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The Rosetta orbiter following Comet 67P has captured not only the public imagination but also actual dust grains from the comet's nucleus, revealing their composition, morphology and strength.
The monopole picture for spin ice offers a natural description of a confounding class of materials. A 2009 paper in Nature Physics applied it to study the dynamical properties of these systems — sparking intense experimental and theoretical efforts in the years that followed.
Fluctuation theorems go beyond the linear response regime to describe systems far from equilibrium. But what happens to these theorems when we enter the quantum realm? The answers, it seems, are now coming thick and fast.
Experiments probing non-equilibrium processes have so far been tailored largely to classical systems. The endeavour to extend our understanding into the quantum realm is finding traction in studies of electronic circuits at sub-kelvin temperatures.
Our framework for understanding non-equilibrium behaviour is yet to match the simplicity and power of equilibrium statistical physics. But recent theoretical and experimental advances reveal key principles that unify seemingly unrelated topics.
Equilibrium physics is ill-equipped to explain all of life’s subtleties, largely because living systems are out of equilibrium. Attempts to overcome this problem have given rise to a lively field of research—and some surprising biological findings.
The task of integrating information into the framework of thermodynamics dates back to Maxwell and his infamous demon. Recent advances have made these ideas rigorous—and brought them into the laboratory.
Statistical mechanics is adept at describing the equilibria of quantum many-body systems. But drive these systems out of equilibrium, and the physics is far from clear. Recent advances have broken new ground in probing these equilibration processes.
Photonic crystals can control the flow of light but they are extremely sensitive to structural disorder. Although this often degrades performance, disorder can actually be used to enhance light collimation.
Photons immediately spring to mind when we talk about long-distance entanglement. But the spins at the ends of one-dimensional magnetic chains can be entangled over large distances too — providing a solid-state alternative for quantum communication protocols.
Quantum communication relies on the ability to entangle quantum states. Experiments now show that this is possible in a bulk material, with unpaired spins at the ends of antiferromagnetic spin chains entangled over long distances.
Understanding the motion of magnetic skyrmions is essential if they are to be used as information carriers in devices. It is now shown that topological confinement endows the skyrmions with an unexpectedly large mass, which plays a key role in their dynamics.
Whether the wavefunction corresponds to reality or represents our limited knowledge of a quantum system is still under debate. A photonic experiment provides evidence for the former.
Photonic-crystal waveguides can control light propagation on subwavelength scales, but structural disorder typically causes scattering and broadening. It is now shown that disorder can enhance light collimation beyond conventional limits.
The valley index of an electron is a magnetic moment that can be initialized optically and probed electrically. Now, experiments reveal how magnetic fields can break the degeneracy for states with different valley indices.
The Higgs mechanism is normally associated with high energy physics, but its roots lie in superconductivity. And now there is evidence for a Higgs mode in disordered superconductors near the superconductor–insulator transition.
Charge carriers in transition metal dichalcogenides have an extra degree of freedom known as valley pseudospin, which is associated with the shape of the energy bands. Experiments show that this pseudospin can be manipulated using magnetic fields.
By exploiting the interaction between light and phonons in a silica microsphere resonator it is possible to generate Brillouin scattering induced transparency, which is akin to electromagnetically induced transparency but for acoustic waves.
Charge carriers in transition metal dichalcogenides have an extra degree of freedom known as valley pseudospin, which is associated with the shape of the energy bands. Experiments show that this pseudospin can be manipulated using magnetic fields.
