A new electrical method is set to revolutionize the next-generation computers and electronics. This is game changer will modify electron flow in quantum materials.

A novel electrical technique that conveniently shifts the direction of electron flow in certain quantum materials may have implications for the development of quantum computers and next-generation electronic devices. The technique was created and tested by a Penn State research team on materials that display the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect, a phenomenon in which electrons travel along a material's edge without losing energy.

Cui-Zu Chang was the first to show this quantum phenomenon in an experiment in 2013. QAH insulators are a form of topological insulator, a thin layer of film only a few dozen atoms thick that has been made magnetic so that it only conducts current on its edges. Materials displaying this behavior are known as QAH insulators. The effect is called dissipation less, indicating that no energy is lost as heat because the electrons move cleanly in a single direction.

An optimized QAH insulator with certain characteristics was created by the researchers. They discovered that introducing a 5-millisecond current pulse into the QAH insulator alters the material's intrinsic magnetic field and causes the electrons to reorient. In order to maximize information transit, storage, and retrieval in quantum technologies, the capacity to shift direction is essential. In contrast to modern electronics, which store data in a binary format that can be either one or zero, on or off, quantum data can be simultaneously stored in a variety of states. A crucial step in writing and reading these quantum states is altering the electron flow.