It's electronic—and it's a big deal.

Scientists from the University of Pittsburgh have discovered a new specialized phase of matter. By electrifying an interface made of lanthanum aluminate and strontium titanate, the researchers observed that electrons were grouping together into what they say is a new form of matter entirely.

Inside the researchers’ one-dimensional system, a solid interface conducts electrons without the chaos of a typical electrical conductor, instead flowing in a ballistic conducting system without added heat. The electrons organize themselves to flow in parallel “lanes” through the conducting material, and researchers found they were “bunching” into groups the researchers say are similar to what you find inside a superconductor.