Engineer Aaron Lindenberg is an expert in the ways atoms and electrons move through materials. He uses X-ray “flash photography” to make movies of atoms moving at ultrafast speeds to predict the fundamental limits of electronics in future consumer devices, solar cells, and AI chips. He estimates we are “many orders of magnitude away” from the physical limits of both speed and energy efficiency in our electronics. Today’s computers are at least a thousand times slower than they could be, Lindenberg tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.
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Chapters:
(00:00:00) Introduction
Russ Altman introduces guest Aaron Lindenberg, a professor of Material Science & Photon Science at Stanford University.
(00:03:26) Path into Materials Science
How a biology problem inspired Lindenberg’s interest in atomic-scale dynamics.
(00:05:34) What Materials Scientists Study
Understanding how atoms, electrons, and ions create useful material properties.
(00:06:44) Seeing Atoms in Motion
How X-ray scattering and diffraction reveal atomic structure and dynamics.
(00:08:59) Femtosecond Timescales
Why ultra-fast measurements are needed to capture atomic motion.
(00:10:25) Making Atomic Movies
How researchers use snapshots to study materials as they change.
(00:13:08) Speed Limits in Materials
What determines how fast a material can switch between states.
(00:15:32) Faster and More Efficient Devices
Why electronics still have room to improve in speed and energy use.
(00:17:43) The Energy Cost of Switching
How fundamental energy limits shape future computing devices.
(00:19:10) Speed, Energy, and Reliability
The trade-offs that govern how materials perform in real devices.
(00:21:29) Solar Cells at the Atomic Scale
How materials convert light into electricity inside a solar cell.
(00:23:40) Capturing Energy Before It Becomes Heat
Why ultra-fast dynamics matter for improving solar cell efficiency.
(00:26:13) Randomness in Materials
How stochastic atomic motion affects material performance.
(00:28:20) Measuring Dynamic Complexity
Why nanoscale materials do not behave the same way every time.
(00:30:26) AI for Materials Research
How AI helps in Lindenberg's research
(00:32:56) Future In a Minute
Rapid-fire Q&A: science, collaboration, and future materials.
(00:36:13) Conclusion
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