In 1987 Paul W. Anderson, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics, proposed that high-temperature superconductivity, or loss of electrical resistance, is related to an exotic quantum state now known as quantum spin liquid. Magnetic materials are made up of very tiny magnets, which can be as small as individual electrons. The strength and direction of these are described by the magnetic moment. In quantum spin liquids, magnetic moments behave like a liquid and do not freeze or order even at absolute zero. These quantum states are being studied as promising materials for new, so-called topological quantum computers, in which operations are based on particle-like excited states found in quantum spin liquids. In addition to large computational power, a topological quantum computer is characterised by high fault tolerance, which makes it possible to increase the size of the computer. However, only a few quantum spin liquids suitable for topological quantum computers have been identified so far.
A method of tailoring the magnetism of materials developed at Aalto enabled the preparation of a new quantum spin liquid.
Now, for the first time ever, researchers from Aalto University, Brazilian Center for Research in Physics (CBPF), Technical University of Braunschweig and Nagoya University have produced the superconductor-like quantum spin liquid predicted by Anderson. This is an important step towards understanding superconductors and quantum materials. The preparation of a quantum spin liquid was made possible by a new way of tailoring the properties of magnetic materials that was developed by chemists at Aalto University. The results of the research have been published in Nature Communications.
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