Scientists visualize electron crystals in a quantum superposition

Princeton scientists are using innovative techniques to visualize electrons in graphene, a single atomic layer of carbon atoms. They are finding that strong interactions between electrons in high magnetic fields drive them to form unusual crystal-like structures similar to those first recognized for benzene molecules in the 1860s by chemist August Kekulé. These crystals exhibit a spatial periodicity that corresponds to electrons being in a quantum superposition. The experiments also show the Kekulé quantum crystals have defects that have no analog to those of ordinary crystals made up of atoms. These findings shed light on the complex quantum phases electrons can form because of their interaction, which underlies a wide range of phenomena in many materials.