Researchers at Rice University have found an alloy of copper, vanadium, and sulfur that forms crystals that, due to quantum effects, can trap electrons. This can produce flat bands, which have been observed in 2D crystals previously. The team’s results are the first case of a 3D crystal with that property.
The flat band term refers to the electron energy bands. Normally, the electrons change energy levels based on momentum. But in a flat band, this doesn’t occur. This implies that the electrons are nearly stationary, which leads to unique optical, electronic, and magnetic properties. In addition, flat-band materials often exhibit unusual behavior, such as exotic quantum states, ferromagnetism, or even superconductivity.
It is possible that flat band materials will play an important role in future quantum computers. Until now, the effect has been seen in twisted bilayer graphene and Kagome lattices.
According to the researchers, the electrons stop due to electronic wave functions destructively interfering with each other like ripples on a pond. The actual paper is available, although, unfortunately, behind a paywall. You can, however, find the preprint version at arXiv.
Maybe flat band materials will lead to real room-temperature superconductors. Maybe. If you just want to make your own metal crystals, you can, but don’t expect exotic properties.
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