In laboratories in China, an ultrathin film of a topological insulator with added magnetic atoms turned a theoretical prediction into reality. Here electrons travel along the edges of the material as if on a perfect highway, without losing energy to heat. It is precisely this experiment of 2013, conducted by a group led by Xue Qikun, that Clarivate names as one of the leading contenders for the Nobel Prize in Physics 2026.
The ordinary quantum Hall effect requires a powerful external magnetic field to make electrons "dance" along the edges without resistance. The anomalous version does without it: the material's internal magnetic ordering itself creates the necessary conditions. The result is a quantized conductance proportional to whole numbers — a phenomenon once considered almost unattainable in laboratory conditions without gigantic magnets.
Xue Qikun and colleagues grew atomically thin films in which spin-orbit interaction and magnetic impurities together gave rise to a topological phase. Measurements showed characteristic resistance plateaus already without an external field. This is not merely beautiful physics: the effect opens the way to electronic devices that consume several times less energy than current ones.
Imagine a smartphone or a server center where current flows almost without losses. Such materials could become the basis for ultra-efficient memory and logic elements, reducing heating and electricity bills. Xue Qikun's work provided experimental confirmation of ideas that had previously existed only on paper, and inspired hundreds of subsequent studies around the world.
Clarivate notes that since 2002, 89 scientists from their lists have already received the Nobel. The prediction does not guarantee an award this year — the prize often comes late — but it emphasizes: Xue Qikun's discovery has already changed the understanding of how quantum states of matter can be controlled without external "crutches."
If the award goes to him specifically, it will be a recognition not only of a single experiment but of an entire field — topological electronics, capable of overturning the energy consumption of future devices.
