S. Iimura

When matter accumulates on the surface of a neutron star, the ultra-dense remnant of a dead star, an explosion occurs, akin to a giant thermonuclear bomb. In this inferno, nuclei of elements not found on Earth are born within seconds. To understand which ones, their masses must be known with great precision.

In a solid crystal resembling a layered cake of lanthanum, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms, electricity is carried not by electrons but by hydrogen ions themselves. Usually, an ion in a crystal sits in its own cell like a pea in a pod, occasionally hopping to a neighboring empty cell. But in this material, things are different.