New Material Created Known As 'Kagome Metal'

[Greg Bernhardt]

Physicists Create Quantum Electronic Material Known As 'Kagome Metal'
https://interestingengineering.com/...tum-electronic-material-known-as-kagome-metal

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have announced that they have created an exotic new material as “kagome metal”.

This is an electrically conductive crystal consisting of layers of iron and tin atoms arranged in a kagome lattice pattern. Kagome is derived from traditional Japanese basket-making techniques. The kagome pattern consists of interlaced, symmetrical triangles arranged in a lattice.

Physicists have been fascinated by this pattern for decades and they have hypothesized that if the atoms of a metal or another conductive substance could be arranged in such a pattern, the resulting material could display exotic electronic properties. When an electric current was passed across the atomic layers in the crystal, the current was found to behave in very unusual ways.The electrons in the current did not flow straight through the lattice as expected but they bent into tight circular paths and flowed along the edges without losing energy.

 

[BigJDubs]

This allows the current to flow much more efficiently than in ordinary metals and could be used in future electronics.The researchers also believe that this material could be used to create new types of devices such as quantum computers and ultra-fast transistors. The study was published in the journal Nature and was conducted by researchers from MIT, Harvard, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. They created the kagome metal in a laboratory using a technique known as chemical vapor deposition. This involves growing thin films of material on a heated substrate. The team then used advanced imaging techniques to reveal the atomic structure of the new material. They hope that their research will lead to further developments in material science and the creation of new types of electronic devices.