Electricity drives nearly every aspect of modern life, from powering vehicles and smartphones to running computers and countless other devices. Although electrons are invisible to the naked eye, their organized movement through a conductor creates an electric current that behaves much like water flowing through a pipe.
In some special materials, this smooth flow of electrons can become locked into ordered, crystal-like patterns. When that happens, the material shifts from conducting electricity to blocking it, offering scientists an extraordinary view into the collective behavior of electrons. This process plays a key role in developing emerging technologies such as quantum computers, advanced superconductors for energy and medical applications, improved lighting, and ultra-precise atomic clocks.
Researchers at Florida State University, including National High Magnetic Field Laboratory Dirac Postdoctoral Fellow Aman Kumar, Associate Professor Hitesh Changlani, and Assistant Professor Cyprian Lewandowski, have identified the specific conditions needed to stabilize a state of matter where electrons form a solid crystalline lattice yet can also “melt” into a liquid-like arrangement. This unusual form, known as a generalized Wigner crystal, is described in their study published in npj Quantum Materials.
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