For the first time, researchers have measured the shape of an electron as it moves through a solid. This achievement could open a new way of looking at how electrons behave inside different materials.

Their discovery highlights many effects that could be relevant to everything from quantum information science to electronics manufacturing.

Those findings come from a team led by physicist Riccardo Comin, MIT’s Class of 1947 Career Development Associate Professor of Physics and leader of the work, in collaboration with other institutions.