Researchers at MIPT Laboratory of Terahertz
Spectroscopy together with their Russian and international
colleagues discovered a new phase of nanoconfined water; separate
water molecules that are confined within nanocavities formed by
ions of cordierite crystal lattice. The first reliable experimental
observation of a phase transition in a network of dipole-dipole
coupled water molecules is, in and of itself, an important
fundamental breakthrough. But apart from that, the discovered
phenomenon can also find practical applications in ferroelectrics,
artificial quantum systems, and biocompatible
nanoelectronics.