An international research group has identified a novel state of matter, characterized by the presence of a quantum phenomenon known as chiral current.
These currents are generated on an atomic scale by a cooperative movement of electrons, unlike conventional magnetic materials whose properties originate from the quantum characteristic of an electron known as spin and their ordering in the crystal.
The Importance of Chirality
Chirality is a property of extreme importance in science, for example, it is fundamental also to understand DNA. In the quantum phenomenon discovered, the chirality of the currents was detected by studying the interaction between light and matter, in which a suitably polarized photon can emit an electron from the surface of the material with a well-defined spin state.
The discovery, published in Nature, significantly enriches our knowledge of quantum materials, of the search for chiral quantum phases, and of the phenomena that occur at the surface of materials.
Potential Applications and Implications
“The discovery of the existence of these quantum states,” explains Federico Mazzola, researcher in Condensed matter physics at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and leader of the research, “may pave the way for the development of a new type of electronics that employs chiral currents as information carriers in place of the electron’s charge. Furthermore, these phenomena could have an important implication for future applications based on new chiral optoelectronic devices, and a great impact in the field of quantum technologies for new sensors, as well as in the biomedical and renewable energy fields.”
Discovery and Verification
Born from a theoretical prediction, this study directly and for the first time verified the existence of this quantum state, until now enigmatic and elusive, thanks to the use of the Italian Elettra synchrotron. Until now, knowledge about the existence of this phenomenon was in fact limited to theoretical predictions for some materials. Its observation on the surfaces of solids makes it extremely interesting for the development of new ultra-thin electronic devices.
The research group, which includes national and international partners including the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, the Spin Institute the CNR Materials Officina Institute, and the University of Salerno, investigated the phenomenon of a material already known to the scientific community for its electronic properties and for superconducting spintronics applications, but the new discovery has a broader scope, being much more general and applicable to a vast range of quantum materials.
These materials are revolutionizing quantum physics and the current development of new technologies, with properties that go far beyond those described by classical physics.
Reference: “Signatures of a surface spin–orbital chiral metal” by Federico Mazzola, Wojciech Brzezicki, Maria Teresa Mercaldo, Anita Guarino, Chiara Bigi, Jill A. Miwa, Domenico De Fazio, Alberto Crepaldi, Jun Fujii, Giorgio Rossi, Pasquale Orgiani, Sandeep Kumar Chaluvadi, Shyni Punathum Chalil, Giancarlo Panaccione, Anupam Jana, Vincent Polewczyk, Ivana Vobornik, Changyoung Kim, Fabio Miletto-Granozio, Rosalba Fittipaldi, Carmine Ortix, Mario Cuoco and Antonio Vecchione, 7 February 2024, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07033-8
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6 Comments
Keep up the good work
According to the theory of topological vortex gravitational field, the Matter With Chiral Properties is mainly manifested between topological vortices and their twin anti-vortices, rather than between the high-dimensional spacetime matter formed by their interaction. If the New State of Matter With Chiral Properties discovered by researchers do not exhibit parity conservation, charge conjugation, and time reversal symmetry, they will not be truly Chiral Properties.
Furthermore, a more serious problem is that a mistaken understanding may mislead researchers into believing that researchers have observed a so-called CP violation.
Please answer:
1. Do you understand the mathematical models of quantum mechanics?
2. Do you understand the physical reality of quantum mechanics?
3. Do you believe that quantum scale symmetry is accurate?
4. Can we not consider time reversal to study the State of Matter With Chiral Properties?
and so on.
Science must follow mathematical rules. For example, the Standard Model (SM) is considered to be one of the most significant achievements of physics in the 20th century. However, the magnetic moment of μ particle is larger than expected, revealed by a g-2 experiment at Fermilab, suggests that the established theory (such as SM) of fundamental particles is incomplete. Furthermore, the SM omitting gravity, it not involved the time problem and when the particle movement starts. Mathematics is the foundation of science. Physics must respect the scientific nature of mathematics and mathematical models. The SM must be based on mathematical models in order to be scientific, convincing, and in line with natural laws.
I hope researchers are not fooled by the pseudoscientific theories of the Physical Review Letters (PRL), and hope more people dare to stand up and fight against rampant pseudoscience.
The so-called academic journals (such as Physical Review Letters, Nature, Science, etc.) firmly believe that two high-dimensional spacetime objects (such as two sets of cobalt-60) rotating in opposite directions can be transformed into two objects that mirror each other, is a typical case of pseudoscience rampant.
If researchers are really interested in Science and Physics, you can browse https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/643404671 and https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/595280873.
Plus, not to be outdone with pseudoscience,
I’m glad they also took the time to try and and make a link, perhaps, to “climate-change” and renewables push, by stating : ” … as well as in the biomedical and renewable energy fields.”
I’ve counted four articles in this Feb 13 SciTechDaily so far, on climate-related pseudoscience.
Come on editors, where is your pledged assertion/mission, stating: “SciTechDaily: Home of the best science and technology news since 1998.”
More and more of this tripe is being published contrary to a previous email response where the publication was going to be balanced in their selection of articles (and provide alternate view articles for example).
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No MATTER the direction of progression, science is a tale that gets better and better. If cynicism has got you down and bothered try a different slice of Science.
Perhaps you are right. If we all sing praises for pseudoscience, as the Nobel Prize in Physics has already done, we must all be happy.