Physicists at the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter at Caltech have discovered the first three-dimensional quantum liquid crystal—a new state of matter that may have applications in ultrafast quantum computers of the future.
"We have detected the existence of a fundamentally new state of matter that can be regarded as a quantum analog of a liquid crystal," says Caltech assistant professor of physics David Hsieh, principal investigator on a new study describing the findings in the April 21 issue of Science. "There are numerous classes of such quantum liquid crystals that can, in principle, exist; therefore, our finding is likely the tip of an iceberg."
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