Decoupling Electrons' Spin and Orbital States in a Quantum Material (IMAGE)
Caption
In SLAC experiments, scientists hit a quantum material with pulses of laser light (top) to see how this would affect zigzag patterns (middle) in its atomic lattice made by the spin directions of electrons (black arrows) and the orientations of electron orbitals (red balloon shapes). They were surprised to discover that the pulses disrupted the spin patterns while leaving the orbital patterns intact (bottom). This raises the possibility that spin and orbital states could be independently controlled to make much faster electronic devices.
Credit
Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
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