A long-lost, exotic state of matter that refuses to freeze has finally been spotted in a grid of atoms.
March 24, 2026
Original Paper
Chiral Spin Liquid in Rydberg Atom Arrays
arXiv · 2603.21147
The Takeaway
Physicists have searched for decades for the 'chiral spin liquid,' a state where atoms remain in a liquid-like, tangled dance even at near-absolute zero temperatures. By arranging atoms with lasers, researchers have finally observed this phase, which could provide a blueprint for perfectly stable quantum memory.
From the abstract
Despite long-standing theoretical interest, the chiral spin liquid, a topologically ordered phase, has yet to be observed experimentally. Here we surprisingly find its emergence in an experimentally realized dipolar $\text{XY}$ model when Rydberg atoms are arranged in a breathing kagome lattice. Using the infinite density matrix renormalization group, we numerically calculate the ground state's chiral order parameter, spin-spin correlations, Chern number, and entanglement spectrum. Our numerical