Scienceblogtwo

Atoms that are essentially locked in an ordered framework make up solids. On the other hand, atoms in a liquid can freely move past and around one another. But consider atoms that are continually shifting magnetic messes and remain non-frozen, similar to those in a liquid. The result is a quantum spin liquid, a hitherto unheard-of quantum strangeness state of matter. Researchers have now achieved this state in the lab by carefully manipulating atoms. On December 2, the researchers published their findings in the journal Science. For years, scientists had debated several spin liquids ideas. The project's coordinator and one of the paper's authors, Harvard University physicist Giulia Semeghini, adds, "But we really got extremely interested in this when these theorists, here at Harvard, eventually established a mechanism to actually make the quantum spin liquids." The laws of quantum mechanics can twist atoms into a variety of exotica when applied under severe circumstan...