Homo ludens-designing tomorrow's games

In an electronic and cybernetic world, when one is faced with the task of devising different kinds of interaction among participants, it is worth reflecting that, out of the many and various activities which people engage in, there is one kind of activity which has been cultivated, practised and performed for thousands of years by all members of society. This is the playing of games

Mn-doped II-VI quantum dots: artificial molecular magnets

The notion of artifical atom relies on the capability to change the number of carriers one by one in semiconductor quantum dots, and the resulting changes in their electronic structure. Organic molecules with transition metal atoms that have a net magnetic moment and display hysteretic behaviour are known as single molecule magnets (SMM). The fabrication of CdTe quantum dots chemically doped with a controlled number of Mn atoms and with a number of carriers controlled either electrically or optically paves the way towards a new concept in nanomagnetism: the artificial single molecule magnet. Here we study the magnetic properties of a Mn-doped CdTe quantum dot for different charge states and show to what extent they behave like a single molecule magnet.Comment: Conference article presented at QD2006, Chamonix, May 200