Apparatus and method for producing an ion channel microprobe

A system for producing an ion channel, comprising:

• an electrically conductive material;
• an electrically conductive test point spaced from said electrically conductive material;
• a shroud gas electrically coupled with said electrically conductive material and said electrically conductive test point, which shroud gas includes an alkali metal selected from the group consisting of rubidium, potassium and cesium in combination with a gas selected from the group consisting of argon, helium, neon, krypton, xenon and nitrogen, said gas having a temperature of less than about 100° C. and a pressure greater than about 0.5 atm;
• and
• at least one continuous low intensity wave laser being operatively configured to generate a resonant laser beam such that said laser beam propagates through said electrically conductive material, propagates through said shroud gas to produce an ion channel within said shroud gas, contacts said electrically conductive test point, and creates by resonant excitation an electrically conductive metal ion channel between said electrically conductive material and said electrically conductive test point to define an electrically conductive path.

A system for producing an ion channel, comprising:

• a first electrically conductive material;
• a second electrically conductive material being spaced from said first electrically conductive material;
• a shroud gas coupled with said first and second electrically conductive materials, which shroud gas includes a member selected from the group consisting of alkali metals of Group 1 of the Periodic Table and alkaline earth metals of Group 2 of the Periodic Table in combination with a member selected from the group consisting of noble gases of Group 8 of the Periodic Table and nitrogen;
• and
• at least one laser being single photon resonant with said metal group member's electronic state and being operatively configured to generate a resonant laser beam such that said laser beam propagates through said first conductive material, propagates through said shroud gas to produce an ion channel within said shroud gas, contacts said second conductive material, to create an electrically conductive ion channel between said first electrically conductive material and said second electrically conductive material to define first and second terminals, respectively, of an electrical path.

A system for producing a conductive ion channel for testing an electrically conductive test point, comprising:

• an electrically conductive film;
• an electrically conductive test point being spaced from said electrically conductive film;
• a shroud gas electrically coupled with said electrically conductive film and said electrically conductive test point, which shroud gas includes an alkali metal selected from the group consisting of rubidium, potassium, lithium, sodium and cesium in combination with a gas selected from the group consisting of argon, helium, neon, krypton, xenon and nitrogen, said gas having a temperature of between about 40° C. to about 50° C. and a pressure between about 0.5 atm and about 1.5 atm;
• first and second continuous wave lasers operatively configured to generate first and second resonant laser beams, respectively, each resonant laser beam having a different frequency than the other;
• a beam combiner located within a first path of said first laser beam and a second path of said second laser beam, said beam combiner operatively configured to combine said first and second resonant laser beams to produce a co-propagating resonant laser beam;
• an optical element located within a third path of said co-propagating laser beam for focusing said co-propagating laser beam, said optical element configured such that said co-propagating laser beam propagates through said electrically conductive film, propagates through said shroud gas to produce an ion channel within said shroud gas, contacts said electrically conductive test point, and creates by resonant excitation of said metal group member an electrically conductive ion channel between said electrically conductive film and said electrically conductive test point to define first and second terminals, respectively, of an electrically conductive path;
• an electrical source coupled between said first and second terminals for producing a signal on said electrically conductive path;
• and
• a signal detector for detecting the signal produced on said electrically conductive path.

A method for producing a conductive ion channel between first and second electrically conductive materials, comprising the steps of:

• providing a shroud gas coupled with said first and second electrically conductive materials, said shroud gas including an alkali metal selected from the group consisting of rubidium, potassium, sodium, lithium and cesium in combination with a gas selected from the group consisting of argon, helium, neon, krypton, xenon and nitrogen;
• providing at least one laser that is resonant with the electronic state of said alkali metal for generating a resonant laser beam;
• propagating the laser beam through the first conductive material and through the shroud gas to produce an ion channel within the shroud gas;
• contacting the laser beam with the second conductive material;
• and
• creating by resonant excitation an electrically conductive ion channel between the first electrically conductive material and the second electrically conductive material to define first and second terminals, respectively, of an electrical path.