Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
The carrier-envelope-phase of sub-cycle UV pulses strongly influences the dynamics of quantum systems, but its characterization is not accessible experimentally. Here, an asymmetry in the of angular photofragment distributions of diatomic molecules is identified as a way to imprint carrier-envelope-phase on a measurable quantity.
Identifying a universal magnetic ground state across the iron-based superconductor family may help to propose a universal pairing glue responsible for unconventional superconductivity in these intriguing materials. Here, the authors discover an antiferromagnetic stripe order that appears as a precursor to superconductivity in pressured BaFe2Se3, suggesting that the presence of magnetic fluctuations from the stripe order may hold the key to the superconducting pairing of the iron-based superconductors.
Topological insulators could be ideal materials for use in electronic devices but complications arising at the interface with metallic electrodes degrades performance values. Here, the authors propose VSe2 as an electrode material investigating the charge dynamics and interface quality using ultrafast transient reflectance measurements and demonstrating the preservation of Dirac surface states of the topological insulator.
The bulk-boundary correspondence and Chern number are well-known features of non-trivial topological systems. Here, the authors confirm the bulk-edge correspondence by observing pumping in a one-dimensional topological electric circuit emulating a Chern insulator, where they tune the capacitances of the variable capacitors.
Adaptive optics permits control of linear and nonlinear optical phenomena in order to achieve the desired output signal. Here, arbitrary manipulation of phase relations are used to engineer nonlinear interactions in a higher-order Raman-resonant four-wave-mixing platform.
The presence of a constraining environment exerts an influence on the behavior of self-propelled synthetic microswimmers, challenging the prediction and control of their individual and collective behaviour in realistic situations. Here, the authors use multiparticle collision dynamics to simulate self-propelled Janus toroidal particles near a wall and study how various contributions, such as thermal fluctuations, hydrodynamic and electrostatic interactions, chemical reactions, and gravity govern their collective behaviour.
HfO2-based ferroelectric materials have immense technological potential and so significant attention has been given to improve the ferroelectric properties at low-thickness. Here, using Landau Devonshire theory, the authors show the origin of pinched hysteresis loops is connected with the existence of pronounced depolarizing fields which are minimized during field cycling recovering the full ferroelectric loops.
Strong random disorder is known to suppress superconductivity. In this work, authors showed that when impurities are correlate with each other, superconductivity is more robust and thus its properties can be controlled by spatial correlations of impurities and defects.
A long-standing challenge for on-chip dielectric laser-based accelerators is to bridge the gap between nonrelativistic and relativistic regimes. Here, an all-optical acceleration scheme is proposed that maximises the electron-field interaction length, and hence the acceleration, by spatio-temporal pulse shaping.
Driving quantum materials into non-equilibrium states using light-matter interactions is a way to induce novel quantum phases not attainable in equilibrium. Here, the authors theoretically demonstrate that circularly-polarised light can alter a d-wave superconductor in a strong-correlation regime into a topological superconducting state with broken time-reversal symmetry, as a combined effect of light and strong correlation.
The Kibble-Zurek (KZ) mechanism is traditionally an equilibrium scaling argument that yields an estimate for the density of topological defects in the ordered phase as a function of the quenching rate close to the critical point. Here, the authors show that this argument can be applied to nonequilibrium phase transitions and demonstrate numerically that for superconducting vortex lattices and colloidal ensembles the defect number follow a power law given by the directed percolation universality class.
The availability of large amount of data has made network science a tool to be used across many disciplines. The authors derive a mathematical approximation that link two of the most used centrality measures in graph theory, degree and closeness, finding that the inverse of closeness is linearly dependent on the logarithm of degree; this relationship is also tested with real world networks finding good agreement.
Random number generators (RNGs) are indispensable tools for information security. The authors derive a security proof for a quantum RNG based on parity-symmetric radioactive decay, which can be made as small as a few-square-millimeter chip and whose source has no need for power generation.
Fractional quantum Hall states are the best known examples of emergent quantum matter with topological order. Here, the authors present a fusion mechanism for particle fractionalization and a conjecture on the universal long-distance behavior of edge excitations in fractional quantum Hall fluids.
With the amount of data available growing at exponential rates, methods based on networks have become a key tool for their investigation. The authors propose a framework to the study multilayer networks using a random walks with restart (RWR) method, which highlights the important influence of bipartite networks.
In scaling to global distances, future quantum networks are expected to make use of satellite-based orbiting quantum memories. In this manuscript, the authors simulate the performance of memory-assisted quantum key distribution (MA-QKD) schemes under a range of operating conditions and network configurations, with encouraging conclusions as to the feasibility of implementing such networks with near-term devices.
Ultrafast methods have the ability to transiently decouple transitions between subsystems that evolve simultaneously at thermal equilibrium. Here, time-resolved X-ray diffraction reveals a time delay between volumetric and spin-state switching in a spin-crossover compound.
Phase separation phenomenon is a possible mechanism for important biological functions, from facilitating transcription by condensate formation, to the transport of cargo in the cell. This paper puts forward viscoelastic phase separation as a previously overlooked mechanism that could explain peculiar features of living cells such as network-like morphologies.
Modelling the quantum transport properties of qubit arrays and the electronic properties of dopant qubits is computationally challenging yet crucial for device optimization in quantum computing. Here, the authors compare different DFT-based methods to describe the properties of shallow donor-based qubits in silicon.
Direct observation of light-induced topological Floquet states can be challenging due to a number of obstacles such as laser-assisted photoemission which can complicate photoemission spectra. Here, the authors report a theoretical approach to the identification of topological Floquet states using circular dichroism in angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy.
