Researchers at Uppsala University, along with other collaborators, have discovered a novel 2D quantum material in a recent study published in Nature. This groundbreaking material is composed of atomically thin layers of cerium, silicon, and iodine (CeSiI), marking the first instance of a 2D material with heavy fermions.
“The electrons in CeSiI behave as if they have up to 100 times more mass than electrons in ordinary materials. This is why they are called heavy fermions. What is extra special about CeSiI is that this effective mass is anisotropic, that it depends on the direction in which the electrons move in the atomic layers,” says Chin-Shen Ong, one of the Uppsala researchers behind the study.
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