Electric Fields Switch Materials Between Superconductor and Magnetic States

AI Insight

Researchers demonstrated that applying an external displacement field to Van Hove metals allows tuning between two competing quantum states: superconductivity and valley ferromagnetism. Van Hove metals are materials where the electronic density of states exhibits sharp peaks near the Fermi level, making them highly susceptible to different ordered phases. By electrostatically controlling the carrier density and band structure, the team showed they could selectively enhance either the superconducting phase or the valley-polarized ferromagnetic phase in the same material system.

Why it matters

This work provides a new pathway for creating electrically switchable quantum devices that can alternate between superconducting and magnetic states on demand. Such controllability could enable novel quantum computing architectures and energy-efficient electronic devices that exploit multiple quantum phases within a single material platform.