Research articles

Perovskite-based optoelectronics are expected to become an important component of devices such as solar cells and light-emitting diodes. However, how they are affected by environmental conditions is still not fully understood. The authors investigate the mechanisms, which occur for inorganic perovskites when in contact with ambient atmosphere and how this could potentially impact upon device performance.

The localisation of ionized electrons is a general phenomenon which occurs in hot dense plasma and has a far-reaching consequence on a variety of fields. By demonstrating the role of electron localisation in the mechanisms of photoionisation in a hot dense plasma the authors provide a route to quantitatively understand recent experimental results.

Hexagonal boron nitride is used extensively as an encapsulation layer or as a tunnel or insulating barrier in emerging devices. The authors study electron tunnelling through localised electronic states in hexagonal boron nitride which could be exploited for new quantum devices.

Laser technology is rapidly developing to the point where pulse power and intensity are expected to reach such levels that new physical processes will be able to be studied for the first time. Using simulation the authors theoretically investigate the generation of high brilliance gamma rays and electron-positron pairs during extreme intense laser interaction with a specific target.

Omnipresent vortices and their dynamics enrich clean two-dimensional superconducting systems with striking features. The authors experimentally investigate the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition and the Bose metal phase in 1T-MoS₂.

Diffraction experiments using high energy X-rays are used to determine molecular structures at high resolution, and with new free electron lasers diffraction experiments on non-crystalline samples are becoming achievable. The authors present a statistical method to identify hit events in flash X-ray imaging experiments of macromolecular complex and demonstrate it on RNA polymerase data.

Atomtronics uses ultracold atoms to construct quantum analogues of electronic devices such as diodes and transistors. The authors report an atomtronic switching device by controlling boson tunnelling in a triple well system.

Parity-time symmetric systems allow one to study new types of Hamiltonians which could have potential impact on our understanding of nonlinear physics. The authors investigate the energy stored in an electronic Floquet system and demonstrate that such a setup can be used to study the dynamics of dissipative parity-time symmetric systems.

While circular polarization-dependent optical responses in matter are being characterized experimentally and theoretically, the effect of angular momentum has largely been overlooked. In this work, the authors formulate a definition for the optical response due to both spin and orbital angular momentum of light using numerical simulations of stacked nanorods as a demonstration.

Quantum coherence represents one of the most fundamental features in quantum mechanics and is closely linked to the concept of wave-particle duality. The authors report an experimental realisation which proves the relation between coherence and path information as recently derived theoretically.

For most lasing and photonic applications, it is essential to control the number of lasing modes that are present. In this work, an interface between two topologically distinct photonic crystals is used to ensure single-mode lasing with enhanced light-matter interactions due to a near-diffraction-limited mode volume.

For small scale biological systems such as cilia, movement is achieved by rhythmic motor patterns that organize spontaneously within arrays of driven oscillators. The authors show that conductive spheres oscillating between biased electrodes create similar traveling wave motions which can be used to direct the transport of cargo.

The orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light is used in many applications and has the potential to increase the bandwidth of classical and quantum communication. The authors quantitatively investigate the way OAM is distributed between the fields of different wavelength generated from a four-wave mixing process in Rb vapour.

The development of two-dimensional (2D) layered materials is of particular importance for future electronics applications. The authors show how Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy outperforms other characterizing techniques for wafer-scale graphene.

Topological spin textures called skyrmions usually occur in magnetic materials in a crystalline state. The author addresses the nature of this skyrmion crystal and other emergent crystals by considering theoretically whether they are constructed from a gathering of particles or a coupling of waves.

There has been much recent experimental and theoretical interest in the physics of ionization, in particular the question of tunneling time. In this work, the authors derive a gauge invariant definition of the instantaneous ionization rate as a functional derivative of the total ionization probability.

Two-dimensional inorganic–organic hybrid perovskites are expected to play an important role in photovoltaic devices but suffer from issues related to dielectric confinement. The authors theoretically outline a method and experimentally succeed to overcome this issue by using materials with large dielectric constants.

Glasses are ubiquitous in nature and have many uses but many open questions remain over their microscopic behaviour. The authors experimentally study glass forming liquids, measure their properties and highlight the role of thermodynamical entropy in glass transitions.

A crumpled sheet of paper is a common image in many contexts but crumpling dynamics are considered a complex problem. Using Mylar sheets the authors experimentally show that the evolution of the damage network in crumpling dynamics is largely history independent and the accumulation rate of the total length of all creases can be accurately predicted.

Grain boundaries, the interfaces between individual crystallites which together make up a material, play a fundamental role in its physical properties. The authors develop a theory to understand the physics of thermal transport, which can be strongly influenced by grain boundaries, by considering the nanoscale structure of interfaces.