Controlling the energy transfer in dipole chains

Processing digital signals on the molecular scale is of great interest. In this paper, we discuss the control of pulselike energy propagation through one-dimensional arrays of dipoles. Three systems are explored. In the first system, a chain of coaxial dipoles is gated by two control dipoles. Changing the orientation of these control dipoles lets us control the transfer of energy in the chain. In the other two systems, the chain-branch system and the two-branch system, two chains are used as an input and the propagation of energy is controlled by sending one or two signals toward the junction. Both systems can operate as a logical AND port. Their geometrical configurations are key to a well-defined control and operation of the AND port.