricity, some of them are really interactive, 238 00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:59,119 Speaker 1: and some of them are not. All of those properties 239 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:02,600 Speaker 1: come from behavior of the electrons and their energy levels, 240 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:06,160 Speaker 1: like are those electron orbitals filled? And how big are they? Etcetera, etcetera. 241 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:08,720 Speaker 1: But we're sort of limited to the atoms that we 242 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:10,760 Speaker 1: have in nature. You know, if you want an atom 243 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:13,360 Speaker 1: that does a specific kind of thing that emits light 244 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:16,480 Speaker 1: of a certain frequency or absorbs light of a certain frequency, 245 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:18,280 Speaker 1: you sort of have to pick from the menu that 246 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:21,560 Speaker 1: we have until now. Because quantum dots allow you to 247 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:25,680 Speaker 1: basically engineer electron energy levels to say, I'd like electron 248 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:27,720 Speaker 1: energy levels that look like this, so you can have 249 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:31,520 Speaker 1: whatever whatever property. That's why they're sometimes called artificial atoms. 250 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:34,520 Speaker 1: They don't have a nucleus and electrons around them, but 251 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:36,960 Speaker 1: they have that sort of property of an atom that 252 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:40,360 Speaker 1: they're controlled by their electron energy levels. Interesting, they're like 253 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:45,480 Speaker 1: designer atoms, yes, exactly, designer atoms like made to order. Yeah, 254 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:48,000 Speaker 1: And so if we want a material that does something 255 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:51,120 Speaker 1: that no natural material does, then we can maybe build 256 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:53,560 Speaker 1: it out of quantum dots or design quantum dots that 257 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:57,120 Speaker 1: have that specific ability. What kinds of abilities are we 258 00:14:57,200 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 1: talking about, like reflecting light or like conduct or how 259 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:04,360 Speaker 1: easy they give off an electron or or how they taste. 260 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 1: I would not recommend eating any of these quantum dots. 261 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:10,560 Speaker 1: Almost all of them are totally toxic. But yeah, they 262 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:13,400 Speaker 1: have interesting optical properties, like they can absorb light at 263 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:16,040 Speaker 1: whatever frequency you want, you know, and they can give 264 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 1: off light at whatever frequencies you want, which is very 265 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 1: helpful for example and making a very crisp display for 266 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:25,400 Speaker 1: your television, and other kinds of things like absorbing power 267 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:28,040 Speaker 1: for solar cells. And there's another aspect to it, which 268 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:31,160 Speaker 1: is maybe less practical but more fascinating, which is that 269 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:34,800 Speaker 1: you can sort of design quantum behaviors. Previously, when people 270 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:37,480 Speaker 1: wanted to do quantum experiments, it was hard because you 271 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:40,600 Speaker 1: had to use like actual atoms that we find in nature, 272 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:43,000 Speaker 1: and those atoms going to be difficult to deal with. 273 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,720 Speaker 1: You have to like have a vacuum system and lasers 274 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: to capture it. Remember we talked about Bose Einstein contensate. 275 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:51,960 Speaker 1: It's a difficult thing to do because it has to 276 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:55,000 Speaker 1: be done with atoms and all these complex systems. Yeah, 277 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:59,480 Speaker 1: I lose my atoms all the time. They're slippery, they 278 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:01,840 Speaker 1: are slip bury and it's a pain and it's expensive. 279 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:04,400 Speaker 1: But if you could do it with quantum dots, they're 280 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:06,880 Speaker 1: much easier to manufacture. You might even be able to 281 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 1: print them on chips for example, So you could do 282 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:14,640 Speaker 1: all sorts of fascinating quantum experiments without all the expensive machinery. 283 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:19,040 Speaker 1: Could you print like a quantum computer out of quantum dots? Yes, exactly, 284 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:22,200 Speaker 1: that's one direction. People are going trying to build cubits 285 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:25,600 Speaker 1: out of quantum dots. But doesn't the quantum no iss 286 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:28,720 Speaker 1: of something always decrease the more atoms you get, Like 287 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:31,560 Speaker 1: if you have ten atoms, that's usually sort of like 288 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: less quantumy than one atom. Right, you can worry about 289 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:37,760 Speaker 1: like decoherence effects. As it interacts with its environment, it 290 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:41,280 Speaker 1: loses some of those quantum effects because the wave functions decohere. 291 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:43,600 Speaker 1: And that's something that's really difficult to do with atoms 292 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:46,280 Speaker 1: because it's hard to isolate them from the system. Right, 293 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:49,320 Speaker 1: The key is isolation. You could have a really large 294 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:52,240 Speaker 1: system that doesn't deco here as long as it remains 295 00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:54,760 Speaker 1: isolated from the environment. That's hard to do with atoms 296 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:57,120 Speaker 1: because you know, they bounce around and they jiggle and stuff. 297 00:16:57,120 --> 00:16:59,480 Speaker 1: But quantum dots are sort of easier to localize. And 298 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:02,520 Speaker 1: if we're easier to isolate, is the idea, Oh man, 299 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:04,920 Speaker 1: are we going to go back to dot matrix printers, 300 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:09,680 Speaker 1: but this time there will be quantum dot matrix printers. Yeah, 301 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 1: exactly is that? What is that our featured again, and 302 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:20,359 Speaker 1: then we'll go back to quantum motives too, but it 303 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:22,520 Speaker 1: will be the quantum version of those sounds. It would 304 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:26,199 Speaker 1: be much spookier, sound cooler, which is by definition. And 305 00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:28,720 Speaker 1: something that's really fascinating about these things is that they're 306 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:34,160 Speaker 1: offering referred to as zero dimensional objects, of course, because 307 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:37,800 Speaker 1: that's not confusing, and that was really confusing for me 308 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:39,639 Speaker 1: when I first was reading about that, because you know, 309 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:43,159 Speaker 1: I'm three dimensional, there's forward, backwards, side to side, and 310 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:45,919 Speaker 1: up and down. I'm defined by three different dimensions, and 311 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:47,840 Speaker 1: you can imagine, you know, a sheet of paper is 312 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:50,560 Speaker 1: almost two dimensional, and like a thin piece of string 313 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:54,320 Speaker 1: is like almost one dimensional. What's a zero dimensional object? 314 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:57,520 Speaker 1: And it's really something where it can't go anywhere, So 315 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:00,399 Speaker 1: it's really like a point in space us. There are 316 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:02,879 Speaker 1: electrons in there, and yes, technically they can move a 317 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:05,960 Speaker 1: little bit sideways, but really they're constrained and the only 318 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:07,639 Speaker 1: way they can move is sort of up and down 319 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:11,840 Speaker 1: in energy. Oh interesting, almost like a perfect box for electrons. Yeah, 320 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:14,199 Speaker 1: it's a perfect little box for electrons. And you know, 321 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:18,240 Speaker 1: quantum mechanically, the way the electron behaves is completely defined 322 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:20,840 Speaker 1: by the shape of the box. Like an electron just 323 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:24,120 Speaker 1: floating through space is not actually quantized like you could 324 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:27,200 Speaker 1: have any energy level. Free electrons are not quantized at all. 325 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:29,800 Speaker 1: The quantization only happens when you constrain it, when you 326 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:32,159 Speaker 1: say you gotta live in this little box or whizz 327 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,439 Speaker 1: around this nucleus of the atom. That's where the quantization 328 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:38,359 Speaker 1: comes from. And so here, by constructing your own box, 329 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:41,160 Speaker 1: you define your own energy levels for the electron, which 330 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:44,639 Speaker 1: I think is pretty cool. So we're like quantum designers. Wow, 331 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,399 Speaker 1: And this is an idea from the eighties. It was 332 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 1: made a long time ago, but only now maybe we're 333 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 1: getting into how to actually use these thoughts. Yeah, exactly. 334 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:56,280 Speaker 1: The idea has been around for a few decades, and 335 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:58,720 Speaker 1: the proof of principle was done in the eighties. But 336 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:01,280 Speaker 1: with lots of things, it's only really useful if you 337 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:02,679 Speaker 1: can make a lot of them, and if you can 338 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:06,200 Speaker 1: make them at less than like a billion dollars per dot. Right, 339 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 1: All right, well, let's get into how you actually make 340 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 1: a quantum dot and what can you do with them. 341 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:24,760 Speaker 1: But first let's take a quick break. All right, we're 342 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:28,760 Speaker 1: talking about quantum dots, which are not girls cout cookies, 343 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:33,760 Speaker 1: but possibly TVs in the future, yes, TVs, maybe even 344 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:37,400 Speaker 1: in your present. They might end up on our phones. Yeah, 345 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:40,040 Speaker 1: you could have a quantum dots screen. They could create 346 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:41,760 Speaker 1: screens that are like really flexible. You can like a 347 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:44,320 Speaker 1: roll up in the stuff in your pocket. Just don't 348 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:49,040 Speaker 1: eat them. Do not eat quantum screens, all right. Quantum 349 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:52,200 Speaker 1: dot is a little tiny piece of semiconductor, maybe one 350 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:56,560 Speaker 1: to ten nanometers wide, which is about like ten atoms 351 00:19:56,560 --> 00:20:00,800 Speaker 1: in with and they can act like little niner atoms. 352 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:03,640 Speaker 1: They can trap electrons and you can make them sit 353 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:06,439 Speaker 1: at whatever energy levels you want. Yeah, you can make 354 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:09,800 Speaker 1: the particles dance whatever dance you tell them to. All right, 355 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:11,560 Speaker 1: So I guess the question is how do you make them? 356 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:13,560 Speaker 1: How do you make a quantum dot? Do you just 357 00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:16,400 Speaker 1: like spray some quantumness and they form in the air. 358 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,440 Speaker 1: What's the formative? Yeah, it's one teaspoon of quantumness to 359 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:22,480 Speaker 1: teaspoons of dot and then just mix. There you go. 360 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:25,200 Speaker 1: It's hard, right, and this is one of the challenges. 361 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:27,840 Speaker 1: And so there are a lot of different approaches to 362 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:30,480 Speaker 1: making these quantum dots, and we'll see which one sort 363 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:34,240 Speaker 1: of takes off for various applications. There's basically three totally 364 00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:38,199 Speaker 1: different approaches. One is chemical, so basically just try to 365 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:40,639 Speaker 1: mix these things like we were just joking about, but 366 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:44,280 Speaker 1: for real. And the idea is that these things are crystals, 367 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 1: which means that in some sense they should self assemble, 368 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:50,199 Speaker 1: you know, the way like crystals will form themselves. If 369 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:53,000 Speaker 1: you put salt into solution and you shake it, the 370 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:55,880 Speaker 1: salt should come out of the solution, you know, make 371 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,600 Speaker 1: these crystals. And so you do the same thing with 372 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 1: the kind of quantum dot you want to make. Whatever 373 00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 1: it is you're trying to build, maybe it's mostly silicon, 374 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:05,719 Speaker 1: maybe it has other stuff in it. You put all 375 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:08,760 Speaker 1: those ingredients into some solution, you heat it up so 376 00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:11,119 Speaker 1: it all like breaks up into a big soup, and 377 00:21:11,119 --> 00:21:14,400 Speaker 1: then you hope that nanocrystals get nucleated and then sort 378 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:18,480 Speaker 1: of build on themselves. But then they would be floating 379 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:21,440 Speaker 1: around or they would kind of form on your surface. No, 380 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:24,040 Speaker 1: then they would be floating around exactly, and then you 381 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:26,880 Speaker 1: need to do something to like pull them out and 382 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:30,880 Speaker 1: you know, make them useful somehow. But often you want 383 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:33,520 Speaker 1: them in solution, like maybe you want them suspended in 384 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:35,919 Speaker 1: water so they can glow a certain temperature where you 385 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:40,199 Speaker 1: can inject them into your experiment or whatever. Sounds kind 386 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:42,480 Speaker 1: of tricky. It's pretty tricky, and also it's tricky to 387 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:44,960 Speaker 1: filter them, right. You want only quantum dots that have 388 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:47,879 Speaker 1: formed well, and so this process isn't always going to 389 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,320 Speaker 1: form you high quality quantum dots every single time, and 390 00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:53,520 Speaker 1: so it's tricky to get exactly the right ones out. 391 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:55,879 Speaker 1: And so people have tried all sorts of variations on 392 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:59,680 Speaker 1: this approach, like using molecular seating, you know, starting with 393 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:01,960 Speaker 1: something that has sort of like the right shape to 394 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,879 Speaker 1: nucleate those crystals and encourage things to form just the 395 00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:07,440 Speaker 1: right way. It's really complex, sort of like as a 396 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:09,800 Speaker 1: chemistry problem. You know, how do you get all these 397 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,760 Speaker 1: molecules bouncing around in solution to come together and like 398 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:17,359 Speaker 1: build themselves out of these mini legos? Right? Yeah, sounds tricky. 399 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:19,320 Speaker 1: What are other ways that you can make them? Another 400 00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:23,920 Speaker 1: way is basically following the principles of semiconductor technologies, which 401 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:27,760 Speaker 1: have come really really far in printing tiny circuits. The 402 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:29,919 Speaker 1: way your computer is build is not by super tiny 403 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:34,200 Speaker 1: little fingers soldering together little components individually, right, it's printed 404 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:37,359 Speaker 1: onto a sheet of silk and in a super duper 405 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:40,760 Speaker 1: tiny way. So they have developed this technology because it 406 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:45,119 Speaker 1: underpins the entire consumer electronics and computing industry to print 407 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:49,000 Speaker 1: really really thin layers of semi conductors really near each other. 408 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:51,639 Speaker 1: So they're trying to use and adapt that technology to 409 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:55,960 Speaker 1: also make quantum dots, right, because that technology is they say, 410 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,119 Speaker 1: almost running into the physical limits of how what you 411 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:01,359 Speaker 1: can print, right, like the starting to print circuits that 412 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:04,200 Speaker 1: are you know, about this size where the quantum effects 413 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,760 Speaker 1: are important, or where you know, you're literally like stacking 414 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:10,600 Speaker 1: ten atoms together. Yeah, they are really approaching the limit 415 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:13,639 Speaker 1: of this technology, which is really awesome and it shows 416 00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:16,120 Speaker 1: you like what humans can do, how innovative they can 417 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,760 Speaker 1: be when like really pressed to the limit. And also 418 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,680 Speaker 1: when there are like billions of dollars at stake, because 419 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:25,399 Speaker 1: the smaller your components, the faster your computer, and so 420 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 1: like Intel and a m D and all these folks 421 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,680 Speaker 1: are really really pushing hard on these technologies because there's 422 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:35,199 Speaker 1: literally rivers of money behind it. Yeah, there's a billions 423 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:37,159 Speaker 1: of people who want to phone in their hands and 424 00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:39,240 Speaker 1: their pockets, and so the smaller you can get these 425 00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:41,560 Speaker 1: chips to the more powerful they are. Yeah, and there's 426 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:44,400 Speaker 1: a lot of examples of when the consumer industry pushes 427 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:46,720 Speaker 1: on something really, really hard, and then it turns out 428 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:50,000 Speaker 1: to be useful for other things like physics research. For example, 429 00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:53,000 Speaker 1: that same technology that you use to print circuits, we 430 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:56,880 Speaker 1: also used to print particle detectors at the large Hadron collider. 431 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:00,280 Speaker 1: Those really thin layers of silicon can help you tell, oh, 432 00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:03,440 Speaker 1: did an electron pass here, or did a muan pass there, 433 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:05,880 Speaker 1: or was this weird kind of cork that passed through. 434 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:09,240 Speaker 1: So we can print very high resolution detectors for our particles, 435 00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 1: and we can never could have developed that technology ourselves. 436 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:15,720 Speaker 1: It's only because billions were spent by the semiconductor industry 437 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:19,080 Speaker 1: to develop that technology. So now people are doing the 438 00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:21,840 Speaker 1: same thing for making quantum dots. They're pigging backing on 439 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:25,119 Speaker 1: all those advances, like you can print little quantum dots 440 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:28,720 Speaker 1: on a silicon chip. Yeah, exactly, So this is the 441 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:31,680 Speaker 1: direction that they're going and for making cubits out of 442 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:35,680 Speaker 1: quantum dots, little devices that basically could be the elements 443 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:40,000 Speaker 1: of quantum computers. Currently, the best quantum computers have only 444 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:44,360 Speaker 1: like twenty five maybe fortuits, and they're done using atoms. 445 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:47,639 Speaker 1: But as we talked about previously, having atoms in a trap, 446 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:50,160 Speaker 1: for example, is very unstable. It's very hard to get 447 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,040 Speaker 1: that and to keep it isolated and keep it from 448 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:53,680 Speaker 1: deco hearing, which is what you need to do to 449 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:56,439 Speaker 1: do the quantum computing. And so the idea is that 450 00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:59,040 Speaker 1: this could be more stable. It's still in its early 451 00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:01,400 Speaker 1: days and we don't have a quantum computer made out 452 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: of cubits from quantum dots and silicon that competes at 453 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:06,280 Speaker 1: all with the ones made from ions. But you know, 454 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:09,480 Speaker 1: it's a promising avenue. So have they been able to 455 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:11,560 Speaker 1: do it? Have they been able to print quantum dots 456 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,480 Speaker 1: using silicon lithography? Yeah, they can print quantum dots. Wow. 457 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:17,880 Speaker 1: So it's like around the corner then, yeah, exactly, it's 458 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:19,600 Speaker 1: around the corner. And you know, there's a bit of 459 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:22,520 Speaker 1: a definitional thing here. Basically, any very small piece of 460 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:26,320 Speaker 1: silicon is a quantum dot. And so in some respects, 461 00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:29,080 Speaker 1: anytime you get your silicon that's small, it's a quantum dot. 462 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:31,320 Speaker 1: The question is can you design it to be the 463 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:35,160 Speaker 1: quantum dot you want? Right? Right? I guess technically any 464 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:39,080 Speaker 1: dot is quantum. All dots are quantum. That's right. Even 465 00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:42,240 Speaker 1: your girls got cookie crumbs are quantum crumbs if they're 466 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:44,879 Speaker 1: small enough. Yeah, they're there and not there at the 467 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,360 Speaker 1: same time, all right, So you can maybe mix them 468 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:51,480 Speaker 1: in solution or print them on a silicon chip. You 469 00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:55,000 Speaker 1: can also do something even kind of more interesting. Yeah, 470 00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:58,240 Speaker 1: I think the funnest and craziest idea is to use 471 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:02,960 Speaker 1: viruses to assemble these things. What like yeah, like not 472 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:07,760 Speaker 1: the figurative viruses, but real viruses, real actual physical viruses. 473 00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:10,479 Speaker 1: So these are things that like attack bacteria and get 474 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:12,960 Speaker 1: the bacteria to make more of themselves. But they can 475 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:15,800 Speaker 1: do more than just reproduce. They actually have like proteins 476 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,920 Speaker 1: on their surface that are little molecular machines that can 477 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:21,080 Speaker 1: do stuff. And the idea is that you find a 478 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,840 Speaker 1: virus that grabs onto your material, you can use it 479 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 1: as like a little laborer, like a little worker, to 480 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:29,960 Speaker 1: build yourself a crystal out of that material. Wait, so 481 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:35,160 Speaker 1: like viruses can grab and manipulate individual atoms. Yeah, absolutely, 482 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,960 Speaker 1: I mean viruses are super small and they have little 483 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:40,240 Speaker 1: proteins on them, right, And what is a protein but 484 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:43,680 Speaker 1: basically a molecular little machine and those proteins have surfaces 485 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:45,560 Speaker 1: on them that buying to some things and not to 486 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:49,199 Speaker 1: other things. Like proteins for example, cut and repair DNA 487 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:51,960 Speaker 1: and DNA is just a string of molecules, and so 488 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,439 Speaker 1: we're talking about things at the same scale. And so 489 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,359 Speaker 1: the idea is that these viruses, you find ones that 490 00:26:57,440 --> 00:26:59,879 Speaker 1: like to grab onto the molecule you want, and you 491 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:02,280 Speaker 1: figure out a way to get the viruses to assemble 492 00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:05,080 Speaker 1: in something like a regular pattern. That's the sort of 493 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:07,359 Speaker 1: mind boggling party that the viruses aren't just all like 494 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,880 Speaker 1: all swim around, each holding their piece of the quantum dot. 495 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:14,480 Speaker 1: They arrange themselves in something like a crystal pattern. So 496 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:17,400 Speaker 1: then the pieces of the quantum dot there each holding 497 00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:21,520 Speaker 1: click together to form the quantum dot. What that's crazy? 498 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:25,200 Speaker 1: Have they actually done? This is is like ongoing research. Yeah, 499 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:27,560 Speaker 1: this is ongoing research. They have actually done it. They 500 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:30,200 Speaker 1: haven't scaled it up, but it's something that really might work. 501 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:33,000 Speaker 1: You know, anytime you can like tap into the power 502 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:36,679 Speaker 1: of biology. We could never engineer something ourselves that way. 503 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:39,359 Speaker 1: But the way they take advantage of it is through evolution. 504 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,040 Speaker 1: They do this thing called phage display where they put 505 00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:43,960 Speaker 1: a bunch of the material they want the viruses to 506 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,760 Speaker 1: capture on a surface, and then they just wash viruses 507 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:49,520 Speaker 1: over it, and the ones that grab onto the surface 508 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:51,760 Speaker 1: are the ones they keep. And then they breathe those 509 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:54,359 Speaker 1: viruses together to make new viruses, and they do it 510 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:57,400 Speaker 1: again and again and again, and so they're like artificially 511 00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:01,560 Speaker 1: selecting viruses that are good at this one. So basically 512 00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: breeding little viruses that can do our jobs for us. Wow, 513 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:07,719 Speaker 1: I mean, we all know how good we are at 514 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:11,680 Speaker 1: handling viruses. It does seem as a civilization, what could 515 00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:17,840 Speaker 1: go wrong, Daniel, What could go wrong? Exactly? Maybe they 516 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:21,200 Speaker 1: could bake our cookies for us. That's pretty interesting that 517 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:23,680 Speaker 1: you can maybe like kind of use viruses as little 518 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:27,880 Speaker 1: assembly robots. Yeah, little nano robots. I mean, rather than 519 00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 1: going to our engineers and saying, hey, could you build 520 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:33,399 Speaker 1: me a super tinier robot that's nanometers wide and can 521 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:36,040 Speaker 1: do this job, just find one out there in nature 522 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:38,680 Speaker 1: and adapt it to your purpose. Al Right, Well, it 523 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:42,200 Speaker 1: sounds like you can build quantum dots. I guess is 524 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 1: the hard part is getting them to do the things 525 00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:46,959 Speaker 1: you want them to do, or to like, you know, 526 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:50,280 Speaker 1: design them and make them to spect to take advantage 527 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:52,960 Speaker 1: of these interesting quantum properties. Yeah, if you want the 528 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:55,560 Speaker 1: quantum properties to do exactly what you want, you have 529 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:58,000 Speaker 1: to design them just right. You need exactly the right 530 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:00,280 Speaker 1: kind of you know, gallium in their academy um in 531 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,000 Speaker 1: there to get just the kind of electron energy levels 532 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:07,000 Speaker 1: you need to accomplish what you're trying to accomplish. All right, well, 533 00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:09,959 Speaker 1: let's get into what quantum dots can do. What can 534 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:13,960 Speaker 1: they do for you, Daniel? Besides you know, entertain enemies 535 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:18,080 Speaker 1: or give you taste your cookies and maybe raise a 536 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,760 Speaker 1: virus army to take over the world to make more cookies. 537 00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:23,880 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's what I meant. That's what I meant. 538 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:26,360 Speaker 1: Or take over the world with cookies. You know, there's 539 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:28,520 Speaker 1: always a way. But for us, let's take a quick break. 540 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,760 Speaker 1: All right, quantum dots are gonna take over the world, Daniel. 541 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:48,719 Speaker 1: They're gonna improve our screen technology apparently, and maybe a 542 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:52,200 Speaker 1: lot more because basically you can make quantum computers, or 543 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:54,680 Speaker 1: you can kind of make designer atoms so that you 544 00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:58,600 Speaker 1: can make things maybe that has special properties. Yeah, So 545 00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:01,160 Speaker 1: what are some of the things that them dots can do? Well, 546 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:03,360 Speaker 1: the most important thing is that quantum dots can have 547 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:06,800 Speaker 1: sort of designer optical properties. Remember that the reason that 548 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,960 Speaker 1: some things look a certain color is because they reflect 549 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:12,760 Speaker 1: light of that color, which means they're absorbing all the 550 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:15,440 Speaker 1: other colors. So if you can design a material that 551 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:18,720 Speaker 1: absorbs light at certain frequencies and other frequencies, you can 552 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:21,960 Speaker 1: basically design its color to be whatever you like. And 553 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,440 Speaker 1: if you want to design a very crisp display or 554 00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:27,240 Speaker 1: you want to marker, you can inject into your experimental 555 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:30,240 Speaker 1: subject and watch as something flows around. Then you want 556 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:34,040 Speaker 1: to be able to design its optical properties. And so 557 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:37,640 Speaker 1: as you change the size of your quantum dot, for example, 558 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,920 Speaker 1: you change the energy that that electron can absorb, which 559 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:46,120 Speaker 1: changes how it looks optically. It's kind of sounds like 560 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:49,400 Speaker 1: you're just making colors, though, Like isn't that how color works? Usually, 561 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:53,000 Speaker 1: like the atom in like a blue paint reflect blue 562 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:56,120 Speaker 1: light especially. Yeah, that's exactly what we're trying to do. 563 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:59,520 Speaker 1: We're just making colors, but we're making very crisp, well 564 00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:03,200 Speaker 1: the fine colors, right. You want something which absorbs very 565 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:06,719 Speaker 1: very narrowly or only reflects a very very narrow range 566 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:10,800 Speaker 1: of frequencies. So it's like exactly blue or super duper 567 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:13,840 Speaker 1: perfect red or exactly the green you were looking for. 568 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:20,080 Speaker 1: I see quantum paint is the new marketing term. Yeah, exactly. 569 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:22,320 Speaker 1: And so this makes it if you're going to build 570 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:25,240 Speaker 1: a television, for example, it makes it much easier to 571 00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:29,200 Speaker 1: get crisp colors. You know exactly how to combine your 572 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:31,960 Speaker 1: various little layers to get exactly the color you want 573 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:35,000 Speaker 1: on screen. So it's simpler, it's cheaper, it's more efficient. 574 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:37,840 Speaker 1: You don't need, like, you know, complicated filters to get 575 00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:39,680 Speaker 1: rid of the edge effects that you didn't really want 576 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:42,240 Speaker 1: because you were forced to use the atoms that physics 577 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:45,000 Speaker 1: gave you. You You can invent your own atoms to devise 578 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:48,440 Speaker 1: your own quantum screen. But can you make these quantum 579 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:50,960 Speaker 1: dots change the light or turn them on and off? 580 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:53,360 Speaker 1: How would this work? How would this television work? Would 581 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:57,200 Speaker 1: it be just a one image television? I think each 582 00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:00,160 Speaker 1: one is essentially like a filter. So you put some 583 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:04,280 Speaker 1: source of light behind a layer of red quantum dots, 584 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:06,920 Speaker 1: and which you get our red light. Or if you 585 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:09,720 Speaker 1: put light behind the layer of green condom dots, you 586 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:13,040 Speaker 1: get green light or blue light. So it operates on 587 00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:16,400 Speaker 1: the same basic principle as all your other televisions, which 588 00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:19,000 Speaker 1: have for example blue LEDs or green l e d 589 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:20,840 Speaker 1: s or red l e d s. But this is 590 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:23,200 Speaker 1: the way that you get the pure light instead of 591 00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:28,000 Speaker 1: all the white light. Be like super precise colors. That's 592 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:31,880 Speaker 1: the idea. Super precise colors. Yeah, extra precise, extra precise. 593 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:34,840 Speaker 1: And also because they're more efficient they show exactly the 594 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:38,200 Speaker 1: color you want, there's lower energy consumption and so you 595 00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:43,400 Speaker 1: can have like longer lifetimes. And that's the turkey part, 596 00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:45,760 Speaker 1: I guess is how you make them at the size 597 00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:47,160 Speaker 1: of a television because you have to make a lot 598 00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:48,680 Speaker 1: of them. You've got to make a lot of them 599 00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:51,200 Speaker 1: yet exactly, and they have to survive my kids dropping 600 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:55,320 Speaker 1: my phone for example. They do. But you know, because 601 00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:57,440 Speaker 1: they can be sort of printed on anything in their 602 00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 1: microscopic they can potentially be you for things like you know, 603 00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:05,560 Speaker 1: rollable or flexible displays in the future, all right, or 604 00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:10,040 Speaker 1: like a like a blanket TV, yeah, or TV you 605 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:11,840 Speaker 1: could like fold up and you know, stick in your 606 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:15,840 Speaker 1: pocket or something. Alright. What else can we use quantum 607 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:19,800 Speaker 1: dots for? Another awesome application is in solar cells, because 608 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:23,440 Speaker 1: again you can really tune the absorption and the emission 609 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:25,880 Speaker 1: then you can get quantum dots that absorb light at 610 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:29,480 Speaker 1: exactly the peak wavelength that you're seeing on your roof, 611 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:31,480 Speaker 1: you know, so you can make sure that like the 612 00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:34,680 Speaker 1: peak efficiency for absorption is where most of the light 613 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:38,680 Speaker 1: actually is, right because right now it's kind of fuzzy, right, Yeah, exactly, 614 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:41,440 Speaker 1: it's kind of fuzzy. And these solar cells are expensive 615 00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:44,160 Speaker 1: to produce. But if you could get quantum dots ramped 616 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:45,600 Speaker 1: up so you can make a lot of them, you 617 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:48,520 Speaker 1: can make basically like solar power paint, and you could 618 00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:50,680 Speaker 1: like have a solution with quantum dots in it that 619 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:54,080 Speaker 1: you basically paint onto a surface and it becomes a 620 00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:57,320 Speaker 1: solar power cell. What Like, you can just paint your 621 00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:00,320 Speaker 1: roof and then attach some wires to it and it's 622 00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:03,680 Speaker 1: a solar panel. Yes exactly, that is wild. Yeah, they 623 00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:06,520 Speaker 1: would absorb the energy and they would like chain themselves 624 00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:08,920 Speaker 1: up so they can pass a current along and so 625 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:11,040 Speaker 1: that would be pretty awesome. Like, you know how cool 626 00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:13,120 Speaker 1: it is that you can paint like a chalkboard on 627 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:16,000 Speaker 1: a wall and it actually kind of works. That's pretty cool. Well, 628 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:18,120 Speaker 1: this is like a step beyond that. It's like painting 629 00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:22,359 Speaker 1: an electrical device onto your roof or anything, really your 630 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:25,520 Speaker 1: car or your hat or really you're you can get 631 00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:29,200 Speaker 1: a tattoo. Can you get a solar cell tattoo, you know, 632 00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:33,040 Speaker 1: inked on your skin? It would be awesome, and you 633 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:37,040 Speaker 1: can charge your phone just by against your body. Yeah, 634 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:39,520 Speaker 1: and the tattoo should look like a solar cell, and right, 635 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:41,200 Speaker 1: that would be super cool. It looks like a solar 636 00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:44,560 Speaker 1: cell and acts like a solar cell. Well, technically you 637 00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:46,560 Speaker 1: could make it look like anything. Yeah, you could. You 638 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:48,920 Speaker 1: can make it look like a rose or your grandma, 639 00:34:49,640 --> 00:34:52,239 Speaker 1: and it would be helping you save some energy, would 640 00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:54,719 Speaker 1: be cool? It power your phone? Yeah cool? All right, 641 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:57,160 Speaker 1: so you can make solar paint. What else can you 642 00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:59,280 Speaker 1: do with it? You can also use it in science. 643 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:02,719 Speaker 1: A lot of biology uses something called bio labeling, where 644 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:05,759 Speaker 1: you like inject some substance into a bacterium or into 645 00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:07,880 Speaker 1: a larger animal, and you want to follow, like where 646 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:10,360 Speaker 1: did it go? Where is it being used? Where is 647 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:13,600 Speaker 1: the active site where it's like being actually processed. So 648 00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:17,839 Speaker 1: these quantum dots are like more stable and brighter than 649 00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:20,280 Speaker 1: most of the other dies, and so they're much more useful. 650 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:23,800 Speaker 1: They can like last for months, but they're also toxicing, 651 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:27,239 Speaker 1: aren't they. Yes, they're poisonous. I guess if you don't 652 00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:30,000 Speaker 1: want your sample to live very long. Yeah, a lot 653 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:32,520 Speaker 1: of them. Because you want to engineer particular optical properties 654 00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:35,640 Speaker 1: require you to use various substances like cadmium, which is 655 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:37,880 Speaker 1: pretty toxic. So we're not at a point where you 656 00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:40,000 Speaker 1: want to You know, your kids eating a spoonful of 657 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:42,480 Speaker 1: quantum dots are definitely not. But you know, if you 658 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:45,160 Speaker 1: don't mind killing your bacteria to learn about how it's 659 00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:48,359 Speaker 1: doing something or how it's defending itself, then it's all right. 660 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:51,759 Speaker 1: Does that put a kaboche on the tattoos as well? 661 00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:56,640 Speaker 1: If you tattoos cadmium into your body, that would give 662 00:35:56,680 --> 00:36:00,359 Speaker 1: you other kinds of cancer. Yes, not recommended. Yet, people 663 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:02,560 Speaker 1: are working on ways to make quantum dots that don't 664 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:06,040 Speaker 1: require a cadmium or other toxic materials, so I'm pretty 665 00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:10,680 Speaker 1: sure that in the future will have humans safe quantum dots. Alright, cool, 666 00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:13,480 Speaker 1: What else can we make with quantum dots? Well, we 667 00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:16,960 Speaker 1: can also build super tiny electronics. You know about this 668 00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:20,839 Speaker 1: material called graphine, which is basically like a lattice of 669 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:23,879 Speaker 1: carbon built in a super fancy interesting way that has 670 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:28,080 Speaker 1: fancy molecular properties. Well, graphing is really stable and really 671 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:31,880 Speaker 1: conductive even when it's cut into super tiny devices like 672 00:36:32,239 --> 00:36:35,160 Speaker 1: one nanometer wide. And so you can build like the 673 00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:40,360 Speaker 1: tiniest of electronics using graphing single crystals, which are technically 674 00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:44,319 Speaker 1: also quantum dots that you can make a circuit that's 675 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:47,239 Speaker 1: literally like one atom talks to another atom, and then 676 00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:50,279 Speaker 1: that atom talks to another atom. Yeah, exactly, And so 677 00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:54,160 Speaker 1: this is like one potential way to even further miniaturize 678 00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:57,120 Speaker 1: our electronics. But wouldn't it get quantum at that point 679 00:36:57,160 --> 00:36:59,200 Speaker 1: or like, would it still behave like a regular circuit. 680 00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:01,239 Speaker 1: It would get want them exactly, but so you have 681 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:03,239 Speaker 1: to define it to do exactly what you want. But 682 00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:06,480 Speaker 1: you can build transistors out of single atoms, and single 683 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:09,600 Speaker 1: electron transistors are a thing you can do. The chemistry 684 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:11,640 Speaker 1: and the physics is a little bit different from the 685 00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:14,640 Speaker 1: way we're currently doing electronics, but you can build the 686 00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:18,400 Speaker 1: basic components we need for circuits out of these graphing 687 00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:22,160 Speaker 1: single crystals. All right, Well, but it sounds like maybe 688 00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:25,200 Speaker 1: the technology that's pushing it at least into the mainstream 689 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:27,879 Speaker 1: is this idea of a quantum TV. So how far 690 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:30,560 Speaker 1: away are we from that? Are they actually starting to 691 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:34,480 Speaker 1: make them or think about them or Netflix investing on this. Yeah, 692 00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:39,200 Speaker 1: quantum TVs are negative five years away, which means they've 693 00:37:39,239 --> 00:37:42,359 Speaker 1: been on the market since about What what do you mean, 694 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:44,680 Speaker 1: like you can put in money to buy a quantum 695 00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:47,279 Speaker 1: TV ten years in the future. No, that means five 696 00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:49,600 Speaker 1: years ago, if you went on Amazon and typed in 697 00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:52,560 Speaker 1: quantum l e ED there were TVs for sale that 698 00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:54,960 Speaker 1: you could purchase. You could go purchase a quantum l 699 00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:57,839 Speaker 1: a ED TV right now. But it's not really made 700 00:37:57,840 --> 00:37:59,879 Speaker 1: out of quantum dots, is it. No, it really has 701 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:06,920 Speaker 1: quantum dot technology. Oh, this is really a thing. Really wow, Okay, 702 00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:10,280 Speaker 1: it's not a future technology. It's like five years ago technology. 703 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:14,880 Speaker 1: It's like Obama years technology. Exactly. Obama probably has a 704 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:17,000 Speaker 1: quantum TV and he's probably sitting in front of it 705 00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:21,000 Speaker 1: eating quantum cookies right now, because yes, we can watch 706 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:24,600 Speaker 1: a quantum TV. Really, So if I buy a quantum TV, 707 00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:27,120 Speaker 1: it has like quantum dots in it, Yeah, exactly, it 708 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:30,440 Speaker 1: has a quantum dot layer which filters this like led 709 00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:33,680 Speaker 1: backlight and helps reduce better color. So, like we were 710 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,000 Speaker 1: saying at the top of the program. Quantum TVs are 711 00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:38,400 Speaker 1: not a scam. They are real and they actually use 712 00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:43,120 Speaker 1: quantum technology. Unlike quantum yogurt and quantum hamsters and quantum 713 00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:47,400 Speaker 1: massage and quantum stealth technology. This is real applications of 714 00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:51,080 Speaker 1: quantum mechanics on your wall right right. Although you know, 715 00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:56,600 Speaker 1: technically yogurt does have quantum particles in it. Everything tastes 716 00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:59,560 Speaker 1: like particles. In the end, it's just a good figure 717 00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:02,319 Speaker 1: and gut. All right. So have you seen a quantum TV? 718 00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:04,759 Speaker 1: Does it look crisper and does it look nicer? I 719 00:39:04,760 --> 00:39:06,799 Speaker 1: think you should do some research and you'll maybe buy 720 00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:09,319 Speaker 1: yourself a TV with your grant money. Yeah, maybe I will. 721 00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:12,160 Speaker 1: You know, I did look up quantum TVs, but I 722 00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:14,799 Speaker 1: can only watch a video of a quantum TV on 723 00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:18,640 Speaker 1: my non quantum screen, and so it doesn't really come through. 724 00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:21,400 Speaker 1: It's like looking at a video of a high definition 725 00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:24,520 Speaker 1: television on your low definition television. It's not very impressive. 726 00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:26,960 Speaker 1: So I've never actually seen one. And also the only 727 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:30,000 Speaker 1: clip you can watch is a clip of vaculating quantum leap, 728 00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:33,759 Speaker 1: which doesn't help you. Yeah, they need to work on 729 00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:36,279 Speaker 1: the quantum content, really, but no, I've never actually seen 730 00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:38,560 Speaker 1: one in the wild. So any listeners out there that 731 00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:40,920 Speaker 1: have a quantum screen right to us and let us 732 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:43,680 Speaker 1: know how awesome is it. Yeah, take a picture and 733 00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:45,479 Speaker 1: send it to us to see how good it looks. 734 00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:49,839 Speaker 1: Take a quantum picture. Yeah, we'll get it and not 735 00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:52,320 Speaker 1: get it at the same time. All right, Well, um, 736 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:55,080 Speaker 1: that's pretty cool that this technology is out there. It 737 00:39:55,239 --> 00:39:58,880 Speaker 1: is being used on televisions. People are technically potentially watching 738 00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:02,000 Speaker 1: Netflix right now with the quantum TV, I hope. So 739 00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:05,760 Speaker 1: all right, and it might potentially give some pretty amazing 740 00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:09,000 Speaker 1: technologies in the future. That's right. With the power to 741 00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:12,640 Speaker 1: understand the quantum world comes the ability to engineer it 742 00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:14,920 Speaker 1: and have it do all sorts of things that normal 743 00:40:15,040 --> 00:40:18,160 Speaker 1: atoms cannot do. So it's not just that physics is 744 00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:20,799 Speaker 1: playing with the universe because we want to understand, but 745 00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:25,000 Speaker 1: sometimes there are actual benefits for humanity. Yeah, yeah, stay 746 00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:28,960 Speaker 1: tuned for those quantum tattoos. Will every physicist get one? 747 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:32,640 Speaker 1: Just do like, you know, show solidarity and team spirit. 748 00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:35,440 Speaker 1: I don't think you could ever say every physicist will 749 00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:39,520 Speaker 1: do anything apply for grants. All right, Well, we hope 750 00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:41,880 Speaker 1: you enjoyed that, and we hope you look at the 751 00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:45,880 Speaker 1: world a little bit different. Sometimes, quantum technology and quantum 752 00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:48,480 Speaker 1: effects are there for us to see and for us 753 00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:52,200 Speaker 1: to bench watch with. Well, thanks for joining us, See 754 00:40:52,200 --> 00:41:02,360 Speaker 1: you next time. Thanks for listening, and remember that Daniel 755 00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:04,920 Speaker 1: and Jorge Explain the Universe is a production of I 756 00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:08,600 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcast for my Heart Radio, visit 757 00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:12,120 Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio Apple Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 758 00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:19,319 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. Ye