Pritiraj Mohanty is a physicist and entrepreneur. He is a professor of physics at Boston University.[1] He is most known for his work on quantum coherence, mesoscopic physics, nanomechanical systems, and nanotechnology with a recent focus on biosensing and nanomechanical computing.[2]

Raj Mohanty
Occupation(s)Physicist, academic, and entrepreneur
Academic background
EducationPh.D. in Quantum Physics
Alma materUniversity of Maryland, College Park
California Institute of Technology
Academic work
InstitutionsBoston University

Mohanty is the founder of FemtoDx, Sand 9,[3] and Ninth Sense.

Education

edit

Mohanty graduated with a Ph.D. in Quantum Physics from the University of Maryland, College Park. Subsequently, he completed his Postdoc at the California Institute of Technology.[4]

Career

edit

Following his postdoctoral research, Mohanty joined Boston University as a faculty member. He started his career as an astrophysicist on the ROSAT Satellite Team at the Goddard Space Flight Center in NASA.[5] He has been a Physics Professor at Boston University since 2011. He is a professor at Materials Science Division as well.[6] He has served as an Affiliated Faculty at the Boston Medical Center (Cancer Center).

Following his postdoctoral research, Mohanty joined Boston University as a faculty member. He started his career as an Astrophysicist on the ROSAT Satellite Team at the Goddard Space Flight Center in NASA.[5] He has been a Physics Professor at Boston University since 2011. He is a professor at Materials Science Division as well. He has served as an Affiliated Faculty at the Boston Medical Center (Cancer Center).[6]

Mohanty was the CEO of Sand 9, a semiconductor microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) company, from June 2007 to January 2010. He currently serves as the CEO of FemtoDx, a medical device company he founded.[7]

Research

edit

Mohanty’s research spans quantum physics, nanomechanics, biosensing, and nanomechanical computing. His recent research interest is primarily focused on analog machine learning, wireless power transfer, and functional nanomaterials.

Nanomechanical systems and MEMS

edit

Mohanty’s research on nanomechanical systems and Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) focuses on the use of nanoscale mechanical resonators to study fundamental physics problems. These problems include macroscopic quantum systems, electron spin torque, stochastic resonance, synchronization, mechanical analog of nonlinear optics of effect[8] and nonlinear dissipation.[9]

A complementary aspect of Mohanty’s research involves the use of some of these concepts to build devices for real-world applications. These include nonlinear nanomechanical resonators as mechanical bits or memory, high-frequency nanomechanical oscillators for silicon-based timing oscillators for cellular and GPS timing devices,[10] nanomechanical torque oscillators for detecting electron spin flip,[11] second and third harmonic generation using piezoelectric nonlinearity, wireless actuation of mechanical resonators for potential use in implantable devices in the human brain or the body, wireless transfer of information using radiation force on mechanical resonators.

Nanomechanical computing

edit

In 2004, Mohanty’s team proposed and demonstrated that the nonlinear bistability of a nanomechanical beam can be used as a nanomechanical bit for computation.[12] They showed that the nanomechanical beam can be controlled to remain in one of the two states ("1" or "0") with 100% fidelity. Using this bistable system, Mohanty’s team demonstrated that the signal can be enhanced by adding white noise to the nanomechanical system, following the concept of stochastic resonance.[13] They demonstrated a noise-assisted reprogrammable nanomechanical logic gate.[14] In an attempt to create an energy-efficient computing architecture, Mohanty and his team developed a reversible computation building block and implemented a Fredkin gate, a universal logic gate from which any other reversible gate can be built. These universal logic gates were shown to be capable of processing information with an energy cost approaching the fundamental von-Neumann Landauer limit.[15]

Silicon Brain: Neurocomputing

edit

Mohanty’s team has also worked on creating a fundamental building block for neurocomputing using nano- and micro-mechanical resonators. They argued that a network of mechanical oscillators can be used to store, retrieve and recognize complex visual patterns through the corresponding synchronized state.[16] They demonstrated that the smallest unit of the network, a coupled two-oscillator system displays all the aspects of synchronization.[17] Separately, the team put forward an architecture consisting of a network of mechanical oscillators that can be used for visual pattern recognition.[18]

Wireless power and information transfer

edit

Mohanty’s team has demonstrated the use of micromechanical resonators for wireless power transfer,[19] specifically to be used as implantable biomedical devices in the body or the brain where the size of the device is even more important than the power efficiency. Such devices can be placed inside the brain with precise spatial positioning and externally charged with high efficiency. In a separate effort, Mohanty and his team have demonstrated actuation of micromechanical resonators using radiation pressure generated by a laser.[20] The team has been able to transfer information, including images, encoded in the laser light beam, into the micromechanical resonator placed at a distance with 100% fidelity.[21]

Biosensing

edit

Mohanty has worked in developing silicon-based biosensing platform[22] for quantitative detection of protein and enzyme markers in blood and other physiological fluids. Using an approach of top-down lithography, Mohanty and his team demonstrated that their silicon nanowire field effect transistor sensor can detect a number of analytes,[23][24] relevant in cancer and cardiovascular diseases, with clinical-level sensitivity and specificity.

Quantum computing, decoherence, and mesoscopic physics

edit

In the early part of his career, Mohanty’s research focused on quantum decoherence and mesoscopic physics. He focused his study on quantum computing and quantum coherence in mesoscopic systems. In a study, Mohanty and Webb showed that there is intrinsic decoherence of electrons that persists even at zero temperature.[25] He explored quantum fluctuations at zero-point fluctuations. The conducted study indicated that at low temperatures, it is the intrinsic environment that affects the phase-coherence time in the mesoscopic system. The study aimed to integrate the limited dephasing time with temperature dependency in the thermal regime.[26] His work in mesoscopic physics continued to the ultrasensitive measurement of persistent current in mesoscopic gold rings,[27] where he and his team were able to measure persistent current generated by as few as one electron. Mohanty also proposed a novel mechanism of persistent current.[28] Using his measurement of conductance fluctuations, Mohanty and Webb demonstrated violation of one-parameter scaling hypothesis.[29]

Awards and honors

edit
  • 2005 – National Science Foundation CAREER Awards, CAS [30]
  • 2005 – Sloan Fellow

Bibliography

edit
  • Mohanty, P., Jariwala, E. M. Q., & Webb, R. A. (1997). Intrinsic decoherence in mesoscopic systems. Physical Review Letters, 78(17), 3366.
  • Badzey, R. L., & Mohanty, P. (2005). Coherent signal amplification in bistable nanomechanical oscillators by stochastic resonance. Nature, 437(7061), 995-998.
  • Shim, S. B., Imboden, M., & Mohanty, P. (2007). Synchronized oscillation in coupled nanomechanical oscillators. science, 316(5821), 95-99.

References

edit
  1. ^ Moran, Barbara; University, Boston. "Building a wireless micromachine". phys.org.
  2. ^ "Pritiraj Mohanty". scholar.google.com.
  3. ^ "Future looks promising for Sand9 |".
  4. ^ "Pritiraj Mohanty, Ph.D. | College of Engineering". www.bu.edu.
  5. ^ "NASA Tech Briefs". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. August 25, 2005 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ "Pritiraj Mohanty - Research Gate Profile".
  7. ^ "FemtoDx". FemtoDx.
  8. ^ Mateen, Farrukh; Boales, Joseph; Erramilli, Shyamsunder; Mohanty, Pritiraj (July 2, 2018). "Micromechanical resonator with dielectric nonlinearity". Microsystems & Nanoengineering. 4 (1): 14. Bibcode:2018MicNa...4...14M. doi:10.1038/s41378-018-0013-6. PMC 6161537. PMID 31057902.
  9. ^ Imboden, Matthias; Mohanty, Pritiraj (August 25, 2014). "Dissipation in nanoelectromechanical systems". Physics Reports. 534 (3): 89–146. Bibcode:2014PhR...534...89I. doi:10.1016/j.physrep.2013.09.003.
  10. ^ "TCMO: A Versatile MEMS Oscillator Timing Platform" (PDF).
  11. ^ Zolfagharkhani, Guiti; Gaidarzhy, Alexei; Degiovanni, Pascal; Kettemann, Stefan; Fulde, Peter; Mohanty, Pritiraj (December 25, 2008). "Nanomechanical Detection of Itinerant Electron Spin Flip". Nature Nanotechnology. 3 (12): 720–723. arXiv:0903.1894. Bibcode:2008NatNa...3..720Z. doi:10.1038/nnano.2008.311. PMID 19057590. S2CID 18507653.
  12. ^ Badzey, Robert L.; Zolfagharkhani, Guiti; Gaidarzhy, Alexei; Mohanty, Pritiraj (2004). "A controllable nanomechanical memory element". Applied Physics Letters. 85 (16): 3587–3589. arXiv:cond-mat/0503258. Bibcode:2004ApPhL..85.3587B. doi:10.1063/1.1808507. S2CID 119038371.
  13. ^ Badzey, Robert L.; Mohanty, Pritiraj (October 25, 2005). "Coherent signal amplification in bistable nanomechanical oscillators by stochastic resonance". Nature. 437 (7061): 995–998. arXiv:cond-mat/0603108. Bibcode:2005Natur.437..995B. doi:10.1038/nature04124. PMID 16222295. S2CID 4402015 – via www.nature.com.
  14. ^ Guerra, Diego N.; Bulsara, Adi R.; Ditto, William L.; Sinha, Sudeshna; Murali, K.; Mohanty, P. (April 14, 2010). "A Noise-Assisted Reprogrammable Nanomechanical Logic Gate". Nano Letters. 10 (4): 1168–1171. Bibcode:2010NanoL..10.1168G. doi:10.1021/nl9034175. PMID 20218630.
  15. ^ "A Nanomechanical Fredkin Gate - Nano Letters (ACS Publications) - PDF Free Download". datapdf.com.
  16. ^ Kumar, Ankit; Mohanty, Pritiraj (March 24, 2017). "Autoassociative Memory and Pattern Recognition in Micromechanical Oscillator Network". Scientific Reports. 7 (1): 411. Bibcode:2017NatSR...7..411K. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-00442-y. PMC 5428492. PMID 28341856.
  17. ^ Vidal, Diego N. Guerra (August 25, 2013). "Noise in nonlinear nonoelectromechanical resonators" – via open.bu.edu. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  18. ^ Shim, Seung-Bo; Imboden, Matthias; Mohanty, Pritiraj (April 6, 2007). "Synchronized oscillation in coupled nanomechanical oscillators". Science. 316 (5821): 95–99. Bibcode:2007Sci...316...95S. doi:10.1126/science.1137307. PMID 17412955. S2CID 17336617 – via PubMed.
  19. ^ Mateen, Farrukh; Maedler, Carsten; Erramilli, Shyamsunder; Mohanty, Pritiraj (August 15, 2016). "Wireless actuation of micromechanical resonators". Microsystems & Nanoengineering. 2 (1): 16036. doi:10.1038/micronano.2016.36. PMC 6444740. PMID 31057830.
  20. ^ Boales, Joseph A.; Mateen, Farrukh; Mohanty, Pritiraj (November 22, 2017). "Micromechanical Resonator Driven by Radiation Pressure Force". Scientific Reports. 7 (1): 16056. Bibcode:2017NatSR...716056B. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-16063-4. PMC 5700072. PMID 29167498.
  21. ^ Boales, Joseph A.; Mateen, Farrukh; Mohanty, Pritiraj (August 28, 2017). "Optical wireless information transfer with nonlinear micromechanical resonators". Microsystems & Nanoengineering. 3 (1): 17026. doi:10.1038/micronano.2017.26. PMC 6444992. PMID 31057867.
  22. ^ "Silicon-based Nanoelectronic Field-Effect pH Sensor with Local Gate Control".
  23. ^ Chen, Yu; Wang, Xihua; Hong, Mi K.; Rosenberg, Carol L.; Reinhard, Björn M.; Erramilli, Shyamsunder; Mohanty, Pritiraj (December 6, 2010). "Nanoelectronic detection of breast cancer biomarker". Applied Physics Letters. 97 (23): 233702. Bibcode:2010ApPhL..97w3702C. doi:10.1063/1.3519983 – via aip.scitation.org (Atypon).
  24. ^ Maedler, Carsten; Kim, Daniel; Spanjaard, Remco A.; Hong, Mi; Erramilli, Shyamsunder; Mohanty, Pritiraj (June 24, 2016). "Sensing of the Melanoma Biomarker TROY Using Silicon Nanowire Field-Effect Transistors". ACS Sensors. 1 (6): 696–701. doi:10.1021/acssensors.6b00017. S2CID 16466116.
  25. ^ "Intrinsic Decoherence in Mesoscopic Systems".
  26. ^ Mohanty, P.; Webb, R. A. (May 15, 1997). "Decoherence and quantum fluctuations". Physical Review B. 55 (20): R13452–R13455. arXiv:cond-mat/9710094. Bibcode:1997PhRvB..5513452M. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.55.R13452. S2CID 40044665 – via APS.
  27. ^ Jariwala, E. M.; Mohanty, P.; Ketchen, M. B.; Webb, R. A. (February 1, 2001). "Diamagnetic Persistent Current in Diffusive Normal-Metal Rings". Physical Review Letters. 86 (8): 1594–1597. Bibcode:2001PhRvL..86.1594J. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.1594. PMID 11290201. S2CID 16826450 – via NASA ADS.
  28. ^ Mohanty, P. (November 25, 1999). "Persistent current in normal metals". Annalen der Physik. 511 (7–9): 549–558. arXiv:cond-mat/9912262. Bibcode:1999AnP...511..549M. doi:10.1002/andp.199951107-902. S2CID 248267575.
  29. ^ "Anomalous Conductance Distribution in Quasi-One Dimensional Gold Wires: Possible Violation of One-Parameter Scaling Hypothesis".
  30. ^ "National Science Foundation CAREER Awards | Office of the Provost". www.bu.edu.