Quantum-scale electron liquid

Physicists have created the first electron liquid at room temperature and say it could have applications in quantum computers.

University of California scientists directed superfast laser pulses at ultrathin sandwich, formed of semiconductor – molybdenum ditelluride – between two layers of carbon graphene.

The team detected evidence of condensation, with properties resembling liquids such as water, except that it consisted not of molecules, but of electrons and holes.

[caption id="attachment_70485" align="alignleft" width="272"] Electron holes are not particles, but rather the lack of an electron where one could exist. (Image: QMO Lab, UC Riverside.)[/caption]

Associate Professor of Physics Nathaniel Gabor at the University of California said: “Normally, with such semiconductors as silicon, laser excitation creates electrons and their positively charged holes that diffuse and drift around in the material, which is how you define a gas.

"Suddenly we saw the formation of what we called an 'anomalous photocurrent ring' in the material," Gabor said. "We realized it was a liquid because it grew like a droplet, rather than behaving like a gas."

Previously, researchers who had created such electron-hole liquids had only been able to do so at temperatures colder than in deep space.

The technique, known as electron-hole condensation, could form the basis of engineering quantum metamaterials, enabling precise manipulation of electrons. Cooling the liquid to ultra-low temperatures could transform it into a quantum fluid, and possibly form the basis of quantum computers.

It could also be used to make ultra-efficient optoelectonic devices for in applications such as communications in outer space, cancer detection and scanning for concealed weapons.

The physicists at UCR published their findings in the journal Nature Photonics.