Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids

The Quantum Sound of Metals

July 16, 2018

The Yearbook 2018 of the Max Planck Society is online. The contribution of our institute describes for the general audience how researchers around Elena Hassinger make electrons in metals oscillate in high magnetic fields in order to get out their extraordinary electric transport properties.

a) Crystal structure of a delafossite. Shown in blue is the conducting layer composed of palladium atoms and in green, are the poorly conducting rhodium oxide layers. The red spheres represent oxygen atoms and the green spheres inside the polyhedra represent the rhodium atoms.b) Fermi surface of the delafossite, the musical instrument for the quantum music. Its cylindrical shape with a hexagonal cross-section gives rise to the anisotropic conductivity of the electrons. The colors correspond to the calculated electron velocity along different spatial directions. — a) Crystal structure of a delafossite. Shown in blue is the conducting layer composed of palladium atoms and in green, are the poorly conducting rhodium oxide layers. The red spheres represent oxygen atoms and the green spheres inside the polyhedra represent the rhodium atoms. b) Fermi surface of the delafossite, the musical instrument for the quantum music. Its cylindrical shape with a hexagonal cross-section gives rise to the anisotropic conductivity of the electrons. The colors correspond to the calculated electron velocity along different spatial directions.

© MPI CPfS

a) Crystal structure of a delafossite. Shown in blue is the conducting layer composed of palladium atoms and in green, are the poorly conducting rhodium oxide layers. The red spheres represent oxygen atoms and the green spheres inside the polyhedra represent the rhodium atoms.
b) Fermi surface of the delafossite, the musical instrument for the quantum music. Its cylindrical shape with a hexagonal cross-section gives rise to the anisotropic conductivity of the electrons. The colors correspond to the calculated electron velocity along different spatial directions.

© MPI CPfS

a) Crystal structure of a delafossite. Shown in blue is the conducting layer composed of palladium atoms and in green, are the poorly conducting rhodium oxide layers. The red spheres represent oxygen atoms and the green spheres inside the polyhedra represent the rhodium atoms.b) Fermi surface of the delafossite, the musical instrument for the quantum music. Its cylindrical shape with a hexagonal cross-section gives rise to the anisotropic conductivity of the electrons. The colors correspond to the calculated electron velocity along different spatial directions. — a) Crystal structure of a delafossite. Shown in blue is the conducting layer composed of palladium atoms and in green, are the poorly conducting rhodium oxide layers. The red spheres represent oxygen atoms and the green spheres inside the polyhedra represent the rhodium atoms. b) Fermi surface of the delafossite, the musical instrument for the quantum music. Its cylindrical shape with a hexagonal cross-section gives rise to the anisotropic conductivity of the electrons. The colors correspond to the calculated electron velocity along different spatial directions.

© MPI CPfS

a) Crystal structure of a delafossite. Shown in blue is the conducting layer composed of palladium atoms and in green, are the poorly conducting rhodium oxide layers. The red spheres represent oxygen atoms and the green spheres inside the polyhedra represent the rhodium atoms.
b) Fermi surface of the delafossite, the musical instrument for the quantum music. Its cylindrical shape with a hexagonal cross-section gives rise to the anisotropic conductivity of the electrons. The colors correspond to the calculated electron velocity along different spatial directions.

© MPI CPfS

/EH