Volume 4 Issue 1, January 2022

Increasing public and private investment, technological breakthroughs, and a growing number of facilities could bring fusion technology to the delivery era by mid-century. Matteo Barbarino argues that global cooperation and effective regulation are vital in accelerating progress.

Sylvia Biscoveanu explains how likelihood reweighting can help estimate the parameters of complex models at a fraction of the computational cost of traditional methods, empowering the analysis of gravitational-wave data.

Peoples’ movements are linked with the spread of epidemics — but not always in simple ways. In the past two years, new datasets and analyses have shed fresh light on how to relate mobility and contagion.

In 2021, the most precise measurement of the muon’s anomalous magnetic moment and a new high-precision lattice quantum chromodynamics calculation have in turn kindled, then dimmed, hopes for seeing signs of new physics. State-of-the-art calculations, made possible by a series of recent advances, will be key to understanding these conflicting results.

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.

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.

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.

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.