Welcome anyons! Physicists find best evidence yet for long-sought 2D structures

Welcome anyons! Physicists find best evidence yet for long-sought 2D structures



This ‘pyjama stripe’ interference pattern denotes the presence of anyons in an electronic system. (James Nakamura and Michael Manfra)

Unruly ‘quasiparticles’ show up in the lab

Physicists have reported what could be the first incontrovertible evidence of the existence of particle-like objects called anyons, first proposed more than 40 years ago. Anyons are the latest addition to a growing family of phenomena called quasiparticles, which are not elementary particles but collective excitations of many electrons in solid devices. Their discovery — made using a 2D electronic device — could represent the first steps towards making anyons the basis of future quantum computers. “To me,” says condensed-matter theorist Bernd Rosenow, “they are at least as fascinating and exotic as the Higgs particle.”

Nature | 5 min readReference: arxiv preprint