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Physicists Uncover Novel Phase of Matter (phys.org)

Posted by Soulskill on from the like-jello-but-jelloier dept.

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."

50 comments

  1. big deal by Tumbleweed · · Score: 2

    Nothing new here - I've been reading novels for decades!

    1. Re:big deal by Roblimo · · Score: 1

      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.

    2. Re:big deal by TimSSG · · Score: 1

      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.

    3. Re:big deal by Tumbleweed · · Score: 1

      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.

    4. Re: big deal by ememisya · · Score: 1

      They should just reverse engineer regular matter.

  2. novels are fiction by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    And Now for Something Completely Different is real

  3. Is the Sentient Universe playing dice with us? by haruchai · · Score: 1

    And creating new particles, phases of matter, wormholes, dimensions as we get closer to unraveling its secrets?

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    1. Re:Is the Sentient Universe playing dice with us? by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 1, Funny

      Wormholes only exist because the universe ate gas station sushi...
      Stupid Universe!

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    2. Re:Is the Sentient Universe playing dice with us? by binarylarry · · Score: 1

      It would be funny if our whole existence was some kind of sim video game.

      It would explain all the glitches and weird stuff.

      --
      Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
    3. Re:Is the Sentient Universe playing dice with us? by haruchai · · Score: 1

      That is one theory - that the universe is some sort of hologram.
      I think that Stephen Wolfram may be a proponent of this hypothesis.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    4. Re: Is the Sentient Universe playing dice with us? by dsmatthews9379 · · Score: 1

      What sort of Raspberry Pi add-on is an asshat?

    5. Re:Is the Sentient Universe playing dice with us? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I mean, sure, if you completely lack a functional definition of "video game" and "existence", and blame everything you don't understand on "glitches"

  4. Bless you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hsieh hsieh

  5. Dirt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What was covering it? Stupid summary!

  6. Call Me Simple But by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

    1. Re:Call Me Simple But by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Actually as of late, there's a fourth. It's called 3D-printed

    2. Re: Call Me Simple But by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't get me started on Common Core...

    3. Re:Call Me Simple But by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I never learned the phases of matter are metal, insulator or magnet. This must be part of some new, fancy education system.

      Ah, yes, this would be the new "Common Cord" standards.

      Captcha: Laughed

    4. Re:Call Me Simple But by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 1

      How condensating of you :)

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

  7. New phase of matter... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I call it ...

    flubber.

  8. Unpossible if not predicted by The Standard Model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Please disregard as usual

  9. Re:Phases of matter are for cows. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You seem to have mad cow disease...

  10. Do you expect... by Bartles · · Score: 1

    ...me to actually read this article to find any sort of description of what this phase is? No thanks! Fail.

    1. Re:Do you expect... by GrahamCox · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Solid, Liquid, Gas and Plasma.

      WTF metal, insulator and 'magnet' have to do wth it is anyone's guess. Agree, fail.

    2. Re: Do you expect... by Anonymous Coward · · 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).

    3. Re: Do you expect... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So we've rediscovered that the ancient greeks were closer to the truth all along, with their earth, water, air and fire? Those 'Enlightenment' wiseguys sure have a thing or two to learn, haven't they?

    4. Re: Do you expect... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You seem to have forgotten bose einstein condensate.

    5. Re: Do you expect... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So we've rediscovered that the ancient greeks were closer to the truth all along, with their earth, water, air and fire?

      No... seems more like quite the opposite, where there are not four categories that everything gets mapped onto or mixed between, but instead looking at relationships between two parameters and how they vary.

    6. Re: Do you expect... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And fermionic condensate.

    7. Re:Do you expect... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fail indeed. It's the failure of IDIOTS who cannot read failing to comprehend anything beyond their mommies bedroom. Welcome to your new career in Fast Food Service Technology. IOW, do you want fries with that?

    8. Re:Do you expect... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, but it is not "anyone's guess," but a guess only for those who didn't bother to even try to look it up. Wikipedia has a straight forward article on phase of matter, and it is not something to be confused with the classic four states of matter.

  11. Nice bit of spin (pun intended) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "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....

    1. Re:Nice bit of spin (pun intended) by blue+trane · · Score: 1

      Someone could have noticed something unexpected, theoretically unpredicted, and then they built or adapted detectors to investigate further.

    2. Re:Nice bit of spin (pun intended) by slew · · Score: 4, 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 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.

  12. click bait title is misleading... by morethanapapercert · · Score: 4, Informative
    This is probably a Slashdot problems sort of thing. But for me, just the bare title of the actual paper being referred to is more informative and easier to comprehend than the journalist written popularization of it...

    Evidence of an odd-parity hidden order in a spin–orbit coupled correlated iridate

    --
    I need a wheelchair van for my son. Help me get the word out. https://www.gofundme.com/wheelchair-van-for-jj
    1. Re:click bait title is misleading... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed.
      Disclaimer: I hold a PhD in physics. Although not in that area, I have enough memory of my solid state classes to understand roughly the abstract.

    2. Re:click bait title is misleading... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OK, you can put down your PhD now, or you're gonna get tired.

    3. Re:click bait title is misleading... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Bingo! Hey everyone I got science bingo.

  13. ... but ... this time it's the *NOVEL COW* ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yo, cow dude !

    You want moo... moo... you go moo... moo... all you want, but this time you gonna have to moo... the *novel* cows!

  14. Physicists Uncover Novel Phase of Matter by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 3, Funny

    Let me guess... what is something almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea?

  15. no, just an insulator by Goldsmith · · Score: 0

    This is just a (solid) insulator with some unusually ordered electrons.

    Oh, and a lot of marketing.

    1. Re:no, just an insulator by dsmatthews9379 · · Score: 1

      So , virtual matter, like a quantum dot is a virtual atom?

    2. Re:no, just an insulator by TheRealHocusLocus · · Score: 2

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  16. Re:Phases of matter are for cows. by KGIII · · Score: 1

    $ 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.

    --
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  17. Lack of News Coverage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't want to fuel any conspiracy theories, but has anyone else noticed a distinct lack of news coverage on things like CISA from the big, main news sources? If it makes it in at all, it's typically a short blurb with no analysis.

    I'm interested in hearing the /. community's thoughts on why this might be the case.

  18. Uh... 100C superconducting would be great! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But, it should be 100K, not 100C...

  19. Re:Uh... 100C superconducting would be great! by ZorglubZ · · Score: 1

    It's minus 100 C, or 173.15 K.