Topological Excitonic Insulators (IMAGE)

Rice University

Topological Excitonic Insulators

Caption

Rice's "topological excitonic insulators" are made of sheets of semiconductors (top) that become insulators at a critical temperature around 10 kelvins. At the critical point, a superfluid quantum liquid of excitons -- pairs of negatively charged electrons (blue dots) and positively charged electron holes (red dots) -- forms inside the devices (bottom) and electricity ceases to pass through them.

Credit

R. Du/Rice University

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