Researchers at BESSY II have experimentally confirmed that phosphorus chains exhibit true one-dimensional electronic behavior. Squeezing them tighter could trigger a transition to metallic state. For the first time, scientists have experimentally demonstrated that atom-thin phosphorus chains can host truly one-dimensional electrons, a breakthrough that opens new frontiers in quantum materials research. A team at the BESSY II synchrotron in Berlin succeeded in proving that short chains of phosphorus atoms, which self-organize on a silver substrate, exhibit electronic properties confined to a single dimension. The research team, led by Professor Oliver Rader and Dr. Andrei Varykhalov, used low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy to create and examine the phosphorus chains. The images revealed short phosphorus chains forming in three distinct directions on the silver surface, each spaced at 120-degree angles. Using angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES), the team mapped the electronic structure and successfully disentangled signals from differently aligned chains, proving that each individual chain possesses a genuinely one-dimensional electronic character. The stu...