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An intermidiate compound between zero-gap semiconductors and nodal-line semimetals.
What is it about?
Organic Dirac electron systems (ODES) are unique conductors in that they contain valence and/or conduction electrons behaving like photons. This means that the electrons dominating their electrical and magnetic properties are unusually light and swift to move in the solids. Additionally one could design and control their behaviour by molecular structures, i.e., organic synthesis, to some degree. In this paper, the authors demonstrate such an aspect of ODES by presenting the crystal and band structures of a new series of ODES.
Why is it important?
The physical properties of ODES are governed by interference of wavefunctions as quantum chemistry describes. This explains why they are mysterious and beyond or different from what we imagine based on classical thoughts. In this type of compounds, the crystal structures, namely, the molecular arrangements in the unit cell, are more giverned by electronic interactions of consituent molecules than their geometrical features. Thus, ODES show us that structural chemistry is not always based solely on geometry of molecules, but that they are sometimes based on quantum effects of wave functions. This is why they are called quantum or topological materials with providing examples for modern structural chemistry.