Overview

• On July 31, Rutgers researchers reported in Science Advances a quantum liquid crystal state emerging only under multi-tesla magnetic fields at the interface of a conducting Weyl semimetal and magnetic spin ice.
• The new phase exhibits electronic anisotropy with six low-conductivity directions and reverses electron flow when the magnetic field strength is increased, indicating rotational symmetry breaking.
• The atomic-layer heterostructure was assembled using Rutgers’s custom Q-DiP (quantum phenomena discovery platform) and studied at ultra-low temperatures at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee.
• This discovery underscores how precise heterostructure engineering and close experiment–theory collaboration can uncover unconventional quantum topological states.
• The team is expanding the heterostructure platform to explore further interfacial quantum phases and to develop ultra-sensitive magnetic field sensors based on directional transport anomalies.