NEWS AND VIEWS
11 February 2026 Charge-neutral electrons are odd — except when they’re even Electrons can seem electrically neutral in some devices. Neutral states can be distinguished in real time by a measure of their electron pairing called odd or even parity. By Andrew P. Higginbotham ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2607-2363 0 Andrew P. Higginbotham Andrew P. Higginbotham is at the James Franck Institute and in the Department of Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. View author publications PubMed Google Scholar
In superconducting materials, pairs of electrons form a shared quantum-mechanical state. Control of this macroscopic quantum state is a key feature that is required for superconducting quantum computing. Some combinations of materials, however, turn usual electron pairing on its head. Superconductors and semiconductors, carefully controlled at the nanoscale, can coax electrons to spontaneously unpair. The unpaired electrons have fascinating properties. In contrast to ordinary electrons, the unpaired electrons can in some cases seem electrically neutral, so charge cannot be used to describe their quantum state. A different quantum number, called parity, is needed instead. Parity measures whether an electron is paired (even parity) or unpaired (odd parity).
Nature 650, 307-308 (2026)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00173-z
References van Loo, N. et al. Nature 650, 334–339 (2026). Lutchyn, R. et al. Nature Rev. Mater. 3, 52–68 (2018). van Zanten, D. M. T. et al. Nature Phys. 16, 663–668 (2020). Microsoft Azure Quantum et al. Nature 638, 651–655 (2025). Download references
Competing Interests The author declares no competing interests.
Related Articles
Subjects