A breakthrough in quantum research – the first detection of excitons (electrically neutral quasiparticles) in a topological insulator has been achieved by an international team of scientists collaborating within the Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat. This discovery paves the way for a n
ew generation of light-driven computer chips and quantum technologies. It was enabled thanks to smart material design in Würzburg, the birthplace of topological insulators. The findings have been published in the journalIn their search for novel materials for future quantum technologies, one area that scientists from the Cluster of Excellence ct.
Excitons are electronic quasiparticles. Although they seem to behave like independent particles, they actually represent an excited electronic state that can only be generated in certain types of quantum matter. “We created excitons by applying a short light pulse to a thin film consisting of just one single layer of atoms,” explains Claessen. What’s unusual about this, he says, is that the excitons were activated in a topological insulator – something that wasn’t possible before.
For about ten years, excitons have been investigated in other two-dimensional semiconductors and regarded as information carriers for light-driven components. “For the first time, we’ve managed to optically excite excitons in a topological insulator. The interaction between light and excitons means we can expect new phenomena in such materials. This principle could be used, for example, to generate qubits,” says Claessen.
Animation: A light pulse on bismuthene generates exciton pairs that move through the two-dimensional ultrathin layer of material.
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