Defects may help scientists understand the exotic physics of topology

Real-world materials are usually messier than the idealized scenarios found in textbooks. Imperfections can add complications and even limit a material's usefulness. To get around this, scientists routinely strive to remove defects and dirt entirely, pushing materials closer to perfection. Now, researchers have turned this problem around and shown that for some materials defects could act as a probe for interesting physics, rather than a nuisance.

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