Juxtapore
| Juxtapore | |
|---|---|
 A sliding pore drawn at 40 percent of full aperture, one of the 197 animations in Iridian, a gallery published by the company | |
| Classification | Mechanical nanopore |
| Inventor | Molecular Reality Corporation (term) |
| Year | By 2026 |
| Related | Sliding occlusion, Solid-state nanopore |
A juxtapore is a pore formed by two solid surfaces sliding alongside each other, with the sensing gap between their edges. The word was coined by Molecular Reality Corporation for the adjustable pores it develops. The company's guide defines it: "A juxtapore is a pore formed by two surfaces sliding alongside each other, their edges close enough to form the sensing gap. Adjust the position of the surfaces and you adjust the gap itself."[1]
In the company's vocabulary sliding occlusion is the action and a juxtapore is the opening that results. Both belong to the wider class of mechanical nanopores, which also includes pores in stretched rubber and the triangular aperture of a 2001 Agilent Technologies patent.
Etymology
The word joins the Latin iuxta, "next to", the root of juxtapose, to pore. The guide says: "Juxtapore is our own word, chosen because it says precisely what the thing does."[1] An earlier form appears in a March 2026 message about pore arrays the company made in 2020, which slide over partner arrays "while only allowing a single juxtaposition to be open at the same time" and have "the potential to form juxtaposed true nanopores".[2]
Adoption
The term replaced an older one. The company was founded in 2018 under a name taken from Maxwell's demon, and its posts used the same name for the pores themselves as late as March 2026.[3] The August 2026 guide introduces "juxtapores" as "our new framing for the pores we study" and explains the change of names in two sentences: "scientists rename things when they understand them better. We understood better."[1]
The same guide refers to the company's old web address as "an old name I mention exactly once in this entire guide". The company's 2026 style notes for its own copy ask for "juxtapore" in lower case and for "demonpore" at most once per page.[4] This article follows both rules.
An hour-long recording of a sliding pore on the company's video channel is titled "HourOfPoreBehavior". The company's own list of its videos calls it the "60-minute juxtapore recording".[5][4]
Related terms
- Underpore
- The fixed hole beneath a sliding element. Kemmish's account of the company's best early experiment, around 2018, describes "a beautiful, fully wet, stable 200 nm underpore".[6]
- Top blade
- The sliding element in that experiment, whose motion made "the current trace moving up and down".[6]
- Selector aperture
- A sliding opening that passes over an array of underpores and brings one at a time into line, "like a vernier caliper", in the design of the Molecular Aquarium.[4]
Characteristics
The size of a juxtapore depends on how far the surfaces have moved, so one device covers a range of sizes. Company materials describe a juxtapore that opens to tens of micrometers. They also describe a "sub-5nm juxtapore". That figure is the precision with which the surfaces can be positioned; apertures below 15 nm are a target the company has not reached.[4][7] In August 2026 the guide gave the size of the pores then in use as "larger than a nanometer".[1]
Shape depends on the holes. Two square windows 100 nm wide, offset diagonally by 95 nm in each direction, leave a square opening 5 nm on a side; two round holes leave a lens, which narrows to a slot long before it closes.[7] Silicon etched in hot potassium hydroxide forms square windows by itself, because the etch stops on crystal planes inclined at 54.74 degrees.
The guide describes the intended use as "a pore you can widen to admit a molecule, then narrow to hold it, then release, a valve with molecular fingers."[1] Opening the gap also clears debris, which the company's patent calls "regeneration of an appropriate sensor geometry in the event of corrosion or clogging".[8] The patent's claims cover stacks of at least three membranes. A juxtapore, by the guide's definition, needs two surfaces.
Adjustable pores are older than the word. Izon Science has sold pores in stretched elastomer membranes since 2009, and the Agilent application of 2001 formed its aperture between the corner of one etched hole and the edge of another.[7][9] The guide does not claim the general idea: "We are not the first, and we are not pretending to be. We are a small branch on a seventy year old tree, and the tree is wonderful."[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Keltar's Field Guide to Molecular Reality". Molecular Reality Corporation. August 2026.
- ^ Quartermaster (March 29, 2026). "The Line". EQBio-OS.
- ^ Kemmishtree (March 29, 2026). "rain of blood". EQBio-OS.
- ^ a b c d "Company records". Molecular Reality Corporation. October 2026.
- ^ HourOfPoreBehavior (Video). EpicQuestBio.
- ^ a b Kemmishtree (March 29, 2026). "Focused Ion Beam pore". EQBio-OS.
- ^ a b c Lenora Ashgrove (October 8, 2026). "Can a Hole That Slides Read a Molecule?" Signal & Noise.
- ^ "US10908144B2: Stacks of coaligned nanopores and fabrication and uses thereof". Google Patents. Retrieved October 25, 2026.
- ^ "US6706203B2: Adjustable nanopore, nanotome, and nanotweezer". Google Patents. Retrieved October 25, 2026.
