The technology could support advances in high-speed communication systems, sensing tools, biological materials, and medical technologies.
Researchers at McGill University have created a new device that produces phonons, which are particles associated with sound, under extremely cold conditions. The work could help pave the way for phonon lasers, a technology with potential uses in communication systems and medical diagnostics.
“Modern communication is largely based on light, including electromagnetic waves and electrical currents. In a medium such as oceans, sound can travel, whereas light and electrical currents cannot,” said Michael Hilke, Associate Professor of Physics and study co-author. “In the human body, sound waves can also be a useful tool.”
The device was developed and studied at McGill University and the National Research Council of Canada, while the material used in the work was produced at Princeton University.
Fast electrons create sound-like vibrations
To make the device work, an electrical current is directed through a two-dimensional crystal layer, where electrons are confined inside a channel only a few atoms thick. When the electrons are driven through the channel with enough force, they give off energy in the form of phonons, producing controlled bursts of sound-related vibrations that can be adjusted in predictable ways.
The effect appears only under extreme cooling, with the devices brought down to temperatures ranging from about 10 millikelvin to 3.9 Kelvin. At those conditions, electrons move in a more orderly way, allowing scientists to study quantum effects, where matter can act more like waves than ordinary particles.
“At absolute zero temperatures—that is, the world of quantum physics—no sound is created unless electrons travel collectively at the speed of sound or above,” Hilke explained. “Earlier work had observed related effects as electron speeds approached the sound barrier. Our study goes further by pushing the system well beyond that point and showing that existing theories need to be reassessed by considering that electrons can be very hot even if the host crystal is close to absolute zero temperature.”
New materials could accelerate device speed
Hilke said future research will examine whether other materials, including graphene, could make the device run at even higher speeds.
Such advances could support faster communication technologies, improved sensors, biological materials, and advanced medical systems.
“Phonons are hard to generate and harness in a controlled way, so we are exploring new regimes. At a broad level, this is about how electrical current and energy moves and is converted inside advanced electronic materials,” he said.
Reference: “Resonant Magnetophonon Emission by Supersonic Electrons in Ultrahigh-Mobility Two-Dimensional Systems” by Z. T. Wang, M. Hilke, N. Fong, D. G. Austing, S. A. Studenikin, K. W. West and L. N. Pfeiffer, 8 April 2026, Physical Review Letters.
DOI: 10.1103/m1nb-j1h6
The study was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologie.
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