Electrons Take New Shape Inside Unconventional Metal
Researchers in QMC, in collaboration with theorists at the Condensed Matter Theory Center (CMTC) and JQI, have produced the first experimental evidence that one metal—and likely others in its class—have electrons that manage to preserve a higher spin (j=3/2) angular momentum state in the topological half-Heusler semimetal YPtBi. A radical anisotropy observed in quantum oscillations in a highly isotropic system cannot be explained by conventional scenarios, but rather is naturally explained by the warping feature of the j=3/2 Fermi surface, providing direct proof of active high angular momentum quasiparticles that eventually superconduct. Read more in JQI News and in Physical Review Research.
