Reviews & Analysis

Three Nature papers report the complete topological classification of all known non-magnetic crystalline compounds, revealing thousands of new candidate topological materials waiting to be explored in the lab.

This Review describes topological phenomena that can be realized in acoustic and mechanical systems. Methods of symmetry breaking are described, along with the consequences and rich phenomena that emerge.

In this Review, the principles developed for fabricating reliable molecular junctions and tuning their intrinsic properties are examined from the point of view of the electrode, the interface and molecular engineering. The various functionalities demonstrated in molecular junctions through molecular design are discussed, along with the open challenges in the field.

Multidimensional self-trapped states exist in many models of physical systems. However, they are highly unstable in media with the universal cubic nonlinearity. We review different mechanisms that may stabilize them, including non-Kerr nonlinearities, spin–orbit coupling and quantum fluctuations, among others.

Metamaterials are rationally designed composites made of tailored building blocks, leading to effective medium properties beyond their ingredients. This Review surveys 3D metamaterials with unprecedented physical properties in electromagnetism and optics, acoustics and mechanics and transport, made possible by advances in design and manufacturing.

Seven scientists share their views on some of the latest developments in attosecond science and X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) and highlight exciting new directions.

This is an overview of the new physics that emerges in van der Waals heterostructures consisting of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride, including the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects, novel plasmonic states and the effects of emergent moiré superlattices.

High harmonic spectroscopy is a femtosecond laser technique that reveals details of valence electron orbital wavefunctions in gas-phase molecules. It makes it possible to image molecular orbitals and for unimolecular chemical reactions to be followed with femtosecond resolution.

The exact mechanisms involved in ultrafast demagnetization have long been debated. A new study published in Nature uncovers the role played in this process by the angular momentum transfer to the lattice, which is faster than previously thought.

Magnetic topological insulators enable the investigation of the interplay between magnetism and topological electronic states. This Review summarizes the basic notions of magnetic topological insulators and the progress in the experimental realization of exotic topological phenomena.

High spatial coherence of laser illumination is not always desirable, because it can cause adverse artefacts such as speckle noise. This Technical Review describes unconventional lasers that have inherently low and/or tunable spatial coherence.

The first papers based on the second data release from the Gaia space observatory are now published and they are already changing our understanding of the evolution of the Milky Way.

This Review describes advances in the statistical physics of complex networks and provides a reference for the state of the art in theoretical network modelling and applications to real-world systems for pattern detection and network reconstruction.

An analysis of the number of physicists and their career paths reveals the changing landscape of the physics subdisciplines, highlighting the connections between different fields and the effects of large collaborations.

Light–matter coupling with strength comparable to the bare transition frequencies of the system is called ultrastrong. This Review surveys how experiments have realized ultrastrong coupling in the past decade, the new phenomena predicted in this regime and the applications it enables.

Entanglement is often considered the defining feature separating classical physics from quantum physics and provides the basis for many quantum technologies. This Review discusses recent progress in the challenging task of conclusively proving that a physical system features entanglement, surveying detection and certification methods.

Mechanobiology describes how biological systems respond to mechanical stimuli. This Review surveys basic principles, advantages and limitations of applying and combining atomic force microscopy-based modalities with complementary techniques to characterize the morphology, mechanical properties and functional response of complex biological systems to mechanical cues.