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Ultrashort laser fields applied to a helium dimer are able to tune the interactions between two helium atoms. A video of the dimer’s response to this localized disturbance shows the effect of dissociation and alignment of the wave packets.
Three-dimensional structures of vortex loops in a bulk micromagnet GdCo2 have been observed using X-ray magnetic nanotomography. The cross-section of these loops consists of a vortex–antivortex pair stabilized by the dipolar interaction.
Topological defects in active nematic systems such as epithelial tissues and neural progenitor cells can be associated with biological functions. Here, the authors show that defects can play a role in the layer formation of the soil bacterium Myxococcus xanthus.
Bacteria are able to move as vast, dense collectives. Here the authors show that slow movement is key to this collective behaviour because faster bacteria cause topological defects to collide together and trap cells in place.
High-harmonic generation up to the seventh harmonic is observed from the intrinsic three-dimensional topological insulator BiSbTeSe2. The parallel components of the even-order harmonics arise directly from the topological surface states.
The size-dependent lifetimes observed in the ultrafast molecular relaxation dynamics of an entire class of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can be explained by correlation bands and electron–phonon scattering, reminiscent of solid-state systems.
Effects of nucleon–nucleon correlations are studied with the generalized contact formalism and ab initio quantum Monte Carlo calculations. For nuclei from deuteron to 40Ca, the many-body nuclear wave function is shown to factorize at short distances.
The coherence of a close-to-ideal laser beam can be quadratically better than what was believed to be the quantum limit. This new Heisenberg limit could be attained with circuit quantum electrodynamics.
Recently, a framework was introduced to model three-dimensional physical networks, such as brain or vascular ones, in a way that does not allow link crossings. Here the authors combine concepts from knot theory and statistical mechanics to be able to distinguish between physical networks with identical wiring but different layouts.
Transport measurements show that spontaneous symmetry breaking plays a crucial role in the correlated insulating and metallic states in twisted double bilayer graphene.
Bacteria live in heterogeneous environments, so it is important to investigate their behaviour in porous media. Here the authors show that flow disorder enhances the effect of chemical gradients in micropockets in a porous medium, which then aid the transport of bacteria.
By incorporating a ferromagnetic layer in their superconductor–semiconductor nanowire hybrid device, Vaitiekėnas et al. show that zero-bias peaks—potential Majorana bound states—can be induced without an external magnetic field.
X-ray scattering experiments show that the quantum fluctuations associated with charge order take a form that is incompatible with the idea of competition between charge order and superconductivity.
Electrons and holes in doped quantum wells cannot form bound states from usual Coulomb interaction. However, when the system is embedded in a cavity, the exchange of photons provides an effective attraction, leading to the creation of bound excitons.
Composite fermions can be tuned to very low effective density in a clean two-dimensional electron gas, which allows the formation of a Bloch ferromagnet.
A three-dimensional topological magnetic superlattice structure exhibits the quantum anomalous Hall effect when the Fermi energy is tuned into the correct energy window.
