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Perfect transmission of sound waves through a strongly disordered environment is demonstrated using a set of speakers that provide exactly the right input to counteract scattering by the disorder. These principles can also be applied to light.
A new type of skyrmion is identified in the chiral magnetic material Cu2OSeO3 at low temperature. This is the first time that a single material has been shown to exhibit more than one distinct skyrmion phase.
Biofilms of rod-shaped bacteria can grow from a two-dimensional layer of founder cells into a three-dimensional structure with a vertically aligned core. Here, the physics underlying this transition is traced down to the properties of individual cells.
Years of data from atomic clocks around the world allow estimation of the variation of their rates with the spatial change of the solar potential. This allows the most precise null test of the local position invariance principle of general relativity.
A Lorentz transmission electron microscopy study of a thin iron germanium film reveals the aggregation dynamics of skyrmions when pushed out of equilibrium.
Non-equilibrium physics grants access to equilibrium free energies from the work performed on fluctuating systems—but only when the work itself is measurable. Relaxation fluctuation spectroscopy provides an alternative route to these energies.
To perform key processes like division, many cells use star-shaped polymeric aster structures to find their centre. Force measurements now reveal that an active spring mechanism regulates this process, suppressing noise to ensure precise centration.
Results from the first experimental campaign of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator demonstrate that its magnetic-field design grants good control of parasitic plasma currents, leading to long energy confinement times.
The entanglement spectrum of a many-body quantum system encodes several of its properties. The construction of an artificial Hamiltonian that encodes the spectrum offers the possibility to probe it via quantum simulation or spectroscopy.
The angle of Cherenkov radiation in one-dimensional photonic crystals can be controlled by making use of constructive interference. This feature allows new design of particle detectors with improved performance.
Ergodicity can be strongly broken by integrable or many-body localized systems. A new form of weak ergodicity breaking is shown to arise from the presence of special eigenstates in the many-body spectrum akin to quantum scars in chaotic systems.
Superconductivity is studied in the molecular solid K3C60 when it is pressurized and illuminated with short laser pulses. Similarities with the non-illuminated case show that superconductivity exists at higher temperatures than previously thought.
Wind-mediated ripples form on a centimetre scale in sand, and in dunes on a scale spanning tens of metres, but patterns on intermediate scales are rare. A theory now fills the gap by predicting megaripples, which resemble structures seen on Mars.
The motor proteins and contractile forces involved in wound closure are both shown to be heterogeneously distributed around a wound. Theory suggests that this heterogeneity speeds up wound closure, as long as the proteins are mechanically regulated.
As a benchmark for the development of a future quantum computer, sampling from random quantum circuits is suggested as a task that will lead to quantum supremacy—a calculation that cannot be carried out classically.
Attosecond XUV spectroscopy is reported, focussing on non-Born–Oppenheimer dynamics in molecular gases of light elements. It is shown that the phase of the detected photoelectrons carries information from both vibrational and electronic degrees of freedom.
Surface plasmon polaritons in an array of metallic nanoparticles evolve quickly into the band minimum by interacting with a molecule bath, forming a Bose–Einstein condensate at room temperature within picoseconds.
The charge–phase duality in superconductors implies that the well-known SQUID has an analogue based on the interference of fluxons. Such a ‘charge quantum interference device’ (or CQUID) has now been experimentally demonstrated.
Little is known about how a cell’s surroundings within tissue influence the mechanics of its division. Experiments on constrained dividing cells reveal that they create protrusive forces in order to undergo the shape changes required for division.
