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The charge radius of the proton is controversial because measurements by different methods disagree. Recent results indicate that these measurements might be reconciled. In this Review, we discuss the experimental techniques used to measure the proton radius and describe the current status of the field as well as forthcoming experiments.
Designing new experiments in physics is a challenge for humans; therefore, computers have become a tool to expand scientists’ capabilities and to provide creative solutions. This Perspective article examines computer-inspired designs in quantum physics that led to laboratory experiments and inspired new scientific insights.
Holographic duality is an equivalence relation between a gravitational system and a quantum many-body system. The Review discusses various insights obtained from the duality into properties of strongly coupled matter, quantum many-body chaos and deep connections between quantum information and geometry.
The coupling of photons to material quasiparticles such as plasmons, phonons and excitons opens new possibilities in light–matter interactions. This Review presents a generalized view of such quasiparticles and the technique that describes their interactions with matter: macroscopic quantum electrodynamics.
Topological Majorana bound states have potential for encoding, manipulating and protecting quantum information in condensed-matter systems. This Review discusses emergence and characterization of Majorana bound states in realistic devices based on hybrid semiconducting nanowires and their connection to more conventional Andreev bound states.
Ferroelectric and ferroelastic domain walls are 2D topological defects with thicknesses approaching the unit cell level and emergent functional properties. This Review discusses the exotic polarization profiles that arise at domain walls and the fundamental mechanisms responsible for domain-wall conduction.
2D materials host various collective excitations, which either mutate or cease to exist in the bulk. In this Review, we select the most striking properties of 2D plasmons, excitons, phonons and magnons, contrasting them with the bulk versions.
Understanding the behaviour of materials at high pressures and temperatures is of great importance to planetary science and the physics of warm dense matter. This Review addresses the close connection between modelling the interiors of gaseous planets and the high-pressure physics of hydrogen and helium.
Acoustic and optical waves can be used to exert non-contact forces on microscopic and mesoscopic objects. In this Technical Review, we compare and contrast the use of these modalities, or combinations thereof, in terms of sample manipulation and suitability for biomedical studies.
The Kondo insulator samarium hexaboride is the first experimentally demonstrated example of a strongly correlated topological insulator. This article reviews the topological theory and experimental evidence, including a mystery as to the origin of quantum oscillations and their relation to possible unconventional bulk in-gap states.
Magnetic skyrmions, two-dimensional nanometre-scale localized states, are promising candidates for new technological applications. This Perspective surveys the progress in this field and offers a brief, accessible guide to the basic physical principles of magnetic skyrmions.
Neuromorphic computing takes inspiration from the brain to create energy-efficient hardware for information processing, capable of highly sophisticated tasks. Including more physics in the algorithms and nanoscale materials used for computing could have a major impact in this field.
Over the past 40 years, the quantum Hall effect (QHE) has inspired new theories and led to experimental discoveries in a range of fields going beyond solid-state electronics to photonics and quantum entanglement. In this Viewpoint, physicists reflect on how the QHE has influenced their research.
Droplets in general are multicomponent and experience gradients in concentration, often leading to transport phenomena and phase transitions. This Perspective discusses recent progress on the physicochemical hydrodynamics of such droplet systems and their relevance for many important applications.
Despite comprising only about 15% of the known molecular inventory of the interstellar medium, molecular ions have an outsized role in driving chemical evolution. This Review examines the advances — and challenges — in laboratory spectroscopy that have enabled the study of ions in space.
Quantum simulation with ultracold atomic gases is an established platform for investigating complex quantum processes. Focusing on optical lattice experiments, this Technical Review overviews the available tools and their applications to the simulation of solid-state physics problems.
The study of higher-dimensional quantum states has seen numerous conceptual and technological developments. This review discusses various techniques for the generation and processing of qudits, which are stored in the momentum, path, time-/frequency-bins, or the orbital angular momentum of photons.
Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) enables the synthesis of high-purity, pinhole-free and conformal polymer thin films. This Review discusses the recent breakthroughs in mechanistically based CVD polymerization processes and designing CVD polymers for a diverse array of applications.
Quantum technologies require an extremely precise functioning of their components which is ensured by sophisticated tools for device characterization. This Technical Review surveys and assesses the currently available tools according to their overall complexity, information gain, and underlying assumptions.
