The excitation of a spin liquid on a honeycomb lattice with neutrons. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Cambridge
This state, quantum spin liquid, causes electrons – thought to be indivisible building blocks of nature – to break into pieces. The researchers, including physicists from the Uni of Cambridge, measured the first signatures of these fractional particles, known as Majorana fermions, in a 2D material with a structure similar to graphene. Their experimental results successfully matched with one of the main theoretical models for a quantum spin liquid, known as a Kitaev model. Quantum spin liquids are mysterious states of matter which are thought to be hiding in certain magnetic materials, but had not been conclusively sighted in nature.
The observation of one of their most in...
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