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That the unit cell of a metamaterial can't be considered vanishingly small like in ordinary crystals has long been deemed more burden than opportunity. The emergence of a characteristic length scale in metamaterial chains may change that trend.
Technological innovation seems to be dominated by chance. But a new mathematical analysis suggests we might be able to anticipate when seemingly useless technologies become keystones of more complex environments.
This Review Article outlines the exploration of the interplay between parity–time symmetry and non-Hermitian physics in optics, plasmonics and optomechanics.
Particles in strongly coupled plasmas behave collectively as in liquids, with additional long-range collisions. Experimental evidence is provided that fluctuation theorems obeyed by liquid are also valid for strongly coupled dusty plasmas.
Proximity effects enable superconductivity to leak into normal metals. In graphene, a Klein-like tunnelling of superconducting pairs from a high-temperature superconductor allows the proximity effects to be tuned by electric fields.
Acoustic Weyl points are realized in a three-dimensional chiral phononic crystal that breaks inversion symmetry, with the topological nature of the associate surface states providing robust modes that propagate along only one direction.
When molten tin droplets impact clean substrates, they either stick or spontaneously detach depending on the substrate temperature. Competition between heat extraction and fluidity controls this behaviour, forgoing the need for surface treatment.
Mechanism-based metamaterials leverage geometric design to control deformations — a strategy that works well on small scales. But the discovery of a characteristic length scale suggests that the underlying mechanism is distorted for larger systems.
The photoactive properties of microalgae are well documented when it comes to photosynthesis and motility. But it seems their adhesion to surfaces can also be manipulated with light, which may serve to optimize their photoactive functionality.
A candidate for efficient broadband quantum memory at telecommunication wavelengths is identified. The long coherence time and the efficient optical spin pumping demonstrated in the experiment make it practical for spin-wave storage.
A thermodynamic study of doped single crystals of NbFe2 reveals the phase diagram of this system as a function of temperature, magnetic field and Nb doping — which includes an unusual quantum tricritical point.
Measurements of the electron wavepackets produced by photoionizing noble gas atoms with an XUV harmonic comb enable the reconstruction of the effective binding potential: a new technique that could be extended to molecules.
Ultrashort high-intensity laser pulses change the properties of dielectrics in different ways. One unexpected outcome is light amplification in an excited dielectric, observed in a two-colour pump–probe experiment.
In a hot, under-dense plasma, eight input beams are combined into a single, well-collimated beam, whose energy is more than triple than that of any incident beam. This shows how nonlinear interactions in plasmas can produce optics beams at much higher intensity than possible in solids.
Topological defects in a turbulent active nematic on a toroidal surface are shown to segregate in regions of opposite curvature. Simulations suggest that this behaviour may be controlled — or even suppressed — by tuning the level of activity.
The energy needed to control a network is related to the links between driver and non-driver nodes, a linear control theory suggests. Applying the theory to connectome data reveals that diverse dynamics in brain networks incur small energetic cost.
Jay Hendricks tells about ongoing work to change the realization and dissemination of the pascal, which will lead to the elimination of mercury-barometer pressure standards.
