New evidence for electron’s dual nature found in a quantum spin liquid

EurekAlert  May 13, 2021
In spin liquid materials, the spins are constantly changing in a tightly coordinated, entangled choreography resulting in one of the most entangled quantum states. A team of researchers in the US (Princeton University, University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Purdue University) proposed that in the quantum regime an electron may be regarded as composed of two particles, one bearing the electron’s negative charge and the other containing its spin they called it spinon. They searched for signs of the spinon in a spin liquid composed of ruthenium and chlorine atoms. The measurements demanded an extraordinarily precise control of the sample temperature as well as careful calibrations of the thermometers in the strong magnetic field. In a series of experiments conducted over nearly three years, they detected temperature oscillations consistent with spinons with increasingly higher resolution, providing evidence that the electron is composed of two particles consistent with the previous prediction. If this finding and the spinon interpretation are validated, it would significantly advance the field of quantum spin liquids…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE

Quantum oscillations in the QSL phase in α-RuCl3 (Sample 1). Credit: Nature Physics (2021) 

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