Unraveling the mysteries of 1T-TaS2

A central goal in quantum materials research is to discover and understand new material properties that will someday revolutionize technologies. A famous example is superconductivity a perfect metal where electrons face no resistance. This unique property is used in nearly every hospital for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and it is even used to levitate trains for record-breaking land travel. It is nearly impossible to imagine the technologies that will follow from a complete understanding of high-temperature superconductors metals that function perfectly at room temperature. Quantum spin liquids are another material property that remain high on our priority list for discovery and understanding. Spin liquids have puzzled physicists for the past 50 years, but the advent of modern experimental studies and new 2D materials are bringing it close to reality. The payoff will be huge a robust quantum computer that will change everything from cryptography to how we find new medicines. Whenever superconductivity and quantum spin liquids are expected in quantum materials, you can almost guarantee that magnetism is lurking nearby. However, their connection remains unclear. Magnetism often shows up due to a traffic jam of electrons that turns the material from a metal into an insulator. Once electrons are stuck in place, they form little magnetic moments. It is these moments that physicists suspect has something to do with superconductivity and quantum spin liquids. Our efforts focus on tantalum disulfide (TaS2), a material which turns into an insulator at low temperatures and was recently predicted to become a quantum spin liquid. However, there is currently no sign of the little magnetic moments that are expected and needed to form a spin liquid. Through a series of high-precision magnetic measurements on TaS2, we will try to answer a fundamental question; what causes this material to turn into an insulator, but without any sign of magnetism. Is it just a dirty metal or is there hidden potential for TaS2 to carry quantum information?