A research team which includes a large group of researchers from CNR-SPIN, CNR-IOM together with scientists of University Ca’ Foscari, University of Salerno, and MagTop Research Centre in Warsaw, as well as other national and international partners, has discovered a new state of matter characterized by the existence of a quantum phenomenon dubbed “spin-orbital chiral current”. These currents are generated on an atomic scale by a chiral cooperative movement of electrons, unlike conventional magnetic materials whose properties originate from the quantum characteristic of an electron known as spin and their ordering in the crystal.
Chirality is a property of extreme importance in science. In the quantum phenomenon discovered, the chirality of the currents was detected by studying the interaction between light and matter, in which a suitably polarized photon can emit an electron from the surface of the material with a well-defined spin state.

On December 20^th, the 2023 edition of the Workshop “Best Young Research Article Award (BYRA)” was held online and chaired by the SPIN researcher Carino Ferrante.