Articles in 2015

The Higgs mechanism is best known for generating mass for subatomic particles. Less well-known is that the idea originated in the study of superconductivity, and can be tested in the laboratory.

Even simple periodic mechanical lattices can exhibit exotic topologically protected modes. Incorporating defects into the mix makes things more interesting — revealing modes whose characteristics depend on properties of both the lattice and the defect.

The successful formation of self-generated magnetic fields in the lab using large-scale, high-power lasers opens the door to a better understanding of some of the most extreme astrophysical processes taking place in the Universe.

Mechanical metamaterials are artificial structures whose properties originate from their geometry. In such structures, it is now shown that topological modes can exist that are robust against a range of structural deformations.

A single-particle model is usually used to interpret the tunnelling spectra of molecules on surfaces, but scanning tunnelling microscopy now shows that many-body effects can occur in a single molecule.

Astrophysical processes are often driven by collisionless plasma shock waves. The Weibel instability, a possible mechanism for developing such shocks, has now been generated in a laboratory set-up with laser-generated plasmas.

The relaxation processes of light-emitting excited ions are tunable, but electrical control is challenging. It is now shown that graphene can be used to manipulate the optical emission and relaxation of erbium near-infrared emitters electrically.

To gain insight into the properties of quantum matter, a superatom—an ensemble of strongly interacting atoms in the Rydberg blockade regime—is created and characterized by precisely controlling the density and Rydberg excitations.

A self-accelerating electronic wave packet can acquire a phase akin to the Aharonov–Bohm effect, but in the absence of a magnetic field.

The quantum mechanical concept of ‘steering’ refers to the feasibility of one system to nonlocally affect, or steer, another system’s states through local measurements. Multipartite steering is now demonstrated in a programmable optical network.

By engineering the electron wavefunction it is possible to create Aharonov–Bohm-like phases and relativistic effects such as length contraction and time dilation in a non-relativistic setting and in the absence of electromagnetic fields.