This magnetic structure is akin to an industrial mainstay known as the Halbach array, and He said its introduction to quantum materials study is a serendipitous interdisciplinary adventure with many brilliant collaborators.

"We asked ourselves, how could one make nano-scale Halbach-like arrays? Well, we had a neighbor in Becton center - the Schiffer group - that is a world leader in this. We asked ourselves, how can we figure out the actual surface magnetic field and put quantum materials onto such an array? Our colleagues at Boston College and Georgia Tech - the Ma group and the Du group - came to our rescue," said He. "Then of course, our long-term collaborators at Rice university are indispensable to help ascertain the photoelectron trajectory through elegant analytical derivations."

The researchers noted that this collaborative approach was key to the breakthrough.

"One should definitely keep an open mind in interdisciplinary research - a stone from another mountain may become your jade!" He said.

Going forward, the researchers say their method could significantly open up research possibilities in their field.

"Understanding the electron behavior under a magnetic field in the past has been almost impossible with ARPES," He said. "With this development, we’re really hoping that this opens the door to direct electronic investigations of many field-induced electronic phenomena such as flatband superconductivity and magnetic vortices."