A new study published in Nature Communications April 7 could reshape the future of magnetic and electronic technology. Scientists at Rice University have discovered how a disappearing electronic pattern in a quantum material can be revived under specific thermal conditions. The finding opens new doors for customizable quantum materials and in-situ engineering, where devices are manufactured or manipulated directly at their point of use.

When it comes to layered quantum materials, current understanding only scratches the surface; so demonstrates a new study from the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI. Using advanced X-ray spectroscopy at the Swiss Light Source SLS, researchers uncovered magnetic phenomena driven by unexpected interactions between the layers of a kagome ferromagnet made from iron and tin. This discovery challenges assumptions about layered alloys of common metals, providing a starting point for developing new magnetoelectric devices and rare-earth-free motors.

At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a group of scientists used neutron scattering techniques to investigate a relatively new functional material called a Weyl semimetal. This crystalline material hosts low-energy quasiparticles, which are atomic-scale properties treated as a particle. These Weyl fermions move very quickly in a material and can carry electrical charge at room temperature. Scientists think that Weyl semimetals, if used in future electronics, could allow electricity to flow more efficiently and enable more energy-efficient computers and other electronic devices.

By tinkering with a quantum material characterized by atoms arranged in the shape of a sheriff’s star, MIT physicists and colleagues have unexpectedly discovered a new way to make a state of matter known as a strange metal. Strange metals are of interest for their unusual physics and because they have been found in the high-temperature superconductors key to a variety of applications.

Rice University scientists have discovered a first-of-its-kind material, a 3D crystalline metal in which quantum correlations and the geometry of the crystal structure combine to frustrate the movement of electrons and lock them in place.