Scientists merge two “impossible” materials into new artificial structures

An international team led by Rutgers University’s New Brunswick researchers merged two lab-synthesised materials into synthetic quantum structures that once could not exist and produced an expected exotic structure that could provide insights that could lead to new materials at the core of quantum computing.

The work, described in the cover story in the journal Nano Letters, explains how four years of continuous experiments lead to a novel approach to designing and building a unique, tiny sandwich made of unique atomic layers. One piece of microstructure is made of sodium titanate, an inorganic compound used in nuclear reactors to capture radioactive materials and contain elusive magnetic single-electropore particles, while the other is made of Pyrochlorre Iridate (a type composed of Pyrochlorre Iridate), a new magnetic semi-content that is mainly used in today’s experimental research, due to its unique magnetic properties of electron, magnetic and magnetic properties.

Individually, both materials are often considered “impossible” materials because of their unique properties that challenge conventional understanding of quantum physics.

The construction of exotic sandwich structures laid the foundation for scientific exploration, called the interface in the atomic weight scale, the area where materials meet.

“This work provides a new way to design completely new artificial two-dimensional quantum materials, with the potential to push quantum technology in ways that were previously impossible and gain a deeper understanding of its fundamental properties.” said Jak Chakhalian, professor of experimental physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rutgers and Artgers Schools and Science Ancience and Science A.

Chakhalian and his team are exploring a field that follows the laws of quantum theory, a branch of physics that describes the behavior of matter and energy at the atomic and subatomic levels. At the heart of quantum mechanics is the concept of wave-particle duality, where quantum objects can have wave-like and particle-like properties, which is the fundamental principle behind technologies such as lasers, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and transistors.

The Chakaharians highly praised the efforts of three Rutgers students, who made significant contributions to the study: Michael Terilli and Tsung-Chi Wu, both PhD students, and Dorothy Doughty, who graduated in 2024 and worked on the study. In addition, materials scientist Mikhail Kareev, who worked with Chakhalian, made a major contribution to the new synthesis method, as well as Fangdi Wen, a doctoral student who recently graduated from the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Creating a unique quantum sandwich is so technically challenging that the team had to build a new device to accomplish the feat, Chakhalian said.

The instrument is called Q-DIP, the abbreviation of the quantum phenomenon discovery platform and was completed in 2023. Q-DIP combines an infrared laser heater with another laser that can construct material at the atomic level, layer by layer. The combination allows scientists to explore the most complex quantum properties of materials until ultra-cooled temperatures of absolute zero.

“To the best of our knowledge, this survey is unique in the United States and it represents a breakthrough improvement,” Chakalian said.

Half of the experimental sandwich for titanate (also known as rotating ice) has a special quality. The tiny magnets inside, called rotation, are arranged in a pattern that looks exactly like water ice. The unique structure of tiny magnets in rotating ice allows them to appear as special particles called magnetic monopoles.

Magnetic monopole is a particle that works like a magnet, but only one pole – north or south, but neither is the two. The object, predicted by Nobel Prize winner Paul Dirac in 1931, does not exist in free form in the universe, but in rotating ice, emerges due to quantum mechanical interactions in the material.

On the other side of the sandwich, the semi-scientific pyrochlorre liquid is also considered alien because it contains tiny relativistic particles called Weyl Fermions. Again, it is surprising that, despite Hermann Weyl’s prediction in 1929, these exotic particles were found in 2015 as crystals, moving like light, and can rotate in different ways – left-handed or right-handed. Their electronic properties are very powerful and can resist certain types of interference or impurities, making them very stable as part of an electronic device. As a result, pyrochlorre fluid can perform electricity well, respond to the magnetic field in an abnormal manner, and exhibit special effects when exposed to the electromagnetic field.

Chakhalian said the combined performance of the new materials created makes it a promising candidate, including quantum computing, especially for next-generation quantum sensors.
“This research is a big step in material synthesis that can significantly influence the way we create quantum sensors and advance Spintronic devices,” he said.

Quantum computing uses the principles of quantum mechanics to process information. Quantum computers use qubits or qubits that exist simultaneously in multiple states because the principle of quantum physics is called superposition. This can make complex calculations more efficiently executed compared to classical computers.

The specific electrons and magnetism of materials developed by researchers can help create very unusual but stable quantum states, which are crucial for quantum computing.

When quantum technology becomes practical, it will have a significant impact on ordinary life by revolutionizing drug discovery and medical research, significantly improving the costs of operations, predictability and financial, logistics and manufacturing. It also hopes to revolutionize machine learning algorithms and make artificial intelligence systems more powerful, scientists say.