A novel approach for studying magnetic behavior in a material called alpha -
ruthenium trichloride may have implications for quantum computing.
A research team led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has confirmed magnetic signatures likely related to Majorana fermions — elusive particles that could be the basis for a quantum bit, or qubit, in a two - dimensional graphene - like material, alpha -
ruthenium trichloride.
Researchers detected the behavior in a crystal of
ruthenium trichloride at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.
A Majorana fermion (bright white, center) creates rippled signatures in a quantum spin liquid as neutrons are fired at
a ruthenium trichloride crystal (atomic structure shown to the left).