In condensed matter systems, an essential characteristic of electrons besides charge and spin is the orbital degree of freedom (ODoF). It plays a crucial role in understanding unconventional properties in solid-state materials and in “orbital physics” toward unveiling the science and technology of correlated electrons. However, due to the complexity and various degrees of freedom simultaneously involved in real materials, it has always been a challenge to fully unravel the physics of strongly correlated electronic matter mediated by the ODoF via controlled experiments.
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Source: Phys.org