Sudeep Kumar Ghosh

An ordinary superconductor works like a perfect conductor: electrons pair up and flow without resistance. In the new material TaPtSi, the pairs are arranged differently: their internal symmetry is skewed, and when cooled below the critical temperature, tiny magnetic fields spontaneously emerge inside the crystal.

An electron is not just a tiny ball; it also spins around its own axis like a top. Under normal conditions, these tops point in random directions and quickly get knocked out of alignment. But in some materials, where spin is coupled to electron motion, an astonishing order emerges: all tops point the same way, and their direction does not depend on velocity.