Something unexpected is happening inside a material called platinum-bismuth-two (PtBi2). According to a new study from researchers at IFW Dresden and the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat, this shiny gray crystal may look ordinary, but the electrons inside it behave in ways scientists have never observed before.
In earlier work published in 2024, the team showed that only the top and bottom surfaces of PtBi2 become superconducting, meaning electrons can pair up and flow without resistance. Their latest results reveal something even more surprising. The way these electrons pair is unlike any known superconductor. Even more intriguing, the edges surrounding these superconducting surfaces naturally host elusive Majorana particles, which are considered promising building blocks for fault-tolerant quantum bits (qubits) in future quantum computers.
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