Nanoscale devices articles within Nature Physics

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  • Letter |

    A so-called Josephson ϕ0-junction based on a nanowire quantum dot is reported. By means of electrostatic gating, it is possible to controllably introduce a phase offset taking any value between 0 and π in the ground state of the junction.

    • D. B. Szombati
    • , S. Nadj-Perge
    •  & L. P. Kouwenhoven

  • Letter |

    Quantum mechanics sets a fundamental upper limit for the flow of heat. Such quantum-limited heat conduction is now observed over macroscopic distances, extending to a metre, in superconducting transmission lines.

    • Matti Partanen
    • , Kuan Yen Tan
    •  & Mikko Möttönen

  • Letter |

    The efficient and robust manipulation of single spins is an essential requirement for successful quantum devices. The manipulation of a single nitrogen–vacancy spin centre is now demonstrated by means of a mechanical resonator approach.

    • A. Barfuss
    • , J. Teissier
    •  & P. Maletinsky

  • Letter |

    One minute parity lifetimes are reported in a superconducting transistor made of niobium titanite nitride coupled to aluminium contacts even in the presence of small magnetic fields, enabling the braiding of Majorana bound states.

    • David J. van Woerkom
    • , Attila Geresdi
    •  & Leo P. Kouwenhoven

  • Letter |

    Josephson vortices are circulating supercurrents with an inner structure that is challenging to probe experimentally. Scanning tunnelling microscopy now shows that such vortices contain non-superconducting cores.

    • Dimitri Roditchev
    • , Christophe Brun
    •  & Tristan Cren

  • News & Views |

    The standard description of spin–orbit torques neglects geometric phase effects. But recent experiments suggest that the Berry curvature gives rise to an anti-damping torque in systems with broken inversion symmetry.

    • Aurelien Manchon

  • Article |

    When superconducting discs are deposited on graphene they induce local superconducting islands. The phase coupling between the islands can be controlled by a gate. Quantum phase fluctuations kill the superconductivity and lead to a metallic state, however, at higher magnetic fields superconductivity can return.

    • Zheng Han
    • , Adrien Allain
    •  & Vincent Bouchiat

  • News & Views |

    Comparisons between classically simulated models and the actual performance of a 100-qubit D-Wave processor stimulate, but do not settle, the debate about how quantum annealing really works.

    • Dan Browne

  • News & Views |

    The back-action of a weak measurement on the electron spin of a nitrogen–vacancy centre in diamond can be used to steer the associated nuclear spin towards a desired state.

    • Victor M. Acosta

  • Article |

    A room-temperature motion sensor with record sensitivity is created using a levitating silica nanoparticle. Feedback cooling to reduce the noise arising from Brownian motion enables a detector that is perhaps even sensitive enough to detect non-Newtonian gravity-like forces.

    • Jan Gieseler
    • , Lukas Novotny
    •  & Romain Quidant

  • Article |

    Superparamagnetism (preferential alignment of spins along an easy axis) is a useful effect for spintronic applications as it prevents spin reversal. It is now shown that high-spin quantum dots can become magnetically anisotropic when coupled to nearby ferromagnets—‘artificial’ superparamagnets.

    • Maciej Misiorny
    • , Michael Hell
    •  & Maarten R. Wegewijs

  • Letter |

    A nanomechanical interface between optical photons and microwave electrical signals is now demonstrated. Coherent transfer between microwave and optical fields is achieved by parametric electro-optical coupling in a piezoelectric optomechanical crystal, and this on-chip technology could form the basis of photonic networks of superconducting quantum bits.

    • Joerg Bochmann
    • , Amit Vainsencher
    •  & Andrew N. Cleland

  • Letter |

    Measurements of the spin heat accumulation at the ferromagnetic/non-magnetic interface in nanopillar spin valves show that spin-up and spin-down electrons have different temperatures. This observation is important for the design of magnetic thermal switches and the study of inelastic spin scattering.

    • F. K. Dejene
    • , J. Flipse
    •  & B. J. van Wees

  • Article |

    When a domain wall of a given chirality is injected into a magnetic nanowire, its trajectory through a branched network of Y-shaped nanowire junctions—such as a honeycomb lattice, for instance—can be pre-determined. This property has implications for data storage and processing.

    • Aakash Pushp
    • , Timothy Phung
    •  & Stuart S. P. Parkin

  • News & Views |

    Coupled nanomechanical oscillators can show similar dynamics to two-level systems, and may eventually be used as quantum bits.

    • Klemens Hammerer

  • Letter |

    Coherent control of two flexural modes of a nanoscale oscillator using radiofrequency signals is now demonstrated. This oscillator is analogous to quantum two-level systems such as superconducting circuits and quantum dots, and therefore this technique raises the possibility of information processing using nanomechanical resonators.

    • T. Faust
    • , J. Rieger
    •  & E. M. Weig

  • Letter |

    It is now shown that phonons can be coherently transferred between two nanomechanical resonators. The technique of controlling the coupling between nanoscale oscillators using a piezoelectric transducer is useful for manipulating classical oscillations, but if extended to the quantum regime it could also enable entanglement of macroscopic mechanical objects.

    • Hajime Okamoto
    • , Adrien Gourgout
    •  & Hiroshi Yamaguchi

  • Letter |

    Conventional approaches to optomechanics control and monitor the motion of nanoscale mechanical resonators by coupling it to a high-quality photonic cavity. An all-mechanical implementation is now demonstrated by creating a so-called phonon cavity from different oscillating modes of the resonator. This idea opens a route to using solid-state systems to investigate physics not accessible in their analogous, but better developed, quantum-optics counterpart.

    • I. Mahboob
    • , K. Nishiguchi
    •  & H. Yamaguchi

  • News & Views |

    The electronic degrees of freedom in semiconductor membranes provide an innovative new way of cooling mechanical motion.

    • Andrew Armour

  • Article |

    A novel mechanism for cooling nanomechanical objects has now been demonstrated. Optically excited electron–hole pairs produce a mechanical stress that damps the motion of a gallium arsenide membrane. In this way, the nanoscale resonator is cooled from room temperature to 4 K.

    • K. Usami
    • , A. Naesby
    •  & E. S. Polzik

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