Nanoscale materials articles within Nature Physics

Featured

  • Research Briefing |

    Rotational symmetry is shown to protect the quadratic dispersion of out-of-plane flexural vibrations in graphene and other two-dimensional materials against phonon–phonon interactions, making the bending rigidity of these materials non-divergent. The quadratic dispersion is then consistent with the propagation of sound in the graphene plane.

  • Article |

    The phase diagram of confined ice is different from that of bulk ice. Simulations now reveal several 2D ice phases and show how strong nuclear quantum effects result in rich proton dynamics in 2D confined ices.

    • Jian Jiang
    • , Yurui Gao
    •  & Xiao Cheng Zeng

  • Article |

    Bound states in the continuum are topological states with useful symmetry protection properties. An experiment now shows how to use them to form macroscopically coherent complexes of polariton condensates.

    • Antonio Gianfrate
    • , Helgi Sigurðsson
    •  & Daniele Sanvitto

  • News & Views |

    Semiconducting dipolar excitons — bound states of electrons and holes — in artificial moiré lattices constitute a promising condensed matter system to explore the phase diagram of strongly interacting bosonic particles.

    • Nadine Leisgang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Interactions between a localized magnetic moment and electrons in a metal can produce an emergent resonance that affects the metal’s properties. A realization of this Kondo effect in MoS2 provides an opportunity to study it in microscopic detail.

    • Camiel van Efferen
    • , Jeison Fischer
    •  & Wouter Jolie

  • Article |

    Despite the theoretical prediction of spinaron quasiparticles in artificial nanostructures, experimental evidence has not yet been seen. Now it has been observed in a hybrid system comprising Co atoms on a Cu(111) surface.

    • Felix Friedrich
    • , Artem Odobesko
    •  & Matthias Bode

  • 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

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Coulomb interactions in free-electron beams are usually seen as an adverse effect. The creation of distinctive number states with one, two, three and four electrons now reveals unexpected opportunities for electron microscopy and lithography from Coulomb correlations.

    • Rudolf Haindl
    • , Armin Feist
    •  & Claus Ropers

  • News & Views |

    Generating and controlling noncollinear spin textures is a promising route towards developing next-generation logic architectures beyond CMOS. Now, these spin textures can be engineered in twisted magnetic two-dimensional materials.

    • Bevin Huang

  • Article |

    A moiré potential may play a role in determining the magnetic properties of a two-dimensional homo or heterostructure. Now, non-collinear spin structures are observed in twisted double bilayer CrI3, providing a platform to engineer unusual magnetic textures.

    • Hongchao Xie
    • , Xiangpeng Luo
    •  & Liuyan Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    So far, a continuous time crystal has only been implemented on a quantum system. Optically driven many-body interactions in a nanomechanical photonic metamaterial now allow the realization of a classical continuous time crystal.

    • Tongjun Liu
    • , Jun-Yu Ou
    •  & Nikolay I. Zheludev

  • Article |

    Layering quantum materials can produce interesting phenomena by combining the different behaviour of electronic states in each layer. A layer-sensitive measurement technique provides insights into the physics of a magnetic topological insulator.

    • Woojoo Lee
    • , Sebastian Fernandez-Mulligan
    •  & Shuolong Yang

  • Letter |

    Plasmonics allows precise engineering of light–matter interactions and is the driver behind many optical devices. The local observation of a plasmonic quantum wave packet is a step towards bringing these functionalities to the quantum regime.

    • Sebastian Pres
    • , Bernhard Huber
    •  & Tobias Brixner

  • Article |

    Hexagonal boron nitride is a common component of 2D heterostructures. Defects implanted in boron nitride crystals can be used to perform spatially resolved sensing of properties, including temperature, magnetism and current.

    • A. J. Healey
    • , S. C. Scholten
    •  & J.-P. Tetienne

  • Letter |

    The anomalous Hall effect can signify that a material has a spontaneous magnetic order. Now, twisted bilayer graphene shows this effect at half filling, suggesting that the ground state is valley-polarized.

    • Chun-Chih Tseng
    • , Xuetao Ma
    •  & Matthew Yankowitz

  • News & Views |

    Experiments with chiral magnets may hold the key to a better understanding of fundamental aspects of transformations between different skyrmionic states, necessary for magnetic memory and logic applications to become a reality.

    • Alexey A. Kovalev

  • Letter |

    Stacking monolayer WS2 on top of bilayer WSe2 creates conditions where electrons and holes can coexist in the structure. Their Coulomb interaction allows them to form bound pairs and hence an excitonic insulator state.

    • Dongxue Chen
    • , Zhen Lian
    •  & Su-Fei Shi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Continuously changing the coupling between a magnetic impurity and a superconductor allows the observation of the reversal of supercurrent flow at the atomic scale.

    • Sujoy Karan
    • , Haonan Huang
    •  & Christian R. Ast

  • News & Views |

    Quantum confinement effects offer a more comprehensive understanding of the fundamental processes that drive extreme optical nonlinearities in nano-engineered solids, opening a route to unlocking the potential of high-order harmonic generation.

    • Julien Madéo
    •  & Keshav M. Dani

  • Letter
    | Open Access

    Magnetic skyrmions—a type of localized spin texture—have been theoretically predicted to annihilate with counterparts known as antiskyrmions. By means of electron microscopy, such annihilation has now been observed in a cubic chiral magnet.

    • Fengshan Zheng
    • , Nikolai S. Kiselev
    •  & Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski

  • News & Views |

    Advances in precision lithography and measurement have made it possible to observe and control the magnetic phase transition in kagome artificial spin ice, which could lead to new technological devices.

    • Susan Kempinger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electrons in PdCoO2 can travel a long way before being scattered, and their band structure is such that they can travel in only one of three directions. As a result, the current flow through this nanoscale conductor can be very efficient.

    • Maja D. Bachmann
    • , Aaron L. Sharpe
    •  & Philip J. W. Moll

  • Article |

    Artificial spin ice formed of nanomagnets arranged on a lattice mimics frustrated magnetism seen in condensed matter. By controlling magnetic interactions, theoretically predicted phase transitions are now observed in artificial kagome-lattice spin ice.

    • Kevin Hofhuis
    • , Sandra Helen Skjærvø
    •  & Laura Jane Heyderman

  • News & Views |

    Light travels through disordered media on a random path that is hard to control. A comprehensive study has now shown that optical energy can be deposited at a desired depth in a disordered waveguide by injecting a light field with a particular shape.

    • Oluwafemi S. Ojambati

  • News & Views |

    Most systems exhibiting topological superconductivity are artificial structures that require precise engineering. Now, a layered material shows tantalizing signs of the phenomenon.

    • Jose L. Lado
    •  & Peter Liljeroth

  • Article |

    Moiré potentials substantially alter the electronic properties of twisted bilayer graphene at a magic twist angle. A propagating plasmon mode, which can be observed with optical nano-imaging, is associated with transitions between the moiré minibands.

    • Niels C. H. Hesp
    • , Iacopo Torre
    •  & Frank H. L. Koppens

  • News & Views |

    Some material defects have quantum degrees of freedom that are measurably disturbed by environmental changes, making them excellent sensors. A two-dimensional material with such defects could improve the versatility of quantum-sensing technologies.

    • J.-P. Tetienne

  • Article |

    Macroscale patterns seen in biological systems such as animal coats or skin can be described by Turing’s reaction–diffusion theory. Now Turing patterns are shown to also exist in bismuth monolayers, an exemplary nanoscale atomic system.

    • Yuki Fuseya
    • , Hiroyasu Katsuno
    •  & Aharon Kapitulnik

  • Article |

    A two-fold rotational symmetry is observed in the superconducting state of NbSe2. This is strikingly different from the three-fold symmetry of the lattice, and suggests that a mixed conventional and unconventional order parameter exists in this material.

    • Alex Hamill
    • , Brett Heischmidt
    •  & Vlad S. Pribiag

  • Letter |

    High-resolution magnetometry shows that the shape of domain walls in Cr2O3 is determined by the energetic cost of their surface area. The walls behave like elastic surfaces that avoid thicker parts of the sample where they would need to be larger.

    • Natascha Hedrich
    • , Kai Wagner
    •  & Patrick Maletinsky

  • Letter |

    The electrical potential created by a moiré pattern in twisted transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers can be surprisingly deep, trapping electrons that can possibly be used for opto-electronic or quantum simulation applications.

    • Sara Shabani
    • , Dorri Halbertal
    •  & Abhay N. Pasupathy

Browse broader subjects

Browse narrower subjects

Browse Nanoscale materials across other nature.com journals