Communications of the ACM
Controlling Quantum Interactions In a Single Material
Credit: Getty Images
An international team led by Northwestern University professor James Rondinelli has demonstrated the coexistence of multiple quantum interactions in a single material, and a means of controlling them via an electric field.
The team used computational simulations performed at the Vienna Scientific Cluster in Austria to find coexisting quantum-mechanical interactions in silver-bismuth-oxide. Bismuth facilitates the spin of the electron to interact with its own motion, and it lacks inversion symmetry, suggesting ferroelectricity should be present when the material is an electrical insulator. Applying an electric field to the material enabled the team to control whether the electron spins were coupled in pairs or separated, as well as whether the system is electrically conductive or not.
"The possibility of accessing multiple order phases, which rely on different quantum-mechanical interactions in the same material, is a challenging fundamental issue and imperative for delivering on the promises that quantum information sciences can offer," says University of Vienna professor Cesare Franchini.
From Northwestern University
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2018 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
No entries found