Reviews & Analysis

A key challenge in fabricating devices out of 2D materials is in making good electrical contact. This Expert Recommendation discusses the physics of electrical contacts and provides tips on improving contact quality.

Chemically active, flexible sheets convert chemical energy into the flow of the surrounding fluid, which, in turn, transforms the sheet’s shape. This Perspective describes how this feedback produces shape-changing 3D objects, coupled oscillators exhibiting spatiotemporal coordination and the rotation of chemically driven gears.

Microwave impedance microscopy, a scanning probe technique that measures local conductivity and permittivity with minimal sample preparation, has become a mature tool with fundamental and practical applications. This Technical Review describes its working principles, applications and future opportunities.

Nanoscopic chiroptics studies the spin-dependent asymmetric light–matter interactions at the nanoscale, where the asymmetry can stem from the intrinsic properties of materials, structures or light. This Perspective establishes an overarching framework for nanoscopic chiroptics across the spatial, moment and integrated spatial–momentum dimensions, and discusses applications enabled by this approach.

Light–matter interaction in 2D and topological materials provides a fascinating control knob for inducing emergent, non-equilibrium properties and achieving new functionalities in the ultrafast timescale. This Review discusses recent experimental progress on the light-induced phenomena and provides perspectives on the opportunities of proposed light-induced phenomena, as well as open experimental challenges.

Optical superoscillations are rapid spatial variations of the intensity and phase of light. This Review describes technologies for generating superoscillatory hotspots and discuss advances in imaging and metrology with superoscillatory light that, in combination with artificial intelligence, offer deeply subwavelength optical resolution.

Current and future big science projects in India are providing opportunities for young researchers and building technological capabilities, while contributing to new scientific discoveries. Seven scientists involved in these large-scale projects reflect on the impact their project has on the Indian research landscape.

The ability to image nanometre-scale magnetization and current density is key to deciphering the physics of correlated states hosted in 2D layered materials. This Technical Review analyses the magnetic imaging techniques most amenable to these systems, compares their capabilities and limitations, and discusses their potential impact.

Graphene nanoribbons are an emerging class of 1D materials hosting rich quantum-confined and topological states. This Perspective discusses recent breakthroughs in graphene nanoribbon materials and devices, and identifies key challenges towards electronics and quantum information applications.

This Perspective describes how visualizations help to understand several key aspects of big science projects: productivity and impact over different phases, evolution of teams and their management, big data and cyberinfrastructure, and measuring and communicating success.

There isn’t one single ‘early career experience’ in physics, and different subfields involve very different opportunities and challenges. Seven early career physicists who work on a range of research topics in different subfields discuss their views on the lessons we can learn from their professional lives.

Massive black holes dwell in many galaxies, and various physical processes have been invoked to explain their presence. This Review discusses their formation channels, how they have grown over time from smaller seeds and how we can constrain their origins.

Radiotherapy with accelerated heavy ions is a potential breakthrough in cancer therapy. This Review discusses the challenges in physics and radiobiology to make this therapy affordable and to fully exploit the clinical benefits.

The study of hypernuclei contributes to the understanding of the fundamental baryonic interactions and the physics of neutron stars. This Perspective discusses different experimental approaches to answer open questions regarding hypernuclei.

Quantum Hall systems represent an example of topological quantum matter, where quasiparticles with fractional statistics (anyons) may emerge. This Technical Review presents a survey of recent developments in quantum Hall interferometry.

The recent measurement of a nonlinear Hall effect has provided a new way to probe the spectral, symmetry and topological properties of quantum materials. This Perspective discusses the open questions around this new effect and potential applications.

Scientists studying cultural heritage use a variety of physics techniques to understand how pieces were made, their history and how to best preserve them. Six scientists who use different techniques describe their work — and how working with cultural heritage can lead to physics developments, too.

Blending occurs when multiple sources of light occupy the same region of the sky. This Perspective discusses the problems arising from blending for astrophysical and cosmological studies, and introduces the two main strategies for solutions.

The advent of commercial quantum devices has ushered in the era of near-term quantum computing. Variational quantum algorithms are promising candidates to make use of these devices for achieving a practical quantum advantage over classical computers.

Gaussian process regression (GPR) is a powerful, non-parametric and robust technique for uncertainty quantification and function approximation that can be applied to optimal and autonomous data acquisition. This Review introduces the basics of GPR and discusses several use cases from different fields.