Characterization and analytical techniques articles within Nature Physics

Featured

  • Article |

    The sign of the Casimir force depends on the electric permittivities and the magnetic permeabilities of the materials involved. For a gold sphere immersed in a ferrofluid, tuneability of the Casimir force by means of a magnetic field is now shown.

    • Yichi Zhang
    • , Hui Zhang
    •  & Changgan Zeng

  • Article |

    The boson peak refers to an excess in the phonon density of states seen in three-dimensional amorphous materials. Helium-atom scattering experiments have now revealed a boson peak in a two-dimensional material, too, at a frequency similar to that of the bulk material.

    • Martin Tømterud
    • , Sabrina D. Eder
    •  & Bodil Holst

  • News & Views |

    Atom trap trace analysis has emerged as a powerful technique for detecting trace radioisotopes of noble gases. The successful application of the method to a calcium isotope now opens the possibility of extension to other metal isotopes.

    • Rohan D. Glover

  • Article |

    The calcium isotope 41Ca is a promising candidate to complement dating methods relying on radiocarbon. Small levels of 41Ca can be measured with atom-trap trace analysis, which brings the use of 41Ca a step closer to applications.

    • T.-Y. Xia
    • , W.-W. Sun
    •  & Z.-T. Lu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultrafast photon–electron spectroscopy commonly requires a driving laser. Now, an inverse approach based on cathodoluminescence spectroscopy has allowed a compact solution to spectral interferometry inside an electron microscope, without a laser.

    • Masoud Taleb
    • , Mario Hentschel
    •  & Nahid Talebi

  • Perspective |

    High-resolution imaging methods have been instrumental in advancing our understanding of the structure of materials. To move microscopy and tomography methods forwards, approaches to reassess macroscopic concepts such as symmetry are needed.

    • Sergei V. Kalinin
    • , Ayana Ghosh
    •  & Maxim Ziatdinov

  • Comment |

    Emerging quantum technologies pose new measurement challenges, but also offer previously unknown measurement solutions. National metrology institutes are playing a leading role in this fast evolving world.

    • Alexander Tzalenchuk
    • , Nicolas Spethmann
    •  & Barbara L. Goldstein

  • News & Views |

    Originally suggested for the detection of gravitational waves, resonantly vibrating metal beams have been used in a recent laboratory experiment to measure Newton’s constant of gravitation and to verify Newton’s gravitational law.

    • Christian Rothleitner

  • Measure for Measure |

    The shift of the definition of the kilogram in 2019 away from an artefact to one relying on the Planck constant inspires technological innovation, as Naoki Kuramoto elucidates.

    • Naoki Kuramoto

  • Letter |

    Three-dimensional structures of vortex loops in a bulk micromagnet GdCo2 have been observed using X-ray magnetic nanotomography. The cross-section of these loops consists of a vortex–antivortex pair stabilized by the dipolar interaction.

    • Claire Donnelly
    • , Konstantin L. Metlov
    •  & Sebastian Gliga

  • Measure for Measure |

    The assembly of the more than a million single parts of the ITER tokamak requires large-scale three-dimensional precision metrology. John Villanueva Jr gives us insights into the complexity of this project.

    • John Villanueva Jr

  • News & Views |

    The agent responsible for the accelerated expansion of the Universe is completely unknown. Delicate interference measurements of the quantum transitions of very slow neutrons bouncing on a flat table have constrained an interesting theoretical possibility.

    • W. Michael Snow

  • Measure for Measure |

    Michael Jentschel and Klaus Blaum explain why the most famous equation of physics needs checking — and how to do it.

    • Michael Jentschel
    •  & Klaus Blaum

  • Review Article |

    An overview of how electromagnetic radiation can be used for probing and modification of the magnetic order in antiferromagnets, and possible future research directions.

    • P. Němec
    • , M. Fiebig
    •  & A. V. Kimel

  • Letter |

    Unsupervised machine learning techniques can efficiently perform quantum state tomography of large, highly entangled states with high accuracy, and allow the reconstruction of many-body quantities from simple experimentally accessible measurements.

    • Giacomo Torlai
    • , Guglielmo Mazzola
    •  & Giuseppe Carleo

  • Letter |

    Ultrahigh-resolution resonant inelastic X-ray scattering shows how dispersive charge density wave excitations influence the charge and lattice degrees of freedom in a high-Tc cuprate, pointing to a connection to the mysterious pseudogap state.

    • L. Chaix
    • , G. Ghiringhelli
    •  & W.-S. Lee

  • Letter |

    Using a technique inspired by Ramsey spectroscopy it is now possible to coherently control free electrons in an electron microscope.

    • Katharina E. Echternkamp
    • , Armin Feist
    •  & Claus Ropers

  • Measure for Measure |

    Michel Van Camp and Olivier de Viron are attracted to the fluctuations in the Earth's gravitational pull.

    • Michel Van Camp
    •  & Olivier de Viron

  • Measure for Measure |

    Enrico Massa and Giovanni Mana expound on the substance of the Avogadro constant.

    • Enrico Massa
    •  & Giovanni Mana

  • Measure for Measure |

    François Piquemal tells the story of the ampere, which bridges mechanical and electromagnetic units.

    • François Piquemal

  • Measure for Measure |

    Despite intensified efforts, measurements of the gravitational constant continue to fail to converge, as Terry Quinn explains.

    • Terry Quinn

  • Editorial |

    With a dedicated monthly column, Nature Physics draws attention to metrology. And a set of Commentaries in this issue focuses on various aspects of thermometry.

  • Commentary |

    The redefinition of several physical base units planned for 2018 requires precise knowledge of the values of certain fundamental physical constants. Scientists are working hard to meet the deadlines for realizing the ultimate International System of Units.

    • Joachim Fischer
    •  & Joachim Ullrich

  • Commentary |

    The past 25 years have seen tremendous progress in thermometry across the moderate temperature range of 1 K to 1,235 K. Various primary thermometers, based on a wide range of different physics, have uncovered errors in the International Temperature Scale of 1990, and set the stage for the planned redefinition of the kelvin.

    • Michael R. Moldover
    • , Weston L. Tew
    •  & Howard W. Yoon

  • News & Views |

    A new measurement from the LHCb experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider impinges on a puzzle that has been troubling physicists for decades — namely the breaking of the symmetry between matter and antimatter.

    • Robert Kowalewski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The accurate determination of quark mixing parameters is essential for the understanding of the Standard Model. The LHCb collaboration now reports the coupling strength of the b quark to the u quark through the measurement of a baryonic decay mode.

    • R. Aaij
    • , B. Adeva
    •  & L. Zhong

  • News & Views |

    The Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction — the mechanism behind weak ferromagnetism — has been difficult to probe experimentally. Now, significant progress is reported that has important implications for a wide range of magnetic phenomena.

    • Chong Der Hu

  • Letter |

    Oxygen-mediated superexchange (or Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya) interactions result in weak ferromagnetism in oxides. A method based on the interference of synchrotron X-ray radiation is now shown to enable the determination of the sign of the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction in the prototypical weak ferromagnet iron borate.

    • V. E. Dmitrienko
    • , E. N. Ovchinnikova
    •  & M. I. Katsnelson

  • News & Views |

    Femtosecond pulses from X-ray free-electron lasers offer a powerful method for studying charged collective excitations in materials, and provide a potential route to identifying bosonic quasiparticles in condensed-matter systems.

    • Peter Abbamonte

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