demi-conductor (12. 103)

Via Damn Interesting’s Curated Links, we are directed to a class of quasiparticles in condensed matter physics—the field of study that focuses on the difference of properties and behaviours on macroscopic versus microscopic scales—that has the unexpected quality of carrying mass and charge in one direction only and when turned 90° suddenly become massless. Though the scholarship has been established for about a decade regarding such topological behaviour, researchers believe that harnessing such novel semi-Dirac fermions (with a strangely definitive level of certainty for the quantum realm) could have revolutionary applications for quantum computing and transcend the restraints of traditional circuitry that’s too blunt to wire reliably for qubits on a nano-scale. The semi- and super-conductors of solid state electronics do not corral energy in orderly or predictable ways for such a delicate set-up but if the circuit could be a virtual one comprised not of wire but of a particle with switching properties, quantum computations (see previously) could quickly become very robust. More from Popular Mechanics at the link above.