The Top 25 Physics Articles of 2023

Top Articles

• Gravitationally induced decoherence vs space-time diffusion: testing the quantum nature of gravity

  Consistent theories have been proposed in which spacetime is treated classically while matter remains quantum. Here, the authors prove that such theories are constrained by a trade-off between the decoherence induced in the quantum system, and stochasticity in the classical one, providing a way to experimentally test the quantum nature of gravity.

  • Jonathan Oppenheim
  • Carlo Sparaciari
  • Zachary Weller-Davies

  ArticleOpen Access4 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Quantum transport of high-dimensional spatial information with a nonlinear detector

  High-dimensional quantum states allow for several advantages in quantum communication, but protocols such as teleportation require additional entangled photons as the dimension increases. Here, the authors show how to transport a high-dimensional quantum state from a bright coherent laser field to a single photon, using two entangled photons as the quantum channel.

  • Bereneice Sephton
  • Adam Vallés
  • Andrew Forbes

  ArticleOpen Access13 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Precise characterization of a corridor-shaped structure in Khufu’s Pyramid by observation of cosmic-ray muons

  Khufu’s Pyramid is one of the largest archaeological monuments in the world, and still contains unexplored voids. Here, the authors use cosmic-ray muon radiography in multiple positions to precisely characterize one of these inner structures called the North Face Corridor.

  • Sébastien Procureur
  • Kunihiro Morishima
  • Mohamed Elkarmoty

  ArticleOpen Access2 Mar 2023 Nature Communications
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  Evidence of an upper ionospheric electric field perturbation correlated with a gamma ray burst

  Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are known to have impact on Earth’s lower ionosphere, but GRB impacts on the upper ionosphere was not observed before. Here, the authors show strong electric field variation at 500 km in the ionosphere caused by GRB221009A.

  • Mirko Piersanti
  • Pietro Ubertini
  • Paolo Zuccon

  ArticleOpen Access14 Nov 2023 Nature Communications
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  A minority of final stacks yields superior amplitude in single-particle cryo-EM

  Here the authors develop an iterative particle sieving method called CryoSieve, demonstrating this method outperforms other cryo-EM particle sorting algorithms to reveal that most particles are unnecessary in final stacks.

  • Jianying Zhu
  • Qi Zhang
  • Chenglong Bao

  ArticleOpen Access10 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Transition to the Haldane phase driven by electron-electron correlations

  At the microscopic level, the localized spins arise due to the electron-electron interactions. Here, the authors show how a topological phase of the Haldane spin chain emerges in a two-orbital Hubbard model with increasing interaction strength.

  • A. Jażdżewska
  • M. Mierzejewski
  • J. Herbrych

  ArticleOpen Access22 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Integrated microwave photonic notch filter using a heterogeneously integrated Brillouin and active-silicon photonic circuit

  Microwave photonic technologies are poised to revolutionise electronic systems. Here the authors integrate necessary but until now elusive, MHz-level resolution photonic processing with on-chip electro-optic components in a compact microwave photonic notch filter.

  • Matthew Garrett
  • Yang Liu
  • Benjamin J. Eggleton

  ArticleOpen Access20 Nov 2023 Nature Communications
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  Observation of an Alice ring in a Bose–Einstein condensate

  An Alice ring is related to the unusual topology of the monopole field and its decay. Here the authors demonstrate a topological monopole defect in the form of an Alice ring using gaseous Bose–Einstein condensates of 87Rb atoms.

  • Alina Blinova
  • Roberto Zamora-Zamora
  • David S. Hall

  ArticleOpen Access29 Aug 2023 Nature Communications
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  High quality factor metasurfaces for two-dimensional wavefront manipulation

  Wavefront manipulation with metasurfaces is typically limited to low quality factors. Here, the authors show how higher-order Mie modes can be leveraged to design high quality factor optical metasurfaces for wavefront manipulation in two dimensions.

  • Claudio U. Hail
  • Morgan Foley
  • Harry A. Atwater

  ArticleOpen Access20 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Strongly interacting matter exhibits deconfined behavior in massive neutron stars

  Neutron stars contain matter at extremely high densities, the properties of which are reflected in the corresponding equation of state (EoS). Here, the authors argue that the inferred properties of the neutron-star-matter EoS point to the likely presence of deconfined quark matter in the cores of the most massive stable neutron stars.

  • Eemeli Annala
  • Tyler Gorda
  • Aleksi Vuorinen

  ArticleOpen Access19 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  On-chip phonon-magnon reservoir for neuromorphic computing

  Developing efficient reservoir computing hardware that combines optically excited acoustic and spin waves with high spatial density remains a challenge. In this work, the authors propose a design capable of recognizing visual shapes drawn by a laser within remarkably confined spaces, down to 10 square microns.

  • Dmytro D. Yaremkevich
  • Alexey V. Scherbakov
  • Manfred Bayer

  ArticleOpen Access14 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Topological electronic structure and spin texture of quasi-one-dimensional higher-order topological insulator Bi₄Br₄

  W. X. Zhao et al. study the higher-order topological insulator candidate Bi₄Br₄ by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and ab-initio calculation. They provide strong evidence for the higher-order topological insulator phase, including a signature of the hinge states inside the (100) surface gap.

  • Wenxuan Zhao
  • Ming Yang
  • Lexian Yang

  ArticleOpen Access7 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Mid-infrared supermirrors with finesse exceeding 400 000

  The researchers showcase all-crystalline and hybrid mid-infrared supermirrors with the lowest optical losses ever demonstrated in this wavelength range, representing an unprecedented improvement over any existing mirrors made with any production technology.

  • Gar-Wing Truong
  • Lukas W. Perner
  • Garrett D. Cole

  ArticleOpen Access6 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Hyperbolic exciton polaritons in a van der Waals magnet

  Hyperbolic exciton polaritons (HEPs) are anisotropic light-matter excitations with promising applications, but their steady-state observation is challenging. Here, the authors report experimental evidence of HEPs in a van der Waals magnet, CrSBr, via cryogenic infrared near-field microscopy.

  • Francesco L. Ruta
  • Shuai Zhang
  • D. N. Basov

  ArticleOpen Access13 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Non-identical moiré twins in bilayer graphene

  Here, the authors report the unexpected observation of different electronic properties of bilayer graphene/boron nitride heterostructures at 0° and 60° twist angles, showing the complex interplay between lattice relaxation and the electronic properties of moiré structures.

  • Everton Arrighi
  • Viet-Hung Nguyen
  • Rebeca Ribeiro-Palau

  ArticleOpen Access11 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Magnetic order in 2D antiferromagnets revealed by spontaneous anisotropic magnetostriction

  Van der Waals antiferromagnets offer a unique platform for studying magnetism in reduced dimensions, however, the low dimensionality, combined with lack of net magnetization, renders investigation challenging with conventional experimental probes. Here, Houmes et al show how van der Waals antiferromagnets can be investigated via the resonances of a vibrating rectangular membranes of this material.

  • Maurits J. A. Houmes
  • Gabriele Baglioni
  • Herre S. J. van der Zant

  ArticleOpen Access21 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Record high room temperature resistance switching in ferroelectric-gated Mott transistors unlocked by interfacial charge engineering

  Ferroelectric transistors are promising building blocks for developing energy-efficient memory and logic applications. Here, the authors report a record high 300 K resistance on-off ratio achieved in ferroelectric-gated Mott transistors by exploiting a charge transfer layer to tailor the channel carrier density and mitigate the ferroelectric depolarization effect.

  • Yifei Hao
  • Xuegang Chen
  • Xia Hong

  ArticleOpen Access12 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  A new era in solar system astronomy with JWST

  The exploration of our solar system is being radically changed since the beginning of operations of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in mid 2022. JWST’s extraordinary sensitivity and instrumentation allow for sensitive searches for the building blocks of life and to test for habitability, also enabling new discoveries on small bodies to giant planets across our solar system and beyond.

  • G. L. Villanueva
  • S. N. Milam

  CommentOpen Access17 Nov 2023 Nature Communications
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  Extendable piezo/ferroelectricity in nonstoichiometric 2D transition metal dichalcogenides

  Nonstoichiometric transition metal dichalcogenides break symmetry, enabling piezo/ferroelectric effects. Here, the authors propose an approach to integrate these properties with diverse 2D materials, advancing multifunctional materials and devices.

  • Yi Hu
  • Lukas Rogée
  • Shu Ping Lau

  ArticleOpen Access20 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Overcoming power-efficiency tradeoff in a micro heat engine by engineered system-bath interactions

  The trade-off between power and efficiency in designing heat engines has remained unsolved for the last two centuries. The authors overcome this trade-off in a colloidal Stirling engine by electrophoretically inducing system-reservoir interactions to enhance heat transfer during an isochoric process.

  • Sudeesh Krishnamurthy
  • Rajesh Ganapathy
  • A. K. Sood

  ArticleOpen Access27 Oct 2023 Nature Communications
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  Excitonic Complexes in Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

  The enhanced Coulomb interaction in two dimensions leads to not only tightly bound excitons but also many-particle excitonic complexes: excitons interacting with other quasiparticles, which results in improved and even new exciton properties with better controls. Here, we summarize studies of excitonic complexes in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides and their moiré heterojunctions, envisioning how to utilize them for exploring quantum many-body physics.

  • Xiaotong Chen
  • Zhen Lian
  • Su-Fei Shi

  CommentOpen Access12 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Phonon-enhanced nonlinearities in hexagonal boron nitride

  Nonlinear optical processes like higher-order harmonic generation in solids depend on several factors. Here the authors explore the optical nonlinearity of hexagonal boron nitride and find that enhanced nonlinearity is due to electron-phonon and phonon-polariton couplings.

  • Jared S. Ginsberg
  • M. Mehdi Jadidi
  • Alexander L. Gaeta

  ArticleOpen Access24 Nov 2023 Nature Communications
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  Hydrophobically gated memristive nanopores for neuromorphic applications

  Designing efficient nanoscale and adaptable bioinspired memristors remains a challenge. Here, the authors develop a bioinspired hydrophobically gated memristive nanopore capable of learning, forgetting, and retaining memory through an electrowetting mechanism.

  • Gonçalo Paulo
  • Ke Sun
  • Alberto Giacomello

  ArticleOpen Access18 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Synergistic pretraining of parametrized quantum circuits via tensor networks

  Scalable training of parametrised quantum circuit approaches is usually hindered by the barren plateau issue. Here, the authors show how initializing parametrised quantum circuits starting from scalable tensor-network based algorithms could ameliorate the problem.

  • Manuel S. Rudolph
  • Jacob Miller
  • Alejandro Perdomo-Ortiz

  ArticleOpen Access15 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Process integration and future outlook of 2D transistors

  2D semiconductors have been proposed as a potential option to replace or complement silicon electronics at the nanoscale. Here, the authors discuss the recent progress and remaining challenges that need to be addressed by the academic and industrial research communities towards the commercialization of 2D transistors.

  • Kevin P. O’Brien
  • Carl H. Naylor
  • Uygar Avci

  CommentOpen Access12 Oct 2023 Nature Communications