Under the right circumstances, electrons can be freed of the rat-race commutes and high-stress traffic deep within a conductor by skirting its boundaries. There, they can turn effortless circles in a one-way, resistance-free current.
While theory describes the basic principles behind this 'edge state' flow of electrons, understanding it well enough to develop applications that might exploit its benefits has proven challenging thanks to its small, fleeting behavior.
In a new study, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) used a cloud of ultracold sodium atoms to stand in for electrons – achieving the similar edge state effect and physics, but on a scale and duration long enough to allow them to study it in detail.
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