Light-Induced Lattice Twisting can Photogenerate Giant Electric Current
Written by AZoOpticsJan 20 2021
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy s Ames Laboratory and collaborators at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the University of Alabama at Birmingham have discovered a new light-induced switch that twists the crystal lattice of the material, switching on a giant electron current that appears to be nearly dissipationless.
The discovery was made in a category of topological materials that holds great promise for spintronics, topological effect transistors, and quantum computing.
Weyl and Dirac semimetals can host exotic, nearly dissipationless, electron conduction properties that take advantage of the unique state in the crystal lattice and electronic structure of the material that protects the electrons from doing so.
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This news release, written by Laura Millsaps at Ames Laboratory, is being jointly issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory. Brookhaven Lab media contacts: Ariana Manglaviti, 631-344-2347, amanglaviti@bnl.gov or Peter Genzer, 631-344-3174, genzer@bnl.gov; Ames Lab media contact: Laura Millsaps, 515-294-3474, millsaps@ameslab.gov.
Light-induced Twisting of Weyl Nodes Switches on Giant Electron Current
January 18, 2021
Collaborating scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy s Ames Laboratory, Brookhaven Laboratory and the University of Alabama Birmingham used laser pulses to twist the crystal lattice of a Weyl semimetal, switching on a giant electron current that appears to be nearly dissipationless. The discovery and control of such properties brings these materials another step closer to use in applications such as quantum computing.