Browse Articles

A fractal material exhibits self-similarity at different length scales across the system size. Theorists now show that an interacting one-dimensional quasiperiodic material can host a multifractal charge-density-wave phase.

Adapting an experimental tool for use in a new field can be as powerful as inventing a new technique.

An incommensurate moiré pattern in a one-dimensional system is numerically shown to produce a quasi-fractal charge density wave ground state that originates from a parent multifractal critical phase.

High-harmonic spectroscopy on solids is an ultrafast all-optical technique to study the structure and dynamics of materials. This Review discusses areas of condensed-matter physics where this technique can provide particular insight.

Correlated materials can show nematicity, but the nematic state usually exhibits even-fold rotational symmetry. Now, a correlated antiferromagnet is shown to host a three-state Potts vestigial nematicity that can be controlled by external strain.

Electrons in a chiral topological material exhibit a unique orbital angular momentum profile in momentum space that resembles magnetic monopoles. It gives an opportunity to utilize the orbital motion of electrons for information processing — so-called orbitronics.

Unicellular parasites, such as Toxoplasma gondii, can use different forms of gliding motions when infecting a host. These motility modes arise from the self-organizing properties of filamentous actin flow at the surface of these parasitic cells.

A particle rotating in a fluid generates vorticity around itself. Now the dynamics of a collective of such spinners suspended in a liquid is shown to display flocking and three-dimensional active chirality.

Semiconductor spin qubits are usually highly localized, which makes it difficult to engineer long-range interactions. Two recent experiments demonstrate that adding superconductivity makes supercurrent-based long-range coupling possible.

Qubits formed from Andreev bound states in a Josephson junction could have performance advantages over existing superconducting qubits. Here proof-of-principle experiments demonstrate long-range coupling between Andreev-level qubits.

High-harmonic generation has so far been driven only by classical light. Now, its driving by a bright squeezed vacuum—a quantum state of light—has been observed and shown to be more efficient than using classical light.

Precision laser spectroscopy of ground-state electromagnetic moments and nuclear charge radii of indium shows that ¹⁰⁰Sn has closed proton and neutron shells. The results serve as a benchmark for future theoretical models.

Chiral topological materials have been predicted to host orbital angular momentum monopoles, which can be useful for orbitronics applications. Now such monopoles have been imaged in chiral materials.

Manipulation of the electron’s orbital contribution to transport experiments is important for potential orbitronics device applications. Now the long-range dynamic orbital response is shown to be controlled by the arrangement of atoms in ferromagnets.

A platform for imaging traction forces exerted by moving cells overcomes current reconstruction limitations. This technique has identified unknown migration dynamics of immune cells and resolved traction forces of single and multicellular systems.

Ca₂RuO₄ is a Mott insulator that becomes a metal when a current is passed through it. Now, the changes in its electronic structure are revealed as this transition takes place.

Immune cells are believed not to generate large traction forces during migration. Now, measurements of natural killer cells in dense tissue reveal bursts of large traction forces as they move through narrow pores.

Error-corrected quantum computers require access to so-called magic states to outperform classical devices. Now, a study has shown that coherent errors can drive error-correcting codes into high-magic states that could be a resource for universal quantum computing.