When thin becomes thinner: Germanene nanoribbons pave the way for quantum computing
Schematic representation of Germanene 1D nanoribbon topological insulators (Illustration: UTwente)
March 3, 2025 – If you start with a two-dimensional ribbon and make it narrower and narrower, when does it stop being a ribbon and start being a one-dimensional line? Scientists from Utrecht University and the University of Twente made one-atom-thick ultrathin nanoribbons consisting of germanium atoms. They have shown that this system exhibits amazing properties that can be useful, for example, in quantum computing. Their work was recently published in Nature Communications under the title ‘Realization of a one-dimensional topological insulator in ultrathin germanene nanoribbons’.
