Volume 16 Issue 11, November 2017

Specialized imaging methods are now available to measure the quantum properties of materials with high sensitivity and resolution. These techniques are key to the design, synthesis and understanding of materials with exotic functionalities.

An artificial spin ice array exploits two-dimensional chirality to take a step towards technology.

Diffraction and simulation studies reveal the presence of significant porosity in both the glass and liquid phases of a metal–organic framework.

Fragments of DNA that are derived from dead tumour cells and shed into a patient's blood have been utilized as biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of liver cancer.

Cysts were generated from organoids in vitro and the removal of adherent cues was shown to play a key role in polycystic kidney disease progression. These cysts resembled those of diseased tissue phenotypically and were capable of remodelling their microenvironment.

Energy-favoured grain rotation in nanocrystalline metals is shown to cause surface roughness at the atomic scale, providing fundamental insight for grain boundary engineering in materials design.

This Perspective discusses recent progress in the field of topological states in condensed matter; initiated by the quantum Hall effect, it now includes systems like topological insulators, topological superconductors, and Weyl/Dirac semimetals.

The exploration of the properties and applications of quantum materials relies on advances in synthesis techniques. The approaches pursued to realize thin films and other materials revealing emergent quantum behaviour are reviewed here.

The key to exploiting quantum materials for applications is the control of their properties. This Review discusses strategies to externally modify their properties on demand.

Experimental evidence for the realization of magnetic Weyl fermions in the strongly correlated metal Mn₃Sn is reported.

The chiral anomaly in the Weyl metal phase is reported to lead to a breakdown of Ohm’s law.

Irradiation with a strong terahertz electric-field pulse is found to induce a Mott transition in an organic molecular compound. The metallization is attributed to an impulsive dielectric breakdown.

A structurally chiral two-dimensional array of nanomagnets is shown to thermally relax its magnetization by rotation in a preferential direction, behaving as a magnetic ratchet.

Tissue mimics are of great interest in understanding diseases. Here, organoids were developed that resemble polycystic kidney disease cysts and it was demonstrated how material environment and adhesion can affect cystogenesis and disease progression.

Lattices of exciton-polariton condensates provide the base for a simulator that can be used to find the global minimum of the classical XY Hamiltonian.

Designing fully tunable metamaterials for applications ranging from sensors to superlenses remains a challenge. A reversible electrotuneable liquid mirror based on voltage-controlled self-assembly/disassembly plasmonic nanoparticles is now reported.

Time-resolved ultrafast spectroscopy is combined with stimulated emission depletion microscopy to observe exciton migration in conjugated polymer films with nanometre and picosecond resolution.

Compared to monovalent lithium or sodium ions, the reversible insertion of multivalent ions into battery electrodes has proved challenging. An aliovalent doping strategy involving reversible Mg²⁺ and Al³⁺ insertion in anatase TiO₂ is now reported.

The structure and porosity of a zinc imidazolate framework above the melting point was studied with neutron and X-ray scattering, and molecular dynamics. The porosity and local bonding of the framework persist even in the liquid phase.

Circulating tumour DNA is used as a biomarker for cancer diagnosis. Here, the authors identified a DNA methylation biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma and developed diagnostic and prognostic models to predict specificity and survival of patients.