Phys.org October 10, 2022
An international team of researchers (Austria, the Netherlands, USA – Los Alamos National Laboratory, Rice University) used a special material made of cerium, bismuth, and palladium to demonstrate that it is possible to control topological properties and even make them disappear completely at a certain point to achieve stable, robust properties that can be selectively turn on and off. This control was made possible by the internal structure of the excitations, which are responsible for charge transport: They carry not only electric charge, but also a magnetic moment—and this makes it possible to switch them through a magnetic field. The topologically trivial but correlated background remained unaffected across this transition, as was shown by their investigations up to much larger fields. According to the researchers their work lays the ground for systematic explorations of electronic topology and boosts the prospect for topological quantum devices. The switchable topological states could be used for sensor or switching technology. Entirely new, more exotic applications in electronics, including quantum computers, are also conceivable…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Data overview and characteristic transport and thermodynamic scales of Ce3Bi4Pd3. Credit: Nature Communications volume 13, Article number: 5729 (2022)Â