Information Current

Kirsty Dunnett

Do you know the gravity of your state?
Your identity means you’re not benign,
So you null facts that would irritate you,
Mention just what underlies the design
Of modernity’s sleek electronic poise:
As unacknowledged and insidious
As unpredictable, destructive noise.
Noise, you repeat, is most invidious.
In any form, imbalances induce
Potential barriers that can restrict.
Cross a critical value and reduce
A system to a default to evict.
Extend the likeness; old power will say:
“We must preserve the bases of today.”

The Science

Voltage biases control the movement of charge (current) across the semiconductor junctions that underlie most modern electronics. Whether the bias is positive or negative determines the direction in which current can flow. Too strong a bias can even physically destroy the junction. Reciprocally, a lack of bias is sometimes useful, but means that there is no preferred direction of current flow. Noise and uncontrolled 'hopping' between states are major problems that place restrictions on devices based on quantum states, where information is encoded in single atoms or electrons, rather than as charge thresholds involving many electrons.

The Poet

During a PhD and subsequent postdoctoral research position, Kirsty only ever heard colleagues say 'bias' in relation to voltage bias. She partook in the practice of using physics phrases in discussion of everyday things - or non-physics - topics. The puns running throughout this poem are mostly based in the nomenclature of quantum mechanics and 'traditional' condensed matter physics which includes semiconductors, reflecting the research areas she has worked in.

Next poem: Nature Responds by Manjula Silva