Scientists from Georgia Tech We have just announced the discovery of entirely new states of matter. However, the discovery itself concerns a reality that we do not deal with – at least consciously – on a daily basis.
A team of physicists has observed a new state of matter in an artificial environment with extreme properties. We’re talking about a temperature of -273 degrees Celsius, close to absolute zero, and a magnetic field 100,000 times stronger than our planet’s.
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In the course of their research, the physicists focused on a phenomenon known as the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE), specifically on the unusual behavior of FQHE states, which separate and recombine with each other when an additional source of electrical current is provided.
We are talking here about an environment and phenomena that contradict our intuition. It turns out that in the case of the partial quantum Hall effect, individual particles can have fractional charges and behave in a way that seems to contradict the laws of physics. The results of experiments conducted in this environment were so surprising to the research team that it took the scientists a long time to explain this particular behavior.
Scientists admit that without the search for the partial quantum Hall effect, we would never have known about the existence of these new states of matter.
It is worth noting that each such discovery leads to the development of new technologies that use the properties of materials in a new state of matter. In this case, researchers talk about potentially huge benefits for the advanced technology sector. So, it is possible to use new states of matter to improve computers, smartphones or renewable energy sources.
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As part of the experiment, the scientists used two-dimensional structures made of gallium arsenide and aluminum gallium arsenide in which electrons could move. When an additional electric current was applied to such a structure, the researchers were able to see something that had never been observed before. Further analyses led to the conclusion that we were dealing here with completely new states of matter.
The latest discovery could also be an important step in the development of quantum computing. The new knowledge makes scientists want to push the boundaries again in the near future by probing the behavior of matter under even more extreme conditions. No matter how you look at it, we still don’t know where the limits of surprising discoveries in quantum physics lie.
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