Even if the existence of
magnetic monopoles as elementary
particles remains a fundamental open question, condensed - matter physicists have managed to reproduce artificial versions of these
exotic particles in rare - earth oxide crystals called «spin ices.»
By suppressing the material's
magnetic order, scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee observed behavior consistent with
exotic particles that are predicted to emerge when energy is added to a quantum spin liquid, or QSL.