| Date | 26th, Nov 2021 |
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Physicists have created a new ultra-thin two-layer material with quantum properties that normally require rare earth compounds. Credit: Heikka Valja
By combining two-dimensional materials, researchers create a macroscopic quantum entangled state emulating rare earth compounds.
Physicists have created a new ultra-thin two-layer material with quantum properties that normally require rare earth compounds. This material, which is relatively easy to make and does not contain rare earth metals, could provide a new platform for quantum computing and advance research into unconventional superconductivity and quantum criticality.
The researchers showed that by starting from seemingly common materials, a radically new quantum state of matter can appear. The discovery emerged from their efforts to create a quantum spin liquid that they could use to investigate emergent quantum phenomena such as gauge theory. This involves fabricating a single layer of atomically thin tantalum disulfide, but the process also creates islands that consist of two layers.
When the team examined these islands, they found that interactions between the two layers induced a phenomenon known as the Kondo effect, leading to a macroscopically entangled state of matter producing a heavy-fermion system.
