Reprogrammable and Reconfigurable Photonic Molecular Logic Gates Based on Ln³⁺ Ions

Abstract

The miniaturization of the silicon chips is reaching its physical limits, and the transistors are so small that current leakage will become an insurmountable problem. Additionally, the actual chip shortage makes clear the excessive world dependence on silicon, stressing the need for silicon‐free computing strategies. Quantum computing process information by manipulating photons, and computation performed by individual molecules are being proposed as alternatives, with potential benefits in terms of miniaturization, performance enhancement, and energy efficiency. Molecular logics can play a decisive role in the future of the computer industry, and the unique photonic characteristics of trivalent lanthanide ions make them suitable candidates to integrate future molecular logic applications. In this work, a Eu3+/Tb3+ co‐doped organic–inorganic hybrid is presented as an illustrative all‐photonic logic platform constructed through the decay dynamics of both lanthanide and hybrid host emissions. Besides combinatory AND, NAND, and INH logic gates, this system presents on‐choice Eu3+, Tb3+, or host emission enabling the development of reprogrammable and reconfigurable photonic molecular logic gates. All‐photonic temperature‐reprogrammable changes from AND to INH logic gates and a reconfiguration among INH and AND1 or AND2 gates, based on the excitation wavelength are demonstrated, showing a clear step forward toward mirroring electronic logic counterparts.

Designing All‐Photonic Molecular Analogs for Electrical Components: A Reprogrammable Luminescent Filter Based on Ln3+ Ions

“…Very recently, we reported a molecular logic device using a similar material. [50] In our previ-ous work, the described logic device was required to work at two different temperatures (14 and 298 K), which was not a final engineering solution in terms of applications in real-world electronic devices. In this work, we use a different approach, exploiting the dependence of H with the f recorded at different temperatures for a fixed D (0.05 × 10 −3 s, Figure 6a).…”

“…[48,49] More recently, we reported the application of these same materials for molecular logic applications, reporting spectrally reconfigurable and temperature-reprogrammable logic gates. [50] In this work, we describe the proof-of-concept of a fully reconfigurable all-photonic molecular device based on a Tb 3+ /Eu 3+ di-nuclear complex incorporated into a di-ureasil hybrid host (dU6EuTb) that can mimic conventional electronic passive pass filters. The system yields full reversibility, contrasting with the conventional electronic components for which a new function implies a new circuitry (see Figure 1).…”

Lanthanide-based logic: a venture for the future of molecular computing

“…Recently we reported on reconfigurable and reprogrammable logic gates. 79 The system studied is an organic–inorganic hybrid (denoted by di-ureasil) doped with a bi-nuclear Eu 3+ /Tb 3+ complex. First, we defined logic operations exploiting two different wavelengths in the UV range (254 and 365 nm) as the logic inputs and as outputs the luminescence intensity quantified in terms of radiance measurements.…”

Designing Next‐Generation Molecular Logic Circuits: Photonic Concatenation in Upconverting Nanocrystals

“…Recently, our group reported a step forward in exploiting several physical inputs such as ultraviolet excitation, heat, and time parameters to define reprogrammable and reconfigurable logic gates. [16] However, molecular logic is nowadays not at such a point that it is unable to deliver molecular equivalents to electronic devices due to several technical challenges still needing to be solved.…”