Research articles

Cavity-enhanced spectroscopy is used to analyse light–matter interactions in fields such as ultracold chemistry and planetary science but measurement performance can be hampered by nonlinearities and long acquisition times. Here, the authors report a technique called cavity build up dispersion spectroscopy to measure dispersive frequency shifts demonstrating increased acquisition speeds and less susceptibility to detector nonlinearity.

Since Turing’s seminal work, combining local reaction with diffusion is key to understand how patterns can appear in interacting systems. Here, the authors investigate the effect of coupling local dynamics with a non-traditional type of diffusion mechanism, random-walk diffusion, showing that this simple modification can give rise to previously unobserved amplitude death and restoration of collective oscillations

Mechanical resonators coupled to superconducting qubits are interesting platforms for quantum science and technology, but controlling them in quantum regime remains a challenge. The authors realize a hybrid device consisting of a superconducting transmon qubit and a mechanical resonator coupled using the magnetic-flux with the overall ability to increase the coupling strength and hence their control.

Dissipative adaptation is a general thermodynamic mechanism that explains self-organization in classical systems via dissipation of absorbed work, revealing a principle of life-like behaviour. Here, the authors show that dissipative adaptation remains valid in a fully-quantum zero-temperature model, providing the starting point towards a quantum thermodynamics of driven self-organization

Exchange interactions between spins in a magnetic system can be engineered using magnetic multilayer systems in order to investigate a rich variety of magnetic phenomenon. Here the authors investigate the nature and control of magnetization of a synthetic antiferromagnetic stack with built in planar asymmetry and find evidence of an asymmetric current-driven switching in the chiral magnetization across the magnetic multilayers.

It is known that the magnetic field does not affect the free energy change for a driven classical system. Here, the author investigates the influence of the magnetic field on a driven quantum system, finding that the free energy change is amplified and that this quantum effect is reflected in an extended free energy equality.

Polymer films are flexible, conductive materials with an expected application to a range of electronic devices, but the complexity of the underlying transport mechanisms inhibit improvements in performance. Here, the authors investigate the transport properties of doped semicrystalline polymer films and determine the role of crystalline domains and boundaries, finding evidence of weak localisation and variable range hopping, which vary with doping level.

Strongly correlated materials can exhibit deviations from Fermi-liquid behavior partly due to anomalies in the density of states at the Fermi level, such as van Hove singularities. Here, the authors investigate the unusual Fermi liquid behavior of calcium-doped strontium ruthenate and find an unusual variation of the Kadowaki-Woods ratio which may originate from disorder.

Terahertz frequency radiation provides a powerful tool for the investigation of matter from the life science to the solid state and plasmas. The authors experimentally and numerically present enhanced terahertz wave generation by single-color double-pulse excitation in flat liquid jets, providing a deeper understanding of the mechanism that underpins the terahertz generation in multi-pulse experiments.

Interaction of active matter with geometrical and topological constraints is a topic of intense research in the recent few years due to its potential for design and control of active flow patterns. Here, the authors experimentally study the growth and expansion of cell aggregates interleaved by passive colloidal particles, showing that inert particles can reshape the collective pattern formation in cellular aggregates.

The strange metallic state of cuprates occurring in a broad region of their phase diagram outside the superconducting and pseudogapped regions remains a mystery. Here the authors consider the charge density fluctuations recently discovered in resonant X-ray experiments as a possible source of scattering and show that these fluctuations can account for the strange metallic behavior.

The thermalization of many-body localization phases poses a number of open questions related to our understanding of thermalization in quantum systems. Here, the authors aim to demonstrate that a quantum information approach can be used to investigate the mechanisms of thermalization in a quantum many-body system when coupled to an external system.

Interest in the exploration of non-perturbative nonlinear optical phenomena driven by intense terahertz fields has seen a leap forwards with the recent development in femtosecond laser-based table-top sources for strong THz radiation. The authors present intense THz-field-induced effects in ubiquitously available LEDs illuminated by strong THz pulses, paving the way to their use in detecting and imaging intense THz radiation.