-tron, -tronic, -tronics +

(Greek: a suffix referring to a device, tool, or instrument; more generally, used in the names of any kind of chamber or apparatus used in experiments)


A possible allusion to the Greek instrumental suffix, as in árotron, "plow" as spelled in the U.S. or "plough", as spelled by the British; from the Greek stem aroun, "to plow".

The suffix -tron is the result of the combining form extracted from electron, used with nouns or combining forms, principally in the names of electron tubes (ignitron; klystron; magnetron) and of devices for accelerating subatomic particles (cosmotron; cyclotron); also, more generally, in the names of any kind of chamber or apparatus used in experiments (biotron).

omegatron
In electronics, an instrument that photographs and identifies any radioactive gases that remain after an evacuation.
periastron
1. The points in space and time in the orbits of two stars in a binary system when they are closest to each other.
2. That point, in the real or apparent orbit of one star revolving around another (double-star systems), when the former star is nearest to the other star.
phanotron
A hot-cathode gas diode that uses an arc discharge in mercury vapor or an inert gas.
phantastron (fantastic + tron)
A monostable pentode circuit used to generate sharp pulses at an adjustable and accurately timed interval after receipt of a triggering signal.
photoelectron
An electron released or ejected from a substance by photoelectric effect.
photonics, photronics
Products and technologies that operate using light energy; such as, the term of photons which is combined with electronics; including optical components, imaging sensors and systems, lasers, and fiber optics.

Photonics is an area of study centering around the generation and utilization of radiant energy; such as, light for various applications.

phytotron
1. A place in which plants can be grown under controlled conditions; for example, a greenhouse.
2. A controllable artificial environment used for the study of plants under well-defined conditions.
plectron
1. The hammer form assumed by certain bacilli during sporulation.
2. A small thin device (of metal, plastic, or ivory) used to pluck a stringed instrument.
plektron
A tool of plucking a stringed instrument.
positron, antielectron
1. An elementary particle having the same mass and magnitude of charge as an electron but exhibiting a positive charge; a positive electron.
2. A positively charged particle of the same mass and magnititude of charge as an electron; a positive electron.
scanning electron microscopy
The technique using a scanning electron microscope on a specimen.
solitron
A solitary wave; a quantum or quasiparticle propagated in the manner of a solitary wave.
spintronics
1. The storage and transfer of information using the spin state of electrons as well as their charge.
2. A new technology exploiting quantum properties of electrons' spin for a new generation of electronic devices.
3. Known as "spin-based electronics" it is also known as magnetoelectronics and it is an emergent technology which exploits the quantum spin states of electrons as well as making use of their charge state.

Spintronics is an advanced form of electronics that harnesses not just the electrical charge of electrons; such as, in conventional electronics; but also a property called "spin" that makes electrons act like tine bar magnets.

Some computers already contain the first and most rudimentary commercial applications of spintronics. Since 1998, hard-drive read heads have used a spintronic effect called giant magnetoresistance to detect the microscopic magnetic domains on a disk that represent the 1's and the 0's of the data it contains.

  • Electrons carry both charge and spin, but only spintronic devices exploit the two properties simultaneously to achieve innovative capabilities.
  • Spintronics brings us disk-drive read heads and non-volatile memory chips today and perhaps instant-on computers with reconfigurable chips tomorrow.
  • Synthetic semi-conducting diamond may be the new silicon for a future era of quantum spintronic technology that manipulates single spins, enabling quantum computers, and other quantum information devices.

The advantages of spintronics

  1. Very high densities of data storage on disk drives.
  2. Nonvolatile memory chips.
  3. "Instant-on" computers.
  4. Chips that both store and process data.
  5. Chips operating at higher speeds and consuming less power than current conventional ones.
  6. Chips with logic gates that can be reconfigured on the fly.
  7. Quantum cryptography and quantum computing at room temperature.

—Most information for this word-section came from
"The Diamond Age of Spintronics"
by David D. Awschalom, Ryan Epstein, and Ronald Hanson
Scientific American, October, 2007; pages 56-65.
synchrocyclotron
1. A type of cyclotron that modulates the frequency of the electric fields that accelerate the particles, thereby keeping the accelerating forces synchronized with the particle as its mass increases with velocity due to the effects of relativity, and providing greater energies for the accelerated particles than an unsynchronized cyclotron.
2. A type of cyclotron that synchronizes its accelerating voltage with particle velocity in order to compensate for the relativistic mass increase of the particle as it approaches the speed of light.
synchrotron (s) (noun), synchrotrons (pl)
In nucleonics, a kind of accelerator or cyclotron whereby the electric field is kept at a constant frequency: A synchrotron is a machine that accelerates charged particles in circular orbits by varying the repetitions of the accelerating voltage and also magnetic field so as to maintain a circular orbit.