Coherent Transmutation of Electrons into Fractionalized Anyons

Understand

Electrons have three quantized properties -- charge, spin, and Fermi statistics -- that are directly responsible for a vast array of phenomena.

• Here we show how these properties can be coherently and dynamically stripped from the electron as it enters certain exotic states of matter known as a quantum spin liquid (QSL).
• In a QSL, electron spins collectively form a highly entangled quantum state that gives rise to emergent gauge forces and fractionalization of spin, charge, and statistics.
• We show that certain QSLs host distinct, topologically robust boundary types, some of which allow the electron to coherently enter the QSL as a fractionalized quasiparticle, leaving its spin, charge, or statistics behind.