Nano technologists at the UT research institute MESA+ have, for the first time, demonstrated quantum effects in tiny nanowires of iridium atoms. These effects, which occur at room temperature, are responsible for ensuring that the wires are almost always 4.8 nanometers — or multiples thereof — long. They only found the effects when they failed to create long nanowires of iridium. Today, the leading scientific journal, Nature Communications is publishing the research that was made possible by the FOM Foundation [Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter]. There is an increasing interest in metallic nanowires within the scientific community. This is partly because they are extremely useful as part of (nano-) electronics and partly because nanowires lend themselves to achieving more insight into the exotic and unique physical properties of one-dimensional systems. In 2003, UT researcher, Prof. Harold Zandvliet and his research group, had already succeeded — using self-assembly — in creating nanowires of platinum atoms on a surface. Because gold and iridium are both closely related to platinum, nanowires of these materials were the following logical steps. The researchers managed to create long threads with gold, but when they recently wanted to repeat the trick with iridium, it appeared that
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