{"id":654873,"date":"2025-02-27T07:45:14","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T04:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/physicists-find-unexpected-crystals-of-electrons-in-new-ultrathin-material\/"},"modified":"2025-02-27T07:45:14","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T04:45:14","slug":"physicists-find-unexpected-crystals-of-electrons-in-new-ultrathin-material","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/physicists-find-unexpected-crystals-of-electrons-in-new-ultrathin-material\/","title":{"rendered":"#Physicists find unexpected crystals of electrons in new ultrathin material"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40952c9608e\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40952c9608e\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/physicists-find-unexpected-crystals-of-electrons-in-new-ultrathin-material\/#New_material\" >New material<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/physicists-find-unexpected-crystals-of-electrons-in-new-ultrathin-material\/#New_results\" >New results<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-gallery lightGallery\">\n<div data-thumb=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/tmb\/2025\/physicists-find-unexpe.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/2025\/physicists-find-unexpe.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"This graphic visualizes how electrons can behave as a solid (left, glacier-like structure) or liquid (river-like structure) depending on the voltage applied to a new material cooled to an ultra-low temperature akin to that of outer space. Credit: Michael Hurley and Sampson Wilcox\/Research Laboratory of Electronics\">\n<figure class=\"article-img\">\n            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2025\/physicists-find-unexpe.jpg\" alt=\"Physicists find unexpected crystals of electrons in new ultrathin material\" title=\"This graphic visualizes how electrons can behave as a solid (left, glacier-like structure) or liquid (river-like structure) depending on the voltage applied to a new material cooled to an ultra-low temperature akin to that of outer space. Credit: Michael Hurley and Sampson Wilcox\/Research Laboratory of Electronics\" width=\"800\" height=\"530\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3\">\n                This graphic visualizes how electrons can behave as a solid (left, glacier-like structure) or liquid (river-like structure) depending on the voltage <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>lied to a new material cooled to an ultra-low temperature akin to that of outer space. Credit: Michael Hurley and Sampson Wilcox\/Research Laboratory of Electronics<br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>MIT physicists report the unexpected discovery of electrons forming crystalline structures in a material only billionths of a meter thick. The work adds to a gold mine of discoveries originating from the material, which the same team discovered only about three years ago.<\/p>\n<p>In a paper <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-024-08470-1\" target=\"_blank\">published<\/a> Jan. 22 in <i>Nature<\/i>, the team describes how electrons in devices made, in part, of the new material can become solid, or form crystals, by changing the voltage applied to the devices when they are kept at a temperature similar to that of outer space. Under the same conditions, they also showed the emergence of two new electronic states that add to work they reported last year showing that electrons can split into fractions of themselves.<\/p>\n<p>The physicists were able to make the discoveries thanks to new custom-made filters for better insulation of the equipment involved in the work. These allowed them to cool their devices to a temperature an order of magnitude colder than they achieved for the earlier results.<\/p>\n<p>The team also observed all of these phenomena using two slightly different &#8220;versions&#8221; of the new material, one composed of five layers of atomically thin carbon; the other composed of four layers. This indicates &#8220;that there&#8217;s a family of materials where you can get this kind of behavior, which is exciting,&#8221; says Long Ju, an assistant professor in the MIT Department of Physics who led the work. Ju is also affiliated with MIT&#8217;s Materials Research Laboratory and Research Lab of Electronics.<\/p>\n<p>Referring to the new material, known as rhombohedral pentalayer graphene, Ju says, &#8220;We found a gold mine, and every scoop is revealing something new.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"New_material\"><\/span>New material<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Rhombohedral pentalayer graphene is essentially a special form of pencil lead. Pencil lead, or graphite, is composed of graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in hexagons resembling a honeycomb structure. Rhombohedral pentalayer graphene is composed of five layers of graphene stacked in a specific overlapping order.<\/p>\n<p>Since Ju and colleagues discovered the material, they have tinkered with it by adding layers of another material they thought might accentuate the graphene&#8217;s properties, or even produce new phenomena. For example, in 2023 they created a sandwich of rhombohedral pentalayer graphene with &#8220;buns&#8221; made of hexagonal boron nitride. By applying different voltages, or amounts of electricity, to the sandwich, they discovered three important properties never before seen in natural graphite.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-gallery lightGallery\">\n<div data-thumb=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/tmb\/2025\/physicists-find-unexpe-1.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/hires\/2025\/physicists-find-unexpe-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"EQAH states in device 1, the pentalayer device. Credit: &lt;i&gt;Nature&lt;\/i&gt; (2025). DOI: 10.1038\/s41586-024-08470-1\">\n<figure class=\"article-img text-center\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2025\/physicists-find-unexpe-1.jpg\" alt=\"Physicists find unexpected crystals of electrons in new ultrathin material\" title=\"EQAH states in device 1, the pentalayer device. Credit: Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038\/s41586-024-08470-1\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-left text-darken text-truncate text-low-up mt-3\">\n                EQAH states in device 1, the pentalayer device. Credit: <i>Nature<\/i> (2025). DOI: 10.1038\/s41586-024-08470-1<br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Last year, Ju and colleagues reported yet another important and even more surprising phenomenon: Electrons became fractions of themselves upon applying a current to a new device composed of rhombohedral pentalayer graphene and hexagonal boron nitride.<\/p>\n<p>This is important because this &#8220;fractional quantum Hall effect&#8221; has only been seen in a few systems, usually under very high magnetic fields. The Ju work showed that the phenomenon could occur in a fairly simple material without a magnetic field. As a result, it is called the &#8220;fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect&#8221; (anomalous indicates that no magnetic field is necessary).<\/p>\n<div class=\"ads w-100 my-4 article-main__more bg-light p-3 border\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-3\">\n        Discover the latest in <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a>, tech, and space with over <strong>100,000 subscribers<\/strong> who rely on Phys.org for daily insights.<br \/>\n        Sign up for our <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sciencex.com\/help\/newsletter\/\" target=\"_blank\">free newsletter<\/a> and get updates on breakthroughs,<br \/>\n        innovations, and research that matter\u2014<strong>daily or weekly<\/strong>.\n    <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"New_results\"><\/span>New results<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In the current work, the Ju team reports yet more unexpected phenomena from the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> rhombohedral graphene\/boron nitride system when it is cooled to 30 millikelvins (1 millikelvin is equivalent to -459.668 degrees Fahrenheit). In last year&#8217;s paper, Ju and colleagues reported six fractional states of electrons. In the current work, they report discovering two more of these fractional states.<\/p>\n<p>They also found another unusual electronic phenomenon: the integer quantum anomalous Hall effect in a wide range of electron densities. The fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect was understood to emerge in an electron &#8220;liquid&#8221; phase, analogous to water. In contrast, the new state that the team has now observed can be interpreted as an electron &#8220;solid&#8221; phase\u2014resembling the formation of electronic &#8220;ice&#8221;\u2014that can also coexist with the fractional quantum anomalous Hall states when the system&#8217;s voltage is carefully tuned at ultra-low temperatures.<\/p>\n<p>One way to think about the relation between the integer and fractional states is to imagine a map created by tuning electric voltages: By tuning the system with different voltages, you can create a &#8220;landscape&#8221; similar to a river (which represents the liquid-like fractional states) cutting through glaciers (which represent the solid-like integer effect), Ju explains.<\/p>\n<p>Ju notes that his team observed all of these phenomena not only in pentalayer rhombohedral graphene, but also in rhombohedral graphene composed of four layers. This creates a family of materials, and indicates that other &#8220;relatives&#8221; may exist.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This work shows how rich this material is in exhibiting exotic phenomena. We&#8217;ve just added more flavor to this already very interesting material,&#8221; says Zhengguang Lu, a co-first author of the paper. Lu, who conducted the work as a postdoc at MIT, is now on the faculty at Florida State University.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-main__more p-4\">\n<p><strong>More information:<\/strong><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tZhengguang Lu et al, Extended quantum anomalous Hall states in graphene\/hBN moir\u00e9 superlattices, <i>Nature<\/i> (2025). <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-doi=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1038\/s41586-024-08470-1\" target=\"_blank\">DOI: 10.1038\/s41586-024-08470-1<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"d-inline-block text-medium mt-4\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tProvided by<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMassachusetts Institute of <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"icon_open\" href=\"http:\/\/web.mit.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<use href=\"https:\/\/phys.b-cdn.net\/tmpl\/v6\/img\/svg\/sprite.svg#icon_open\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/svg><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"article-main__note mt-4\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t  <i>This story is republished courtesy of MIT <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> (<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/web.mit.edu\/newsoffice\/\" target=\"_blank\">web.mit.edu\/newsoffice\/<\/a>), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching.<\/i>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- print only --><\/p>\n<div class=\"d-none d-print-block\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>Citation<\/strong>:<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhysicists find unexpected crystals of electrons in new ultrathin material (2025, February 26)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tretrieved 26 February 2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2025-02-physicists-unexpected-crystals-electrons-ultrathin.html\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script id=\"facebook-jssdk\" async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/category\/sciencee\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Science category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2025-02-physicists-unexpected-crystals-electrons-ultrathin.html\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This graphic visualizes how electrons can behave as a solid (left, glacier-like structure) or liquid (river-like structure) depending on the voltage applied to a new material cooled to an ultra-low temperature akin to that of outer space. Credit: Michael Hurley and Sampson Wilcox\/Research Laboratory of Electronics MIT physicists report the unexpected discovery of electrons forming&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":654874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/2025\/physicists-find-unexpe.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-654873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sciencee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}