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The formation of a macroscopic self-organized electromagnetic-field structure during a collisionless interaction of supersonic plasma streams is challenging existing models of counter-streaming plasmas.
The realization of a Mott insulating state in a system of ultracold fermions comprising far more internal components than the electron, provides an avenue for probing many-body physics that is difficult to access in solids.
In two-dimensional systems, superfluidity occurs in the absence of the long-range order associated with Bose–Einstein condensates. This phenomenon is illustrated in the direct observation of superfluidity in a 2D atomic Bose gas.
Technologies aimed at single-molecule resolution of non-equilibrium systems increasingly require sophisticated new ways of thinking about thermodynamics. An elegant extension to standard fluctuation theory grants access to the kinetic intermediate states of these systems — as DNA-pulling experiments now demonstrate.
Optical vortices usually break up when they propagate through nonlinear media. Now, however, experiments show the helical structure of an infrared beam can survive a high-harmonic-generation process. This could lead to a table-top source of attosecond helical light pulses.
Faraday and Dirac constructed magnetic monopoles using the practical and mathematical tools available to them. Now physicists have engineered effective monopoles by combining modern optics with nanotechnology. Part matter and part light, these magnetic monopoles travel at unprecedented speeds.
Devices based on surface electrons in topological insulators are keenly anticipated, but singling these electrons out amid abundant bulk electrons poses a formidable challenge. Inspiration from the common transistor now enables manipulation of these exotic states.
Interfacial instabilities brought on by the penetration of one fluid into another hamper processes such as enhanced oil recovery from porous rock. But these instabilities can be suppressed with a simple gradient in fluid depth — a natural feature of many practical vessel geometries.
In most electrical conductors, we expect charge and heat to be transported in the same direction. However, in certain two-dimensional electron systems, fractional quantum Hall states can cause charge and heat to flow in opposite directions.
Graphene could offer an efficient and controllable interface between nanoscale optics and electronics, and promises a new generation of optoelectronic devices.
Supersymmetric particles are prime candidates to make up the dark matter of the Universe — yet the lack of evidence for them so far from the Large Hadron Collider could force a rethink.
Hybrid traps for laser-cooled ions and neutral atoms make excellent cold-chemistry laboratories. Experiments now show that engineering quantum states can provide additional control for accessing and manipulating chemical reaction rates.
Cells migrate en masse to generate and renew tissue — but inadequate resolution and incompatible timescales obscure the mechanism behind this migration. A unique approach reveals that stress mediates collective motion by propagating in a wave from the leading edge to the population centre.
Single electrons in quantum dots can be disturbed by the apparatus used to measure them. The disturbance can be mediated by incoherent phonons — literally, noise. Engineering acoustic interference could negate these deleterious effects and bring quantum dots closer to becoming a robust quantum technology.
