Research articles

Quantum communications rely on efficient quantum networks, which have been improved by quantum memory schemes. The paper reports on an experimental progress towards a heralded single photon source using a warm vapour cell, and demonstrates the feasibility of a quantum repeater scheme at room temperature.

Nanoimprinting is a technique where the surface features of a mould can be transferred onto a replica and is relevant to the production of nanostructured devices. The authors report a method that enables the imprinting of structural features of SrTiO₃ single crystals at the atomic level into a replica made from bulk metallic glass.

Lamellipodial waves are a very general phenomenon observed in many cell types and is a typical phenomenon for animal cells to adhere and move along substrates. The authors present a model showing that the dynamics of these waves can be reproduced with a minimal, well-defined set of parameters.

Strong magnetic anisotropic effects in nanostructures are an important property for materials to be used in spintronics and magnetic data storage devices. The authors theoretically investigate a method to increase the magnetic anisotropy of iridium molecules by attaching a halogen atom such as bromine.

The effect of spin orbit interactions on a typical BCS superconductor is becoming an important area of research for phenomena such as Majorana fermions and topological superconductivity. The authors investigate the effect of Pb clusters on the spin susceptibility of superconducting Al films via spin orbit interactions.

Rare-earth monopnictide compounds have attracted attention for diverse physical properties such as low temperature antiferromagnetism. Here, the electronic structure of rare-earth monopnictide compounds is studied using density-functional based first-principles methods to identify the emergence of topological properties.

Frustrated magnetic materials provide a great laboratory to study the interplay between classical order and quantum fluctuations. The authors study the frustrated magnetic ground states of two Fe spinel oxides showing that the frustration is a fluctuating characteristic that manifests itself as a “frustration wave”

The “faster is slower” phenomenon expresses a decrease in average velocity of a system of objects as their individual speed increases and can be used to describe a range of scenarios from microscopic particles to sheep. The authors investigate the effects of clogging and jamming in a system of paramagnetic colloids and the relation to the faster is slower phenomenon.

Silicon dioxide is a crucial material in the world of photonics but aspects of its optical decay mechanisms are still not fully understood. The authors use synchrotron radiation to analyse emission processes for different types of silica and quartz and deduce by what mechanisms they may occur.

Local temperature measurements are important in the study of quantum thermodynamics at the nanoscale. The authors report a sensor based on cyclic electron tunnelling between a quantum dot and single-electron reservoir which can be used to provide local and precise temperature measurements in nanoelectronic devices.

Understanding nanoscale temperature gradients in magnetic materials and how it affects their properties can help widen their potential applications. The authors analyze the anomalous Nernst effect in magnetic tunnel junctions and report how temperature gradients influence the thermomagnetic properties in three dimensions.

Silicon holds the promise of hosting future photonic circuitries, but its centrosymmetric crystal structure precludes the exploitation of beneficial second-order nonlinearities. The authors demonstrate that strain fields can enable such nonlinearities in silicon, showing high-speed optical modulation through the so-called Pockels effect.

Astrophysical neutrinos are ideal to probe the high energy universe. By using observations from the IceCube Observatory, the authors demonstrate that ultrahigh energy neutrinos are associated with gamma-ray bursts and explain their energy dependent speed variation as due to Lorentz violation.

Two-dimensional surface waves play an important role in optical systems such as sensing devices. The authors experimentally and theoretically demonstrate a method for multiple self-healing surface wave beams which can help overcome issues related to reduction in signal strength when surface waves encounter obstacles during their propagation.

Electronic properties of domain walls and skyrmions are often discussed in the language of emergent fields. The authors theoretically investigate its applicability and the promises which lie beyond, revealing the unique fingerprints of chiral magnetic textures in the orbital magnetism.

Crystal deformation has been the subject of intense studies and debates since the discovery of dislocation in 1934. The paper presents an experimental study via electron imaging of a high entropy alloy to follow dislocation activities that lead to the dislocation avalanche occurring in the material.

A field effect transistor is a device which can alter its electrical conductivity by application of a voltage and is an important component of modern day circuitry. The authors construct an acoustic electronic device called a phonotransistor where the conductivity can instead be altered by sound pulses.

Machine learning techniques are increasingly expanding their capabilities of making predictions on data across a variety of fields. The authors present a machine learning based approach capable of classifying the three-dimensional spatial electromagnetic field distributions of photonic crystals.

Topological photonics is a growing field with applications spanning from integrated optics to lasers. This study presents a machine learning method to solve the inverse problem that may help finding optimized solutions to engineer the topology for each specific application

Quantum memories are essential for the move towards quantum based technology such as quantum networks and computers. By exploiting spontaneous Raman scattering, the authors demonstrate a broadband quantum memory protocol that can be operated at room temperature.