Scientists detect a quantum crystal of electrons and 'watch' it melt
Tuesday, December 20, 2016 - 08:01
in Physics & Chemistry
For the first time, MIT physicists have observed a highly ordered crystal of electrons in a semiconducting material and documented its melting, much like ice thawing into water. The observations confirm a fundamental phase transition in quantum mechanics that was theoretically proposed more than 80 years ago but not experimentally documented until now.