Electrons with opposite spins move in opposite directions

In one dimension, there are only two ways to move: left or right. This leads to some peculiar properties for one-dimensional systems on the atomic scale. In our paper we present a one-dimensional conductor forming on a bismuth surface, which effectively separates the electrons going through it according to their spin, a kind of rotation around the electron's axis. It turns out that electrons going to the left have exactly the opposite spin as electrons going to the right. Such a situation could have useful applications in the field of spintronics, a novel type of electronics which is based on the electron's spin rather than its charge and which could lead to more effective computers or even quantum computing. The state reported here is in several ways similar to so-called edge states appearing in the recently discovered quantum spin Hall effect but instead of being found for a sandwich structure of semiconductors at very low temperatures, it is found on a simple, clean surface, is truly one-dimensional and, most remarkably, even exists at room temperature.

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