Two thin sheets with honeycomb patterns were stacked and slightly rotated, creating a new pattern — a moiré, like the shimmer of silk. The electrons in the experiment behaved similarly: they arranged themselves into two layers, with one layer rotated exactly 30 degrees relative to the other.
Previously, it was thought that under such conditions electrons would freeze into a simple honeycomb lattice, like bees in a hive. But calculations showed that it's precisely the trembling that rearranges the whole structure. It destroys the simple order and forces particles to seek a new, more stable position — with a twist. Thus, an electronic quasicrystal is born.
This result changes our view of how ordered structure can emerge from chaos. In the future, it may guide the creation of materials with unusual properties — for instance, conductors that conduct electricity differently in different directions.
The 30-degree rotation is the only angle at which two identical layers with a hexagonal lattice create a pattern that never repeats. It's like the tiling with two types of rhombi discovered by mathematician Roger Penrose.
In Neal Stephenson's novel 'Anathem', quantum computers run on crystals that change their properties upon mere observation — much like these electron layers, sensitive to the slightest jitter.