Perspective |
Featured
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Article |
Observation of spin polarons in a frustrated moiré Hubbard system
Spin polarons, bound states of a doped carrier and a spin flip excitation, are observed in a transition metal moiré bilayer.
- Zui Tao
- , Wenjin Zhao
- & Kin Fai Mak
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Article
| Open AccessCavity-mediated long-range interactions in levitated optomechanics
Combining multiparticle levitation with cavity control enables cavity-mediated interaction between levitated nanoparticles, whose strength can be tailored via optical detuning and position of the two particles.
- Jayadev Vijayan
- , Johannes Piotrowski
- & Lukas Novotny
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Article
| Open AccessGraph states of atomic ensembles engineered by photon-mediated entanglement
Photon-mediated entanglement in atomic ensembles coupled to cavities enables the engineering of quantum states with a graph-like entanglement structure. This offers potential advantages in quantum computation and metrology.
- Eric S. Cooper
- , Philipp Kunkel
- & Monika Schleier-Smith
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Article |
Nonclassical near-field dynamics of surface plasmons
Most applications of surface plasmons are based on their near-field properties. These properties are now shown to be governed by nonclassical scattering between multiparticle plasmonic subsystems.
- Mingyuan Hong
- , Riley B. Dawkins
- & Omar S. Magaña-Loaiza
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Article |
Deterministic generation of multidimensional photonic cluster states with a single quantum emitter
Cluster states made from multiple photons with a special entanglement structure are a useful resource for quantum technologies. Two-dimensional cluster states of microwave photons have now been deterministically generated using a superconducting circuit.
- Vinicius S. Ferreira
- , Gihwan Kim
- & Oskar Painter
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News & Views |
Metal poles around the bend
Electric dipoles are common in insulators, but extremely rare in metals. This situation may be about to change, thanks to flexoelectricity.
- Gustau Catalan
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Article |
Quantized topological pumping in Floquet synthetic dimensions with a driven dissipative photonic molecule
Although dissipation is often detrimental to the observation of topological effects, a photonic molecule driven at several incommensurate frequencies is shown to be a candidate system for quantized topological transport in synthetic dimensions.
- Sashank Kaushik Sridhar
- , Sayan Ghosh
- & Avik Dutt
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World View |
Artificial intelligence needs a scientific method-driven reset
AI needs to develop more solid assumptions, falsifiable hypotheses, and rigorous experimentation.
- Luís A. Nunes Amaral
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Article |
Non-classical microwave–optical photon pair generation with a chip-scale transducer
A transducer that generates microwave–optical photon pairs is demonstrated. This could provide an interface between optical communication networks and superconducting quantum devices that operate at microwave frequencies.
- Srujan Meesala
- , Steven Wood
- & Oskar Painter
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Article |
Attosecond metrology of the two-dimensional charge distribution in molecules
Attosecond interferometry measurements of photoionization delays in planar carbon-based molecules can provide information on the dimension and shape of the two-dimensional hole generated in the process.
- V. Loriot
- , A. Boyer
- & F. Lépine
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Article |
Quantum transport response of topological hinge modes
Topologically protected hinge modes could be important for developing quantum devices, but electronic transport through those states has not been demonstrated. Now quantum transport has been shown in gapless topological hinge states.
- Md Shafayat Hossain
- , Qi Zhang
- & M. Zahid Hasan
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News & Views |
Time in a glass
Ageing is a non-linear, irreversible process that defines many properties of glassy materials. Now, it is shown that the so-called material-time formalism can describe ageing in terms of equilibrium-like properties.
- Beatrice Ruta
- & Daniele Cangialosi
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News & Views |
Organic molecules pumped to resonance
Interacting emitters are the fundamental building blocks of quantum optics and quantum information devices. Pairs of organic molecules embedded in a crystal can become permanently strongly interacting when they are pumped with intense laser light.
- Stuart J. Masson
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News & Views |
Sound interactions across multiple modes
Some quantum acoustic resonators possess a large number of phonon modes at different frequencies. Direct interactions between modes similar to those available for photonic devices have now been demonstrated. This enables manipulation of multimode states.
- Audrey Bienfait
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Article |
Superradiant and subradiant states in lifetime-limited organic molecules through laser-induced tuning
Laser-induced tuning of pairs of lifetime-limited organic emitters allows the controlled creation of superradiant and subradiant entangled states.
- Christian M. Lange
- , Emma Daggett
- & Jonathan D. Hood
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Measure for Measure |
We can see clearly now
Adaptive optics allows scientists to correct for distortions of an image caused by the scattering of light. Anita Chandran illuminates the nature of the technique.
- Anita Mary Chandran
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News & Views |
Through the slopes of a light-induced phase transition
The integration of theory and experiment makes possible tracking the slow evolution of a photodoped Mott insulator to a distinct non-equilibrium metallic phase under the influence of electron-lattice coupling.
- Denitsa R. Baykusheva
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Article
| Open AccessObservation of Josephson harmonics in tunnel junctions
The standard current–phase relation in tunnel Josephson junctions involves a single sinusoidal term, but real junctions are more complicated. The effects of higher Josephson harmonics have now been identified in superconducting qubit devices.
- Dennis Willsch
- , Dennis Rieger
- & Ioan M. Pop
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News & Views |
Symmetry matters
Quantum simulators can provide new insights into the complicated dynamics of quantum many-body systems far from equilibrium. A recent experiment reveals that underlying symmetries dictate the nature of universal scaling dynamics.
- Maximilian Prüfer
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News & Views |
A strange way to get a strange metal
Some cerium and uranium compounds exhibit unusual transport properties due to localized electron states. Recent experiments demonstrate that quantum interference on frustrated lattices provides an alternative route to this behaviour.
- William R. Meier
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Article
| Open AccessBragg glass signatures in PdxErTe3 with X-ray diffraction temperature clustering
The existence of Bragg glasses—featuring nearly perfect crystalline order and glassy features—has yet to be experimentally confirmed for disordered charge-density-wave systems. A machine-learning-based experimental study now provides evidence for a Bragg glass phase in the charge density waves of PdxErTe3.
- Krishnanand Mallayya
- , Joshua Straquadine
- & Eun-Ah Kim
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Article |
Picosecond volume expansion drives a later-time insulator–metal transition in a nano-textured Mott insulator
During a photoinduced phase transition, electronic rearrangements are usually faster than lattice ones. Time-resolved measurements now show that the insulator-to-metal transition in a thin-film Mott insulator is preceded by lattice reconfiguration.
- Anita Verma
- , Denis Golež
- & Andrej Singer
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World View |
Why even specialists struggle with black hole proofs
Mathematical proofs of black hole physics are becoming too complex even for specialists.
- Alejandro Penuela Diaz
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News & Views |
Relaxation of a sensitive superconductor
Some exotic metals exhibit competing electronic states that can be influenced by small perturbations. Now, a study of a kagome superconductor shows that this competition is exquisitely sensitive to weak strain fields, providing insight into its anomalous electronic properties.
- Stephen D. Wilson
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News & Views |
Breaking fast and slow
When cracks creep forward in our three-dimensional world, they do so because of accompanying cracks racing perpendicular to the main direction of motion with almost sonic speed. Clever experiments have now directly demonstrated this phenomenon.
- Michael Marder
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News & Views |
A boost for laser fusion
Inertial confinement represents one of two viable approaches for producing energy from the fusion of hydrogen isotopes. Scientists have now achieved a record yield of fusion energy when directly irradiating targets with only 28 kilojoules of laser energy.
- Vladimir Tikhonchuk
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Article |
Demonstration of hot-spot fuel gain exceeding unity in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions
Inertial confinement fusion experiments in a direct-drive configuration report more energy produced in deuterium–tritium fusion reactions than the amount of energy in the central part of the plasma created by laser irradiation of the fuel capsule.
- C. A. Williams
- , R. Betti
- & E. M. Campbell
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Article |
Demonstration of a hydrodynamically equivalent burning plasma in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion
Hydro-equivalent scaling of recent direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions shows that a burning plasma can be achieved with a higher laser energy.
- V. Gopalaswamy
- , C. A. Williams
- & C. Deeney
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Article |
Dipolar spin wave packet transport in a van der Waals antiferromagnet
Understanding the mechanism by which magnons—the quanta of spin waves—propagate is important for developing practical devices. Now it is shown that long-range dipole–dipole interactions mediate the propagation in a van der Waals antiferromagnet.
- Yue Sun
- , Fanhao Meng
- & Joseph Orenstein
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News & Views |
A quantum collaboration for flat bands
Multiple mechanisms can create electrons with reduced kinetic energy in solids. Combining these mechanisms now appears as a promising route to enhancing quantum effects in flat band materials.
- Priscila F. S. Rosa
- & Filip Ronning
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Article |
Terahertz field-induced nonlinear coupling of two magnon modes in an antiferromagnet
Magnons—quanta of spin waves—have potential applications in signal processing technology. But it is challenging to obtain coupling between different magnons. Now a study achieves this by demonstrating nonlinear magnon mixing in an antiferromagnet.
- Zhuquan Zhang
- , Frank Y. Gao
- & Keith A. Nelson
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News & Views |
Phonons bend to magnetic fields
Phonons do not carry spin or charge, but they can couple to an external magnetic field and cause a sizable transverse thermal gradient. Experiments suggest that phonon handedness is a widespread effect in magnetic insulators with impurities.
- Valentina Martelli
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Article |
Phonon chirality from impurity scattering in the antiferromagnetic phase of Sr2IrO4
The thermal Hall effect of phonons does not yet have a definitive explanation. Now a careful study of doped Sr2IrO4 suggests that the mechanism involves the scattering of phonons by impurities embedded in an antiferromagnetic environment.
- A. Ataei
- , G. Grissonnanche
- & L. Taillefer
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Article
| Open AccessThe interplay of field-tunable strongly correlated states in a multi-orbital moiré system
Heterostructures of transition metal dichalcogenides are known to simulate the triangular-lattice Hubbard model. Now, by combining a monolayer and bilayer of different materials, this idea is extended to multi-orbital Hubbard models.
- Aidan J. Campbell
- , Valerio Vitale
- & Brian D. Gerardot
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Article
| Open AccessPropagation of extended fractures by local nucleation and rapid transverse expansion of crack-front distortion
Understanding the three-dimensional nature of fracture formation and dynamics is challenging. Experiments now show that a fracture front, after originating at a particular locus in a material, propagates jump-wise and expands transversely at high speed.
- T. Cochard
- , I. Svetlizky
- & D. A. Weitz
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Article |
Time reversibility during the ageing of materials
Physical ageing in glassy materials can be described in a linear way through the concept of material time. Multispeckle dynamic light scattering is now shown to provide experimental access to the material time, in terms of which fluctuations become statistically reversible.
- Till Böhmer
- , Jan P. Gabriel
- & Thomas Blochowicz
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Article |
Tunable quantum simulation of spin models with a two-dimensional ion crystal
Most quantum simulations of spin models with trapped ions have been restricted to one dimension. Now, tunable simulations of Ising models with single-site detection have been demonstrated in two-dimensional ion crystals.
- Mu Qiao
- , Zhengyang Cai
- & Kihwan Kim
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Article |
Non-Fermi liquid behaviour in a correlated flat-band pyrochlore lattice
Observations of strong electron correlation effects have been mostly confined to compounds containing f orbital electrons. Now, the study of the 3d pyrochlore metal CuV2S4 reveals that similar effects can be induced by flat-band engineering.
- Jianwei Huang
- , Lei Chen
- & Ming Yi
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News & Views |
Pocket pairs in iron-based materials
Experiments with unprecedented energy and momentum resolution reveal the nature of the pairing symmetry in KFe2As2 and pave the way for a unified theoretical description of unconventional superconductivity in iron-based materials.
- Norman Mannella
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Article
| Open AccessEngineering multimode interactions in circuit quantum acoustodynamics
Quantum gates require controlled interactions between different degrees of freedom. A tunable coupling has now been demonstrated between the phonon modes of a mechanical resonator designed for storing and manipulating quantum information.
- Uwe von Lüpke
- , Ines C. Rodrigues
- & Yiwen Chu
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Article |
Hopping frustration-induced flat band and strange metallicity in a kagome metal
Electrons in f orbitals can create localized states that interact strongly and drive strange metal and critical behaviour via the Kondo mechanism. Now a mechanism of geometric frustration enables similar phenomena with d electrons.
- Linda Ye
- , Shiang Fang
- & Joseph G. Checkelsky
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Article
| Open AccessDipolar skyrmions and antiskyrmions of arbitrary topological charge at room temperature
Control over magnetic skyrmions at room temperature has important applications in technology. Now the observation of skyrmions with high topological charge widens the potential for them to be used in unconventional computing techniques.
- Mariam Hassan
- , Sabri Koraltan
- & Manfred Albrecht
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Research Briefing |
Defects show self-constraint in active nematics
Studies of a biological active nematic fluid reveal a spontaneous self-constraint that arises between self-motile topological defects and mesoscale coherent flow structures. The defects follow specific contours of the flow field, on which vorticity and strain rate balance, and hence, contrary to expectation, they break mirror symmetry.
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Article |
Robust continuous time crystal in an electron–nuclear spin system
Time crystals spontaneously produce periodic oscillations that are robust to perturbations. A time crystal phase with a long coherence time has now been produced using the electron and nuclear spins of a semiconductor sample.
- A. Greilich
- , N. E. Kopteva
- & M. Bayer
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Article |
Minimally rigid clusters in dense suspension flow
Dense suspensions are granular materials suspended in a liquid at high packing fractions, exhibiting high viscosity. The latter is now shown to be related to the formation of a network of rigid clusters at large shear stress.
- Michael van der Naald
- , Abhinendra Singh
- & Heinrich M. Jaeger
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Article |
Origin of the critical state in sheared granular materials
When applying sufficient strain, the flow of dense granular matter becomes critical. It is now shown that this state corresponds to random loose packing for spheres with different friction coefficients and that these packings can be mapped onto the frictionless hard-sphere system.
- Yi Xing
- , Ye Yuan
- & Yujie Wang
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Article |
Terahertz-field-driven magnon upconversion in an antiferromagnet
Inducing coherent interactions between distinct magnon modes—collective excitations of magnetic order—has been challenging. A canted antiferromagnet has demonstrated coherent magnon upconversion induced by terahertz laser pulses.
- Zhuquan Zhang
- , Frank Y. Gao
- & Keith A. Nelson
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Article |
Nodal s± pairing symmetry in an iron-based superconductor with only hole pockets
High-precision photoemission measurements determine that the superconducting pairing symmetry in KFe2As2 is the same as in other types of iron-based superconductors, despite having different features in the band structure.
- Dingsong Wu
- , Junjie Jia
- & X. J. Zhou
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