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In most everyday materials, such as copper, silver, and silicon, the behavior of electrons is relatively predictable. In quantum materials, however, electrons can interact in complex ways, giving rise to collective electronic states with remarkable properties. Understanding how these states emerge — and, ultimately, how to control them — is one of the central challenges in quantum materials research.
Now, researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and Hiroshima University have discovered that a small magnetic field switches the layered quantum material CeTe₃ between competing electronic states that appear as striped or checkerboard patterns. Published July 23 in Nature Communications, the work reveals how magnetism can reorganize a quantum material’s entire electronic state.
CeTe₃, a material formed from cerium and tellurium atoms, has some similar properties to graphene, in that it is a two-dimensional layered material with highly mobile electrons. But unlike graphene, electrons on the cerium sites remain localized while the mobile electrons on the tellurium sites naturally self-organize into ordered patterns. Thanks to a quantum property called spin, the localized electrons behave like tiny magnets, allowing CeTe3’s electronic states to be manipulated with a magnetic field. Until now, however, no one had directly observed how magnetism influences the evolution of these electronic patterns.
