Disclaimer: Copyright infringement not intended.

Context

• Researchers at Nanjing University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst have discovered a new phase of matter.
• According to research, the Chiral Bose-Liquid state may be an entirely new state of matter.

Background

• In our day-to-day life, we encounter three types of matter—solid, liquid, and gas. But, when we move beyond the realm of daily life, we see exotic or quantum states of matter, such as plasma, time crystals, and Bose-Einstein condensate.
• These are observed when we go to low temperatures near absolute zero or on atomic and subatomic scales, where particles can have very low energies and takes on an entirely different character.
• These so-called quantum states of matter are far more complex and intriguing than anything we experience in our day-to-day lives.
• In this “quantum” state of matter, matter behaves in ways quite different from the solid, liquid, gaseous states.

Chiral Bose-liquid state

• Scientists are now claiming that they have found a new phase of matter.
• The new phase called the chiral Bose-liquid state, was discovered by physicists in a frustrated quantum system 

Description

• Researchers have dedicated years to exploring these extraordinary quantum states, focusing particularly on the concept of “band degeneracy,” “moat bands,” or “kinetic frustration” in strongly interacting quantum matter.
• In a typical system, particles interact with each other in predictable ways. However, in a frustrated quantum system, these interactions can lead to infinite possibilities and give rise to novel quantum states.
• Researchers set out to engineer a “frustration machine” in the form of a bilayer semiconducting device.
• By introducing a local imbalance between the number of electrons and holes in the device’s layers, they created a scenario akin to a game of musical chairs, where electrons were forced to scramble and consider multiple possibilities for their “seating” arrangement.
• This engineered frustration resulted in the emergence of a new state of matter known as the chiral bose-liquid state.
• This state exhibits remarkable characteristics, such as the freezing of electrons into a predictable pattern when approaching absolute zero.
• Moreover, the emergent charge-neutral particles in this state exhibit a specific spin orientation (a property of subatomic particles) —either clockwise or counterclockwise—that remains unaffected by collisions with other particles or the introduction of a magnetic field. This robust spin property can even be harnessed for fault-tolerant encoding of digital data.
• A particularly intriguing aspect of the chiral bose-liquid state is the collective behavior of its particles when an external particle collides with one of them.
• Instead of behaving individually, all the particles react in exactly the same way, a phenomenon attributed to the long-range entanglement present in this quantum system.

QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT: https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/tardigrades-and-quantum-entanglement

QUANTUM COMPUTING: https://www.iasgyan.in/blogs/quantum-computing

Significance

• The observation of this new “chiral bose-liquid state” is a significant step forward for quantum physicists in describing how charged particles interact at the quantum level.
• This groundbreaking work not only sheds light on the fascinating behavior of matter under extreme quantum conditions, but also opens up new possibilities for harnessing quantum phenomena for practical applications.
• As we continue to delve deeper into the quantum world, discoveries like the chiral bose-liquid state bring us one step closer to unraveling the mysteries of the physical universe and pushing the boundaries of scientific knowledge.

Download PDF