Quantum materials is an umbrella term in condensed matter physics that encompasses all materials whose essential properties cannot be described in terms of semiclassical particles and low-level quantum mechanics.[1] These are materials that present strong electronic correlations or some type of electronic order, such as superconducting or magnetic orders, or materials whose electronic properties are linked to non-generic quantum effects – topological insulators, Dirac electron systems such as graphene, as well as systems whose collective properties are governed by genuinely quantum behavior, such as ultra-cold atoms, cold excitons, polaritons, and so forth. On the microscopic level, four fundamental degrees of freedom – that of charge, spin, orbit and lattice – become intertwined, resulting in complex electronic states;[1] the concept of emergence is a common thread in the study of quantum materials.[2]
Quantum materials exhibit puzzling properties with no counterpart in the macroscopic world: quantum entanglement, quantum fluctuations, robust boundary states dependent on the topology of the materials' bulk wave functions, etc.[1] Quantum anomalies such as the chiral magnetic effect link some quantum materials with processes in high-energy physics of quark-gluon plasmas.[3]
- ^ a b c Cava, Robert; de Leon, Nathalie; xie3, Weiwei (10 March 2021). "Introduction: Quantum Materials". Chemical Reviews. 121 (5): 2777–2779. doi:10.1021/acs.chemrev.0c01322. ISSN 0009-2665. PMID 33715377.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "The rise of quantum materials". Nature Physics. 12 (2): 105. 1 February 2016. Bibcode:2016NatPh..12..105.. doi:10.1038/nphys3668. ISSN 1745-2473.
- ^ Kharzeev, Dmitri E. (1 March 2014). "The Chiral Magnetic Effect and anomaly-induced transport". Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics. 75: 133–151. arXiv:1312.3348. Bibcode:2014PrPNP..75..133K. doi:10.1016/j.ppnp.2014.01.002. ISSN 0146-6410. S2CID 118508661.