February 2018

Researchers from the DoE Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have proved the existence of chirac phonons - a shaking motion in the structure of 2D material that possesses a naturally occurring circular rotation. This rotation may mean that the material is promising for data-storage based on valleytronics.

The researchers used tungsten diselenide (WSe2), a material that has an unusual ability to sustain special electronic properties that are far more fleeting in other materials. With this new discovery of the chirac phonons, the researchers believe that controlling the rotation direction could prove to be a stable mechanism to carry and store information.