Physicists Uncover Novel Phase of Matter (phys.org) 50
schwit1 writes: A team of physicists led by Caltech's David Hsieh has discovered an unusual form of matter — not a conventional metal, insulator, or magnet, for example, but something entirely different (abstract). This phase, characterized by an unusual ordering of electrons, offers possibilities for new electronic device functionalities and could hold the solution to a long-standing mystery in condensed matter physics having to do with high-temperature superconductivity — the ability for some materials to conduct electricity without resistance, even at "high" temperatures approaching -100 degrees Celsius. "The discovery of this phase was completely unexpected and not based on any prior theoretical prediction... The whole field of electronic materials is driven by the discovery of new phases, which provide the playgrounds in which to search for new macroscopic physical properties."
big deal (Score:3)
Nothing new here - I've been reading novels for decades!
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But this is about a specific type of novel: the one an IPO-enriched person often claims he' going to write but rarely does once he finds out that writing books is hard work.
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Nothing new here - I've been reading novels for decades!
Read the article; they mention lasers; but, sadly I did NOT see any mention of sharks.
Tim S.
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Nothing new here - I've been reading novels for decades!
Read the article; they mention lasers; but, sadly I did NOT see any mention of sharks.
Tim S.
Sharks are often just metaphors. Though sometimes a shark is just a shark.
novels are fiction (Score:2)
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$ sudo apt-get install cowsay && sudo apt-get install fortune
$ fortune | cowsay
Moo?
$ cowsay moo
$ cowsay moo && cowsay modern app appers app apps only ludites use cows modern cows app apps
Pretty soon, I won't need Slashdot at all. They can sell the place out from under us. Don't worry, I'll set you all up shell accounts, you too AC.
Yes, I'm overtired. That is all.
Is the Sentient Universe playing dice with us? (Score:2)
And creating new particles, phases of matter, wormholes, dimensions as we get closer to unraveling its secrets?
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Stupid Universe!
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It would be funny if our whole existence was some kind of sim video game.
It would explain all the glitches and weird stuff.
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That is one theory - that the universe is some sort of hologram.
I think that Stephen Wolfram may be a proponent of this hypothesis.
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Call Me Simple But (Score:5, Funny)
I never learned the phases of matter are metal, insulator or magnet. This must be part of some new, fancy education system.
Re:Call Me Simple But (Score:4, Funny)
Actually as of late, there's a fourth. It's called 3D-printed
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Do you expect... (Score:2)
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WTF metal, insulator and 'magnet' have to do wth it is anyone's guess. Agree, fail.
Re: Do you expect... (Score:5, Informative)
You and the mods are several decades out of date. Phases of matter are no longer about one of the four classic categories you listed, but about thermodynamic transitions. Materials that transition from insulator to conductor in certain ways are undergoing a phase transition, as are changes in magnetic properties. This makes things like insulator and ferromagnetism a phase of matter in some cases, which undergoes a phase transition in response to temperature, magnetic field, or other external controls.
For some reason, most education on thermal and statistical mechanics stops about the 1870s, and doesn't cover more interesting physics, like the statistical definition of temperature instead of the kinetix (they overlap, the former is a superset of the latter).
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Someone could have noticed something unexpected, theoretically unpredicted, and then they built or adapted detectors to investigate further.
Re:Nice bit of spin (pun intended) (Score:5, Informative)
"The discovery of this phase was completely unexpected and not based on any prior theoretical prediction"
and yet for some reason they decided to build a detector specifically to look for these arrangements of electrons....
Actually, I think the original use of the detector [arxiv.org] was to developed a faster way to determine structure of crystal/electronic symmetries in solids (by measuring high-order non-linear harmonics and inferring the structure, not specifically looking for a particular arrangement). The interesting thing about this detector is that it doesn't involve moving the sample under test, so you can test samples that are under conditions that would be otherwise impractical to test using other techniques.
This latest result using this detector on Sr2IrO4 yielded a measurement that indicated a structure that didn't match the expected underlying crystal structure (thus unexpected). Furthermore, the presence of this unrelated structure seemed to be temperature dependent indicating a possible novel phase of matter that formed at a critical temperature.
Using optical second-harmonic generation, we report evidence of a hidden non-dipolar magnetic order in Sr2IrO4 that breaks both the spatial inversion and rotational symmetries of the underlying tetragonal lattice. Four distinct domain types corresponding to discrete 90-rotated orientations of a pseudovector order parameter are identified using nonlinear optical microscopy, which is expected from an electronic phase that possesses the symmetries of a magneto-electric loop-current order.
click bait title is misleading... (Score:5, Informative)
Evidence of an odd-parity hidden order in a spin–orbit coupled correlated iridate
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Bingo! Hey everyone I got science bingo.
Physicists Uncover Novel Phase of Matter (Score:4, Funny)
no, just an insulator (Score:1)
This is just a (solid) insulator with some unusually ordered electrons.
Oh, and a lot of marketing.
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setting my soul free
exotic matter
how I long to fly with you
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primitive tribesmen
gaze at the little red square
dream of things to come
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