Princeton scientists discover new state of matter on quantum scale

www.lightsources.org...

'Quantum Hall-like effect' found in a bulk material without an applied magnetic field

A team of scientists from Princeton University has found that one of the most intriguing phenomena in condensed-matter physics -- known as the quantum Hall effect -- can occur in nature in a way that no one has ever before seen.

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Recently, theorist Charles Kane and his team at the University of Pennsylvania, building upon a model proposed by Duncan Haldane of Princeton, predicted that electrons should be able to form a Hall-like quantum fluid even in the absence of an externally applied magnetic field, in special materials where certain conditions of the electron orbit and the spinning direction are met. The electrons in these special materials are expected to generate their own internal magnetic field when they are traveling near the speed of light and are subject to the laws of relativity.

In search of that exotic electron behavior, Hasan's team decided to go beyond the conventional tools for measuring quantum Hall effects. They took the bulk three-dimensional crystal of bismuth-antimony, zapped it with ultra-fast X-ray photons and watched as the electrons jumped out. By fine-tuning the X-rays, they could directly take pictures of the dancing patterns of the electrons on the edges of the sample. The nature of the quantum Hall behavior in the bulk of the material was then identified by analyzing the unique dancing patterns observed on the surface of the material in their experiments.

It is always promising to see a new exotic quantum state occur in nature. The applied science of the newfound material creates a rush of new technologies.

How much longer before we can create room tempurature superconductors that allow for the lattic ion effect described by Ning Li?


Kudo's to the Princeton team for working outside the box and making a huge breakthrough.

reply to

in special materials where certain conditions of the electron orbit and the spinning direction are met. The electrons in these special materials are expected to generate their own internal magnetic field when they are traveling near the speed of light and are subject to the laws of relativity.

post by bigfatfurrytexan

Hi BFFT,
Nice find! I see it is getting the same attention as some of the fantastic things I post about!

On the practical side do you know of any use for the phenomen they have discovered? Why might they be looking at this?

very nice find indeed.

Quantum Physics and Mechanics are an extremely interesting and fascinating subject. i believe that further discoveries in our future with Quantum Physics and Mechanics will answer some of the universe's big questions.

Thanks again!!

Originally posted by plumranch

On the practical side do you know of any use for the phenomen they have discovered? Why might they be looking at this?

Certainly. I have several threads here on nanotech research. I have a friend involved in it, and it is a fascinating field. "Metamaterials" will shape tomorrow in every concievable way.

The most obvious benefit of this would be "spintronic" computing:

Conventional electronic devices rely on the transport of electrical charge carriers - electrons - in a semiconductor such as silicon. Now, however, physicists are trying to exploit the 'spin' of the electron rather than its charge to create a remarkable new generation of 'spintronic' devices which will be smaller, more versatile and more robust than those currently making up silicon chips and circuit elements. The potential market is worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year. See Spintronics

All spintronic devices act according to the simple scheme: (1) information is stored (written) into spins as a particular spin orientation (up or down), (2) the spins, being attached to mobile electrons, carry the information along a wire, and (3) the information is read at a terminal. Spin orientation of conduction electrons survives for a relatively long time (nanoseconds, compared to tens of femtoseconds during which electron momentum decays), which makes spintronic devices particularly attractive for memory storage and magnetic sensors applications, and, potentially for quantum computing where electron spin would represent a bit (called qubit) of information. See Spintronics

Nano-tech Now

You can imagine how handy it would be to be able to control spin in an environment (at room temperature) without having to generate and shield a magnetic field? If you understand photonics (and quantum computing) in any degree (it would still likely be more than i understand it!!! LOL) the applications of such "spintronic" memory becomes phenomenal. Further, the recent use of phonon's to control the quantum tunneling effect provides a further boon to the possibility of creating a true, marketable quantum computer.

You can imagine how handy it would be to be able to control spin in an environment (at room temperature) without having to generate and shield a magnetic field?

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


So you think it is a matter of finding the right material (under perhaps the right conditions) to generate and maintain the spin and magnetic field? And then we are on track for quantum computing?




[edit on 29/4/08 by plumranch]

reply to post by plumranch


Ummm....well, i guess, yeah.

With anything there are multiple approaches and multiple solutions. If there is more than one way to skin a cat, human kind has shown that it REALLY like skinning cats.

The key here is that this allows for improved data storage. No, this doesn't help circuitry. That is likely going to use photons or some such. What this does is improve data storage/retrieval.

reply to post by plumranch


They might just be exploring the quantum world, not looking for anything specific. Ascribing motives to them looking at this stuff is pointless, at least at this juncture.