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Nature 426, 135 (13 November 2003) | doi:10.1038/426135a

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Condensed-matter physics: The quest for imperfection

Thomas F. Rosenbaum1

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The electrical properties of silver chalcogenides are unusually affected by magnetic fields. A simulation suggests how this might arise from tiny imperfections and could facilitate the design of new materials.

The change in the electrical resistance of a material with magnetic field — its magnetoresistance — lies at the heart of many applications, from storing information in a computer to measuring the speed of a car. The resistance of two materials in particular, silver selenide and silver telluride, can be made to increase linearly as the applied magnetic field increases, up to field values at least one million times that of the Earth's magnetic field1, 2.

  1. Department of Physics and the James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, 5640 Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
    Email: t-rosenbaum@uchicago.edu