Mythical Unicorn of Materials Science Finally Been Found?
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 2:45 pm
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Now this is some cool stuff. I'm curious what the first applications that will rise out of it will be.For years, physicists have been on the hunt for a material so weird, it might as well be what unicorn horns are made of. Topological insulators are special types of material that conduct electricity, but only on their outermost surface. If they exist, and that's a real IF, then they would play host to all sorts of bizarre phenomenon: virtual particles that are their own anti-particles, strange quantum effects, dogs and cats living together, that sort of thing. Now three independent teams[1,2,3] think they've finally found the stuff that the dreams of theoretical physicists are made of: samarium hexaboride.
