Researchers at Northeastern University have discovered a new method to control the electronic properties of a quantum material on demand, creating a stable, switchable state that could lead to electronics up to 1,000 times faster than current technology. The findings, published in the journal Nature Physics, demonstrate a method for switching the material between an electrical insulator and a conductor at temperatures far more practical than previously possible, a key step toward next-generation computing devices.

The breakthrough centers on a material called tantalum disulfide, or 1T-TaS₂. In its usual state, the material is an insulator due to a phenomenon known as a charge density wave, or CDW. In this state, the material’s electrons, which carry electric current, settle into a fixed, wave-like pattern that prevents them from flowing freely. Scientists have previously used ultrafast laser pulses to briefly disrupt this pattern, creating a “hidden” metallic state that conducts electricity. However, this effect lasted for only fractions of a second and required cryogenic temperatures. The Northeastern team stabilized this conductive state for months by using a technique called thermal quenching, a process of controlled, rapid heating and cooling that locks the material into a new configuration.

This newfound stability overcomes a significant barrier to using quantum materials in real-world applications. By achieving a mixed state of both insulating and metallic domains that remains stable up to 210 Kelvin, or approximately -63 degrees Celsius, the team has brought the technology significantly closer to room-temperature operation. “Processors work in gigahertz right now,” said Alberto de la Torre, a Northeastern assistant professor of physics and lead author of the study, in a university press release. “The speed of change that this would enable would allow you to go to terahertz.” This level of instant control over a material’s fundamental properties has long been a goal for materials scientists.

The ability to make a single material act as both a conductor and an insulator on command could revolutionize electronics design. Modern devices rely on complex interfaces between different materials, like silicon, to create transistors that switch signals. This discovery could allow a single quantum material to perform that function. “We eliminate one of the engineering challenges by putting it all into one material,” said Gregory Fiete, a Northeastern physics professor who collaborated on the research. As current silicon-based technology approaches its physical limits, this work suggests a new path forward. “[We are] at a point where in order to get amazing enhancements in information storage or the speed of operation, we need a new paradigm,” Fiete said. “To innovate in materials. [That is] what this work is really about.”

References

• De La Torre, A., Wang, Q., Masoumi, Y., Campbell, B., Riffle, J. V., Balasundaram, D., Vora, P. M., Ruff, J. P. C., Fiete, G. A., Hollen, S. M., & Plumb, K. W. (2025). Dynamic phase transition in 1T-TaS2 via a thermal quench. Nature Physics. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-02938-1

• Rix, K. & Northeastern University. (2025, June 30). Discovery in quantum materials could make electronics 1,000 times faster. Phys.Org; Northeastern University. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-discovery-quantum-materials-electronics-faster.html