New Quantum State of Matter?

In a Nature article published yesterday, Princeton University scientists have shown that the Quantum Hall Effect can occur in nature in a way that wasn't predicted - they've recorded the behavior of electrons in a bulk crystal of bismuth-antimony without any external magnetic field being present. The fundamental research could also lead to advances in new kinds of fast quantum or "spintronic" computing devices.

The Quantum Hall Effect has only been seen previously in atomically thin layers of semiconductors in the presence of a very high applied magnetic field.

See Science Daily.