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The nonlinear properties of photonic topological insulators remain largely unexplored, as band topology is linked to linear systems. But nonlinear topological corner states and solitons can form in a second-order topological insulator, as shown by experiments.
In general, it isn’t known when a quantum computer will have an advantage over a classical device. Now it’s proven that computers with limited working memory are more powerful if they are quantum.
Ultrafast optical excitation of a charge density wave leads to the formation of a metastable gapped state that synchronizes with the underlying correlated phase.
The interplay of superconductivity and nematicity of electrons remains unclear in a wide range of materials. Now, more evidence emerges that nematic fluctuations can be pinned into a static phase by disorder, which hinders the superconductivity.
Measurements of observables sensitive to the neutron’s spin precession are extended to a regime that probes distances of the size of the nucleon. They are found to disagree with predictions from chiral effective field theory.
Microswimmers tend to accumulate in regions where their speed is significantly reduced, but experimental and numerical evidence now points towards a viscophobic turning mechanism that biases certain microalgae away from high-viscosity areas.
During the early development of an organism, some cells are fated to grow while other seemingly healthy cells die. Experiments and theory now reveal that a hydraulic instability is the key to this decision.
Transport measurements on the Kitaev quantum spin liquid candidate α-RuCl3 subjected to a magnetic field reveal oscillating behaviour in its thermal conductivity, reminiscent of Shubnikov de Haas oscillations in metals.
Many applications of quantum systems require them to be joined by strong, controllable interactions. Exploiting the physics of quantum squeezing can amplify the strength of boson-mediated interactions, yielding higher performance.
Isotope ratio measurements are complicated by the instabilities of composition in reference samples. Now a calibration-free method relying on infrared spectroscopy provides measurements that are traceable to International System of Units standards.
The two-dimensional electron gas at an oxide interface is patterned to form a channel with a periodic potential imposed on top. This replicates the textbook Kronig–Penney model and leads to fractionalization of electron bands in the channel.
Transport and thermodynamic measurements on strongly correlated Kondo metal YbB12 reveal the coexistence of charged and charge-neutral fermions in the material and the crucial role played by the latter in the quantum oscillations of resistivity.
Several cuprate superconductors were recently shown to have chiral phonons. Here second harmonic generation measurements show that antiferromagnetism breaks all mirror symmetries in a related compound, consistent with a chiral state.
Initial- and final-state interactions distort the kinematics in particle knockout scattering experiments, complicating their interpretation. These effects are suppressed by detecting 11B nuclei in quasi-free scattering of 12C ions from hydrogen.
The solar wind affects the magnetosphere, but whether this holds true for solar flares was unclear. By combining geospace modelling with observations, solar flares are shown to influence the dynamics of the magnetosphere and its ionosphere coupling.
The revelation that fluid–fluid interfacial energy can drive structure formation in micropillar scaffolds offers a scalable way of synthesizing soft composites, which may have applications in building materials that mimic biological tissue.
Previously, injections from a conventional accelerator into a plasma-based one suffered from low coupling efficiencies. Now electron bunches are injected with an efficiency of nearly 100% into a laser wakefield accelerator without loss of charge.
Quantum systems possessing conserved quantities are expected to show quantum fluid properties governed by hydrodynamic equations. This behaviour is now evidenced in a neutron scattering study on the one-dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnet KCuF3.
In magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene, topological Chern bands that are driven by electron–electron interactions appear at all the integer fillings of the moiré unit cell. The Rashba-like higher-energy bands also show Landau-level crossings.
A topological photonic crystal design directly generates light that carries orbital angular momentum with high quantum numbers. The beam contains several different states at the same time, promising integrated and multiplexed light sources.