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Linear resistivity across many strongly correlated materials at high temperatures has no satisfactory explanation. A universal framework of incoherent metallic transport in which quantities are bounded could be the way forward.
The Jarzynski equality, relating non-equilibrium processes to free-energy differences between equilibrium states, has been verified in a number of classical systems. An ion-trap experiment now succeeds in demonstrating its quantum counterpart.
Solids embedded with fluid inclusions are intuitively softer than their pure counterparts. But experiments show that when the droplets are small enough, material can become stiffer—highlighting a role for surface tension.
Fractional magnetic excitations are thought to exist even in the simplest multi-dimensional spin models, but attention has focused on frustrated systems. Such excitations have now been seen in an unfrustrated two-dimensional quantum antiferromagnet.
Weak magneto-chiral dichroic effects may explain why biomolecules all have the same chirality, but they are notoriously difficult to observe. Using hard X-rays, strong magneto-chiral dichroism has now been observed in a paramagnetic molecular helix.
Landau levels in graphene are not equidistant so that transitions between them can be individually probed. Time-resolved optical pumping experiments reveal strong electron–electron scattering resulting in an Auger-depleted zeroth order Landau level.
An imaging study of vortex proliferation near a continuous phase transition in a ferroelectric reveals frozen-in vortices that follow the predictions of the Kibble–Zurek model for cosmological strings formed in the early Universe.
Experimentalists have observed the predicted half-integer quantum Hall effect using the topological insulator BiSbTeSe2, which exhibits topological surface states at room temperature, with each surface contributing a half quantum of Hall conductance.
In topological crystalline insulators, crystal symmetries give rise to particular electronic structures. As now shown, strain further induces pseudo-Landau states in IV–VI heterostructures—a mechanism possibly responsible for the superconductivity observed in such systems.
Supersymmetry and Majorana fermions that are their own antiparticles are both concepts from particle physics that may become testable in condensed-matter systems. The observation of Cooper pairs in a helical Dirac gas brings this goal a step closer.
Coupling the fluorescence of cold atoms to plasmons propagating on a gold surface offers a means of controlling the radiation from optical emitters without the need for a cavity.
A superconductor placed near a quantum Hall edge can show emergent excitations with a range of exotic features. For instance, such heterostructures are predicted to exhibit non-local signatures that are direct extensions of ‘Andreev reflection’.
A variational approach for a three-band model provides deeper insights into the dynamics of a hole doped into an antiferromagnetic layer, with important implications for theories of high-temperature superconductivity.
Cuprate superconductors are created by adding electrons or holes to a ‘parent’ compound. They have dissimilar phase diagrams and the asymmetry is further highlighted by unexpected collective modes measured using resonant inelastic X-ray scattering.
Quantum effects allow black holes to radiate—offering a glimpse of how quantum field theory and general relativity might fit together. Hawking radiation has now been observed in a black hole analogue, with evidence that it can self-amplify.
Electron scattering limits the optical excitations produced by metal-based lasers to femtosecond timescales. But sub-picosecond pulsing can be achieved in a plasmonic nanowire laser by operating near the surface plasmon frequency.
Spin relaxation in graphene is much faster than theoretically expected. Now, a scenario based on a mixing of spin and pseudospin degrees of freedom and defect-induced spatial spin–orbit coupling variations predicts longer spin relaxation times.
Using the two stable electronic states of alkaline-earth atoms, an orbital spin-exchange interaction—the building block of orbital quantum magnetism—has been observed in a fermionic quantum gas.
In a topological material, Weyl fermions—with relativistic and Newtonian characteristics—at a quantum critical point couple to the Coulomb interaction, leading to an anisotropic screening such that the fermions are effectively non-interacting.
A class of van der Waals universality is introduced in the collision dynamics of three identical ultracold atoms at all scattering lengths. It is insensitive to short-range chemical details and can be computed using two-body parameters only.