Physicists, including UMass Amherst professor Tigran Sedrakyan, have identified a new phase of matter called the “chiral bose-liquid state,” as detailed in a recent publication in Nature. This discovery emerges from studying kinetic frustration in quantum systems, where interactions between particles create unpredictable behavior. Unlike conventional states of matter, the chiral bose-liquid state exhibits distinctive properties like unchangeable electron spin and long-range entanglement. The discovery is significant for future advancements in fault-tolerant digital data encoding.
The researchers engineered a "frustration machine" using a bilayer semiconducting device, where an imbalance between electrons in the top layer and "holes" in the bottom layer leads to complex interactions, akin to a musical chairs game for electrons. This frustration generates a robust chiral state that maintains its electron spin despite external disruptions, demonstrating unique characteristics. Importantly, the electrons and holes move with equal velocities, resulting in helical-like transport observable only in high magnetic fields.
This breakthrough expands our comprehension of quantum states beyond classical solids, liquids, and gases, paving the way for future innovations in quantum computing and materials science.
