Experts from the Institute of Solid State Physics of the University of Tokyo, Johns Hopkins University (in the USA) and the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (MPI-PKS) in Dresden, have managed to cool a particular material at temperatures close to absolute zero. Discovering a new quantum state.
On the pages of the magazine Nature Physics, the team explained that they realized that a fundamental property of atoms, their alignment, does not ‘freeze’ as usual, but remains in a ‘liquid’ state. With the ability to be employed as a model system for develop new highly sensitive quantum sensors.
Within quantum materials, electrons interact with unusual intensity, both with each other and with atoms in the crystal lattice. This entails powerful quantum effects which act not only on a microscopic scale, but also on a macroscopic scale.
Thanks to these properties, such materials show truly remarkable capabilities. For example, they can conduct electricity completely without loss and at very low temperatures, with slight changes in temperature, pressure or electrical voltage that can drastically change their behavior.
Furthermore, magnets can also be considered quantum materials, since magnetism is based on the intrinsic spin of the electrons present in the material. As explained by Prof. Jochen Wosnitza, of the Dresden High Field Magnetic Laboratory, “these spins can behave like a liquid. When temperatures drop they can freeze just like water turns to ice.”.
The goal of the team was precisely to create a quantum state in which the atomic alignment associated with the spins was not affected by extremely cold temperatures, as if to prevent a liquid from freezing.
To achieve this goal, the research group used a particular material, composed of elements of praseodymium, zirconium and oxygen. After several attempts, the team was able to produce crystals pure enough for their experiment, gradually cool the sample down to 20 millikelvin (only one fiftieth of a degree above absolute zero!).
Dr. Wosnitza explained: “Thanks to this discovery perhaps we will be able to use the new quantum state to develop highly sensitive quantum sensors. However, we still have to study these processes thoroughly.”.
On the other hand, according to various studies, quantum states and time could revolutionize computers. Staying on topic, do you know what a quantum computer is?
