POLYMER QUANTUM WIRES. By restricting the spatial motions of electrons in semiconductors, one also begins to restrict the electron's allowable energies. With this comes greater control over the way in which the electrons' wave properties can be used in practical devices such as diode lasers, the ones used in CD players. So far "quantum confinement" structures that restrict motion in one dimension (quantum wells), two dimensions (quantum wires), and all three dimensions (quantum dots) have been made with inorganic semiconductors such as GaAs. But now scientists at Rochester (Samson Jenekhe, jenekhe@che.rochester.edu) report that they have made light- emitting quantum wires using a blend of two polymers. The linear chain structure and electronic properties of polymers make them a sort of natural quantum wire to begin with. It's rather early to compare to GaAs optical devices, but the polymer versions might have better stability in high electric fields. Furthermore, as an organic material, the polymer wires could be "grown" rather than built up in an expensive epitaxial process using particle beams in vacuum chambers. (Chen and Jenekhe, Applied Physics Letters, 27 January 1997.)