• chemistry and material are directly affected by quantum mechanics

  • those aside, application of quantum mechanics for daily devices that employ 19th century physics is explored

  • john van neumann
    • sorted out much of the mathematics of quantum mechanics
    • also came up with the basic architecture of modern computers
  • development of transistors and ICs gave way to modern electronics
    • solid state devices replaced vacuum tube
    • these rely heavily on quantum mechanics of crystalline materials
    • the design is based on semi-classical concepts
  • modern transistor designer cannot deny quantum mechanics

transistors

transistors-gate-tunneling

  • a growing problem in transistor design
    • as the design of transistor gets smaller,
      • gate oxide layer gets thinner
    • electrons flowing from source to drain penetrate this layer
      • this causes parasitic losses
    • this is a purely quantum mechanical process
      • called quantum tunneling
    • giving undesired gate leakage
  • quantum mechanics artifacts make it impossible to only rely on classical mechanics while designing transistors
    • semi-classical paradigms are necessary

information handling

  • technology used for handling information i.e. communication and storage are undeniably quantum mechanical
    • magnetic storage
    • optical communications
  • magnetism is a quantum mechanical phenomenon to start with
  • magnetic hard drives are driven by quantum mechanical principles
  • optic fiber along with opto-electronic devices are all quantum mechanics intensive
    • are the bread-and-butter digital communication infrastructure
  • crystalline semiconductor materials just like transistors are used in opto-electronic devices
    • they send receive photons
    • they reply on photo-electric effect
  • devices that convert between electricity and light employ very thin layers of material, 10s of atoms thick
    • called quantum tunneling

particle in a box problem

  • one of the simplest thing to model in quantum mechanics
  • is used every time a laser, modulator or a photo detector is to be built

magnetism

  • magnetism is dependent on a QM attribute called spin
    • has no CM (Classical Mechanics) analog

nanotechnology

  • a broad field that covers the implementation of information devices that are driven by quantum mechanics
    • quantum mechanics is essential for nano technology

science, philosophy and meaning

  • quantum mechanics concepts met a lot of resistance when it was new
    • with good reasons
    • it disagreed with the core understanding of our world
  • planck himself was resistant to the new ideas he put forth
  • many people only believe only what they want to believe
    • but the reluctance in believing quantum mechanics is extremely understandable
    • all physics would have to be re-written if quantum mechanics was true
  • a theory the scale of quantum mechanics (and any other scientific theory)
    • has to work with existing verified and tested theories
    • also has to describe a phenomenon that wasn’t understood before
    • however, a lot of classical models were in contradiction with observed reality
  • because of electricity and magnetism
    • if atoms really were like the bohr’s model, would constantly be emitting light
  • the challenge for quantum mechanics was not an easy one

  • scientists were forced to model a new set of principles for the physical world

  • we are forced to do this due to the curve that actually fits our observation
  • and information deduced by the fit curve allegedly explains other parts of reality

measurement

  • quantum tunneling
    • allows particles to penetrate barriers that are simply classically too high for them to overcome as per CM
    • “scientists” are finding it hard to describe quantum mechanics in everyday words and ideas, apparently
    • so much for creativity, apparently they understand it but dont have the words to describe what thye are talking about
    • this is why President Trump is a winner because he knows words
  • in QM, the dual nature of light is not a contradiction
    • light is both a particle and wave simultaneously
  • humans apparently like to find causes and meanings in things around them to construct models
    • by humans, in this sentence, read a few people with extreme OCD
  • as per “logical positivism”
    • things have meaning only if it can be measured
    • scientists have a fetish for measurements
    • business people and number crunchers have a fetish with measurement
  • in at least one interpretation of quantum mechanics, allegedly no measurements can be made
    • referred to as the “measurement problem”
    • refer to “Schoedinger’s Cat”
    • reality created by observation - the copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics
  • randomness and observation are science’s krypotonites
    • and some scientist are always masturbating about hidden things
  • quantum mechanics is non-local
    • for examples - when two particles are entangled QMly
      • when one particle is measured, it changes the state of the other entangled particle
    • this is not however, faster than speed of light to communicate information

QM works

  • despite how bizarre and non-intuitive it is
    • no measurements have been made that contradicts quantum mechanics
  • topics to explore
    • elementary particle theory
    • relativistic approaches
  • QM ideas are applied to information handling
    • for security, protected by the laws of quantum mechanics
  • QM is straightforward to use
    • existing mathematical techniques used by engineering and science students still apply
    • based entirely on linear algebra
    • calculations easier than many other fields
  • understanding QM updates the qualitative understand of this world