2021 Top 25 Physics Articles

Research highlights

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  A low-cost and shielding-free ultra-low-field brain MRI scanner

  A low cost MRI scanner may have the potential to meet clinical needs at point of care or in low and middle income countries. Here the authors describe a low cost 0.055 Tesla MRI scanner that operates using a standard AC power outlet, and demonstrate its preliminary feasibility in diagnosing brain tumor and stroke.

  • Yilong Liu
  • Alex T. L. Leong
  • Ed X. Wu

  ArticleOpen Access14 Dec 2021 Nature Communications
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  The XZZX surface code

  The surface code is a keystone in quantum error correction, but it does not generally perform well against structured noise and suffers from large overheads. Here, the authors demonstrate that a variant of it has better performance and requires fewer resources, without additional hardware demands.

  • J. Pablo Bonilla Ataides
  • David K. Tuckett
  • Benjamin J. Brown

  ArticleOpen Access12 Apr 2021 Nature Communications
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  Fast non-line-of-sight imaging with high-resolution and wide field of view using synthetic wavelength holography

  Here, the authors present Synthetic Wavelength Holography, an approach for Non-Line-of-Sight imaging. By exploiting spectral correlations in scattered light, the authors transform real world surfaces such as walls or scatterers into High-Resolution, Wide-Field-of-View imaging portals that provide holograms of objects obscured from view.

  • Florian Willomitzer
  • Prasanna V. Rangarajan
  • Oliver Cossairt

  ArticleOpen Access17 Nov 2021 Nature Communications
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  A space hurricane over the Earth’s polar ionosphere

  Hurricanes in the Earth’s low atmosphere are known, but not detected in the upper atmosphere earlier. Here, the authors show a long-lasting hurricane in the polar ionosphere and magnetosphere with large energy and momentum deposition despite otherwise extremely quiet conditions.

  • Qing-He Zhang
  • Yong-Liang Zhang
  • Li-Dong Xia

  ArticleOpen Access22 Feb 2021 Nature Communications
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  An optic to replace space and its application towards ultra-thin imaging systems

  The need for space between lenses in optical systems results in a trade-off between potential for miniaturisation and achieved resolution. Here, the authors demonstrate a device that propagates light longer than its thickness, a spaceplate, and can therefore replace space in optical systems.

  • Orad Reshef
  • Michael P. DelMastro
  • Jeff S. Lundeen

  ArticleOpen Access10 Jun 2021 Nature Communications
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  6 nm super-resolution optical transmission and scattering spectroscopic imaging of carbon nanotubes using a nanometer-scale white light source

  The authors present a super-resolution hyperspectral imaging technique using a nanoscale white light source generated by superfocusing light from a tungsten-halogen lamp. They achieve 6 nm resolution, measuring longitudinal and transverse optical electronic transitions in single-walled carbon nanotubes.

  • Xuezhi Ma
  • Qiushi Liu
  • Ming Liu

  ArticleOpen Access25 Nov 2021 Nature Communications
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  Imaging low-mass planets within the habitable zone of α Centauri

  Imaging of low-mass exoplanets can be achieved once the thermal background in the mid-infrared (MIR) wavelengths can be mitigated. Here, the authors present a ground-based MIR observing approach enabling imaging low-mass temperate exoplanets around nearby stars.

  • K. Wagner
  • A. Boehle
  • T. de Zeeuw

  ArticleOpen Access10 Feb 2021 Nature Communications
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  A GeV-TeV particle component and the barrier of cosmic-ray sea in the Central Molecular Zone

  Galactic center is one of the most important cosmic-ray sources. Here, the authors show GeV-TeV cosmic ray density in the central molecular zone is lower than the cosmic ray sea component, suggesting presence of high energy particle accelerator at the galactic center and existence of barrier.

  • Xiaoyuan Huang
  • Qiang Yuan
  • Yi-Zhong Fan

  ArticleOpen Access9 Nov 2021 Nature Communications
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  Engineering of a fluorescent chemogenetic reporter with tunable color for advanced live-cell imaging

  Fluorescent reporters spanning the visible spectrum are needed for imaging live cells and organisms. Here the authors report a collection of fluorogenic chromophores that cover the visible spectrum from blue to red using a single engineered and optimised protein tag.

  • Hela Benaissa
  • Karim Ounoughi
  • Arnaud Gautier

  ArticleOpen Access30 Nov 2021 Nature Communications
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  Particle-like topologies in light

  One way to describe a particle is as a localised, 3-dimensional topological state, such as a skyrmion or hopfion. Here, the authors demonstrate and characterise particle-like skyrmionic hopfions in a free-space structured light beam.

  • Danica Sugic
  • Ramon Droop
  • Mark R. Dennis

  ArticleOpen Access22 Nov 2021 Nature Communications
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  Magnetic memory driven by topological insulators

  It remains challenging to integrate topological insulators (TI) with magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ) for spintronics applications. Here, the authors achieve a large tunneling magnetoresistance ratio and a low switching current density in a TI-MTJ device at room temperature, very promising for TI-driven magnetic memory.

  • Hao Wu
  • Aitian Chen
  • Kang L. Wang

  ArticleOpen Access29 Oct 2021 Nature Communications
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  Spatially and optically tailored 3D printing for highly miniaturized and integrated microfluidics

  The ever-growing need for highly functional, compact, and integrated microfluidic devices often incurs lengthy and expensive manufacturing processes. Here, authors introduce a generalized 3D printing process that enables fast parallel fabrication of miniaturized, high resolution 3D components.

  • Jose L. Sanchez Noriega
  • Nicholas A. Chartrand
  • Gregory P. Nordin

  ArticleOpen Access17 Sep 2021 Nature Communications
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  Polluted white dwarfs reveal exotic mantle rock types on exoplanets in our solar neighborhood

  While some exoplanets that once orbited Polluted white dwarfs are similar to Earth, most appear to have rock types that are exotic to our Solar System. We thus develop a new classification scheme to describe these new and novel lithologies that appear to be dominant among polluted white dwarfs.

  • Keith D. Putirka
  • Siyi Xu

  ArticleOpen Access2 Nov 2021 Nature Communications
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  High-performance lasers for fully integrated silicon nitride photonics

  Achieving high output power and low noise integrated lasers is a major challenge. Here the authors experimentally demonstrate integrated lasers from a Si/SiN heterogeneous platform that shows Hertz-level linewidth, paving the way toward fully integrating low-noise silicon nitride photonics in volume using real devices for lasing.

  • Chao Xiang
  • Joel Guo
  • John E. Bowers

  ArticleOpen Access17 Nov 2021 Nature Communications
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  Undecidability in quantum thermalization

  The question whether a given isolated quantum many-body system would thermalize has currently no general answer. Here, Shiraishi and Matsumoto demonstrate the computational universality of thermalization phenomena already for simplified 1D systems, thus proving that the thermalization problem is undecidable.

  • Naoto Shiraishi
  • Keiji Matsumoto

  ArticleOpen Access24 Aug 2021 Nature Communications
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  One-hour coherent optical storage in an atomic frequency comb memory

  Quantum memories are key components for quantum communication, but current storage times are still too short. Here, the authors use the atomic frequency comb protocol in a zero-first-order-Zeeman field to coherently store an optical pulse for an hour in a cryogenically cooled rare-earth doped crystal.

  • Yu Ma
  • You-Zhi Ma
  • Guang-Can Guo

  ArticleOpen Access22 Apr 2021 Nature Communications
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  A Fabry-Pérot cavity coupled surface plasmon photodiode for electrical biomolecular sensing

  Surface plasmon resonance is well established for biosensing applications, but commonly limited by complex optical detection. Here, the authors present a plasmonic sensor integrated in a photovoltaic cell, which generates an electronic signal sensitive to the solution refractive index via plasmon interaction

  • Giles Allison
  • Amrita Kumar Sana
  • Hironori Suzuki

  ArticleOpen Access10 Nov 2021 Nature Communications
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  Electro-optic spatial light modulator from an engineered organic layer

  Spatial light modulators (SLM) provide tailored light fields for many applications. Here, the authors present an SLM device based on an organic electro-optic material that manipulates the properties of individual pixels by electronic signals at speeds up to 50 MHz.

  • Ileana-Cristina Benea-Chelmus
  • Maryna L. Meretska
  • Federico Capasso

  ArticleOpen Access11 Oct 2021 Nature Communications

• Observers of quantum systems cannot agree to disagree

  Aumann’s agreement theorem states that observers of classical systems can’t “agree to disagree." Here, the authors show that the same epistemic consistency holds for observers of quantum states, but not for observers of post-quantum no-signalling boxes, hinting at its potential status as a physical principle.

  • Patricia Contreras-Tejada
  • Giannicola Scarpa
  • Pierfrancesco La Mura

  ArticleOpen Access2 Dec 2021 Nature Communications
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  Full-color enhanced second harmonic generation using rainbow trapping in ultrathin hyperbolic metamaterials

  Though metamaterials enhance nonlinear light-matter interactions due to their resonant features, these materials typically show a narrow spectral bandwidth. Here, the authors report broadband enhanced second-harmonic generation in patterned multilayer hyperbolic metamaterial arrays.

  • Junhao Li
  • Guangwei Hu
  • Lin Chen

  ArticleOpen Access5 Nov 2021 Nature Communications
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  In-situ spectroscopic observation of dynamic-coupling oxygen on atomically dispersed iridium electrocatalyst for acidic water oxidation

  Uncovering the dynamics of active sites in the working conditions is important yet challenging. Here the authors identify dynamic-coupling oxygen on atomically dispersed iridium sites during oxygen evolution reaction using in situ techniques.

  • Hui Su
  • Wanlin Zhou
  • Shiqiang Wei

  ArticleOpen Access21 Oct 2021 Nature Communications
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  Narrow-band high-lying excitons with negative-mass electrons in monolayer WSe₂

  Here, the authors report on evidence of an excitonic species formed by electrons in high-energy conduction band states with a negative effective mass, explaining previous observations of quantum interference phenomena in two-dimensional semiconductors.

  • Kai-Qiang Lin
  • Chin Shen Ong
  • John M. Lupton

  ArticleOpen Access17 Sep 2021 Nature Communications
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  Spatial coherence of room-temperature monolayer WSe₂ exciton-polaritons in a trap

  Here, the authors show that the interaction between microcavity photons and excitons in an atomically thin WSe₂ results in a hybridized regime of strong light-matter coupling. Coherence build-up is accompanied by a threshold-like behaviour of the emitted light intensity, which is a fingerprint of a polariton laser effect.

  • Hangyong Shan
  • Lukas Lackner
  • Carlos Antón-Solanas

  ArticleOpen Access4 Nov 2021 Nature Communications
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  Laboratory measurements of the physics of auroral electron acceleration by Alfvén waves

  It was predicted that Alfvén waves can account for the acceleration of precipitating auroral electrons. Here, the authors show laboratory measurements of the resonant transfer of energy from Alfvén waves to electrons under conditions relevant to the auroral zone as a direct test.

  • J. W. R. Schroeder
  • G. G. Howes
  • S. Dorfman

  ArticleOpen Access7 Jun 2021 Nature Communications
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  Edge channels of broken-symmetry quantum Hall states in graphene visualized by atomic force microscopy

  The broken-symmetry edge states that are the hallmark of the quantum Hall effect in graphene have eluded spatial measurements. Here, the authors spatially map the quantum Hall broken-symmetry edge states using atomic force microscopy and show a gapped ground state proceeding from the bulk through to the quantum Hall edge boundary.

  • Sungmin Kim
  • Johannes Schwenk
  • Joseph A. Stroscio

  ArticleOpen Access14 May 2021 Nature Communications