An international research team has discovered a new state of matter, characterized by the presence of a quantum phenomenon called chiral currents.
These currents are generated at the atomic scale through the coordinated movement of electrons, unlike traditional magnetic materials, which derive their properties from the quantum properties of electrons called spins and their orderliness in crystals.
Chirality is an extremely important property in science, for example, it is also fundamental to understanding DNA. Among the quantum phenomena discovered, the chirality of electric currents is detected by studying the interaction between light and matter, in which appropriately polarized photons can emit electrons with a well-defined spin state from the surface of the material.
This discovery, published in the journal Nature, greatly enriches our understanding of quantum materials, the search for chiral quantum phases, and the phenomena that occur on the surface of materials.
The discovery of the existence of these quantum states," explains Federico Mazzola, a researcher in condensed matter physics at Ca' Foscari University and head of the study, "could pave the way for the development of a new type of electronics that uses chiral currents as information carriers to replace the charge of electrons."
In addition, these phenomena may have important implications for future applications based on novel chiral optoelectronic devices, as well as in the field of quantum technology for new sensors, as well as in the fields of biomedicine and renewable energy.
This research stems from a theory** that, thanks to the use of the Italian Elettra synchrotron, directly and for the first time verifies the existence of this quantum state, which until now remains mysterious and elusive. So far, knowledge about the existence of this phenomenon has been practically limited to theories about certain materials**. Its observation on solid surfaces makes it very interesting for the development of new ultra-thin electronics.
The Startup Program The research group includes national and international partners, including Ca' Foscari University, the Institute of Spin Research, the CNR Institute for Materials Research and the University of Salerno, who study material phenomena already known to the scientific community for electronic properties and applications of superconducting spintronics, but the new discoveries have a much broader scope, are more general, and are applicable to a wide range of quantum materials.
These materials are revolutionizing quantum physics and the development of current new technologies, with properties far beyond those described in classical physics.
References: Federico Mazzola, Wojciech Brzezicki, Maria Teresa Mercaldo, Anita Guarino, Chiara Bigi, Jill Amiwa、domenico de fazio、alberto crepaldi、jun fujii、giorgio rossi、pasquale orgiani、sandeep kumar chaluvadi、shyni punathum chalil、giancarlo panaccione、anupam jana、vincent Polewczyk, Ivana Vobornik, Changyoung Kim, Fabio Miletto-Granozoio, Rosalba Fittipaldi, Carmine Ortix, Mario Cuoco and Antonio Vecchione, February 7, 2024, Nature.
doi： 10.1038/s41586-024-07033-8