Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Addressing optical transitions at the level of a single site is crucial to unlock the potential of quantum computers and atomic clocks. A scheme based on atom rearrangement now demonstrates such control with demonstrable metrological benefits.
Precise frequencies of nearly forbidden transitions have been ascertained in the simplest molecule, the molecular hydrogen ion. This work offers a new perspective on precision measurements and fundamental physical tests with molecular spectroscopy.
Magnets with frustrated interactions are predicted to form quantum entangled states that feature measurable plateaus in their magnetization. Evidence for one of these plateau phases has now been found in a kagome lattice antiferromagnet.
In its superconducting state, MoTe2 displays oscillations arising from an edge supercurrent, and when it is near niobium, there is an incompatibility between electron pairs diffusing from niobium and the pairs intrinsic to MoTe2. Insight into this competition between pairs is obtained by monitoring the noise spectrum of the MoTe2 supercurrent oscillations.
Noise is a fundamental obstacle to the stability of atomic optical clocks. An experiment now realizes the design of a spin-squeezed clock that improves interrogation times and enables direct comparisons of performance between different clocks.
How superconducting states with different order parameter symmetries can interact with each other is not well understood. Now, the edge mode of a Weyl superconductor serves as a probe for competing condensates.
Predicting the large-scale behaviour of complex systems is challenging because of their underlying nonlinear dynamics. Theoretical evidence now verifies that many complex systems can be simplified and still provide an insightful description of the phenomena of interest.
Realizing robust ferromagnetic order in two dimensions is challenging as an underlying crystalline framework is normally required. Now room-temperature ferromagnetism is demonstrated in a two-dimensional honeycomb self-assembly of confined molecules.
Although using low-rank matrices is the go-to approach to model the dynamics of complex systems, its validity remains formally unconfirmed. An analysis of random networks and real-world data now sheds light on this low-rank hypothesis and its implications.
It has been suggested that Gaussian boson sampling may provide a quantum computational advantage for calculating the vibronic spectra of molecules. Now, an equally efficient classical algorithm has been identified.
Transport measurements of the metallic kagome spin ice HoAgGe show that it has an emergent discrete symmetry that is not apparent from measurements of its magnetization.
Predicting the complex flows that emerge in active fluid networks remains a challenge. A combination of experiments and theory was used to determine the hydraulic laws of active fluids. Analogies with frustrated magnetism and loop models explain the emergent flow patterns that result when active fluids explore pipe networks.
Cells actively rearrange their cytoplasmic machinery to perform diverse functions. Now, friction forces generated between cytoplasmic components provide a physical basis for cell shape change.
A promising pathway towards the laser cooling of a molecule containing a radioactive atom has been identified. The unique structure of such a molecule means that it can act as a magnifying lens to probe fundamental physics.
Measurements of the rovibronic structure of radium monofluoride molecules allow the identification of a laser cooling scheme. This will enable precise tests of fundamental physics, such as searches for parity or time-reversal symmetry violation.
Friction forces at the interface between tissues play a key role in tissue morphogenesis. Now friction at the cellular scale is shown to influence cell shape and cell rearrangements.
Orderly or coherent multicellular flows are fundamental in biology, but their triggers are not understood. In epithelial tissues, the tug-of-war between cells is now shown to lead to intrinsic asymmetric distributions in cell polarities that drive such flows.
The key to enhance the output of a thermoelectric device is to be able to regulate the thermoelectric voltage generation. Topological magnet Co3Sn2S2-based devices show the way to achieve that goal.
