cryotron definition of cryotron in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

cryotron (krī`ōtrŏn'), magnetically controlled electronic switching device that operates at extremely low temperatures; it is designed to supplant, in part, the transistor in special electronic equipment (e.g., the computer). One type of cryotron consists of a straight wire (the gate) around which a wire coil (the control coil) is wound. Kept at temperatures near absolute zero, both wires become superconductors (see low-temperature physics low-temperature physics, science concerned with the production and maintenance of temperatures much below normal, down to almost absolute zero, and with various phenomena that occur only at such temperatures.
..... Click the link for more information. ; superconductivity superconductivity, abnormally high electrical conductivity of certain substances. The phenomenon was discovered in 1911 by Kamerlingh Onnes, who found that the resistance of mercury dropped suddenly to zero at a temperature of about 4.2°K;.
..... Click the link for more information. ), but when current is passed through the coil, a magnetic field is induced that causes the gate to lose its superconductivity, thus switching off the current through it. Another type of cryotron uses conducting films in place of the wires to increase the switching speed. The cryotron is so minute that many of these devices can be packed into a very small area, thereby greatly increasing the degree of control.