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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