Applied physics articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Flexible wave manipulations are crucial in the development of application for topological insulators. By stacking a 2D network of coupled acoustic resonators the authors demonstrate a 3D acoustic topological insulator with arbitrarily controllable dislocation paths.

    • Liping Ye
    • , Chunyin Qiu
    •  & Zhengyou Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    For over half a century, temperature wave was deemed exotic and mattered only at extremely low temperatures. Here, the authors reported direct observation of second sound, signature of the temperature wave, at a record-high temperature of over 200 K.

    • Zhiwei Ding
    • , Ke Chen
    •  & Gang Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Reducing circuit redundancy represents a priority for the scalability of parallel computing hardware. Here, the authors report the realization of pixel processing units consisting of single 2D WSe2 transistors implementing electrically-switchable logic functions. This strategy enables the fabrication of an image processing array with ~16% transistor consumption compared to traditional circuits.

    • Senfeng Zeng
    • , Chunsen Liu
    •  & Peng Zhou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A combination of Floquet engineering and higher-order topological insulators has been lately only theoretically proposed. Here the authors experimentally realize an acoustic waveguides array to demonstrate a Floquet higherorder topological insulator extending its band topology from first order to higher order.

    • Weiwei Zhu
    • , Haoran Xue
    •  & Baile Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The use of time modulation to break reciprocity is well understood for light, sound or charge diffusion, but it’s unclear whether it can work for thermal diffusion. Here, the authors answer in the negative by analysing diffusive processes under time modulation, and giving numerical and experimental evidence.

    • Jiaxin Li
    • , Ying Li
    •  & Cheng-Wei Qiu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding of the atomic-scale mechanisms of rejuvenation of bulk metallic glass still remains unclear. Here, using configurational entropy derived from X-ray experiments, authors show a clear picture of the relaxation process during annealing of a metallic glass.

    • Florian Spieckermann
    • , Daniel Şopu
    •  & Jürgen Eckert

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The pedestrian-induced oscillation of the London Millennium Bridge is considered as an example of emerging synchronisation. Belykh et al. provide an alternative mechanism for emergence of coherent oscillatory bridge dynamics where synchrony is a consequence, not the cause, of the instability.

    • Igor Belykh
    • , Mateusz Bocian
    •  & Allan McRobie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors introduce the concept of Janus acoustic metascreen for independent wavefront manipulations for two opposite incidences. They use acoustic circulators with rotating inner cores to achieve high nonreciprocity, and demonstrate tunable combinations of wavefront manipulations.

    • Yifan Zhu
    • , Liyun Cao
    •  & Badreddine Assouar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    ’Following up on the recent theoretical demonstration here the authors bring us a step closer to the real implementation of efficient ultrasonic chiral sources. They experimentally demonstrate the presence of elastic spin waves, Rayleigh and Lamb waves, generated by a chiral-meta source, characterizing their basic properties.

    • Weitao Yuan
    • , Chenwen Yang
    •  & Jie Ren

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Most engineered ciliary bands generate simple hydrodynamics with unidirectional flow profiles. Here, inspired by the starfish larva, the authors show acoustically-activated microrobots with cilia that can control direction of liquid flow through oscillations, exhibiting propulsion at microscales.

    • Cornel Dillinger
    • , Nitesh Nama
    •  & Daniel Ahmed

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mobile micromachines have the potential to probe and manipulate matter at small scales emulating the biological machinery of living organisms. Here, the authors take advantage of the anisotropy of self-propelled colloidal heterodimers to control anisotropic and reprogrammable interactions between particles.

    • Antoine Aubret
    • , Quentin Martinet
    •  & Jeremie Palacci

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Non-Hermitian skin effect fundamentally challenges the conventional topological description of a system. Here the authors demonstrate a bipolar non-Hermitian skin effect, where bulk eigenstates localize towards two directions, in a one-dimensional non-reciprocal acoustic crystal with twisted topology.

    • Li Zhang
    • , Yihao Yang
    •  & Baile Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Experimental data obtained in single-particle tracking experiments are challenging to interpret. The authors propose an approach for determining the dynamics of the stochastic motion of molecules based on the power spectrum, relevant to various non-stationary scale-free random walks.

    • Zachary R. Fox
    • , Eli Barkai
    •  & Diego Krapf

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spin-orbit acoustics is determinant to provide new perspectives and functionalities for sound manipulations. Here the authors theoretically and experimentally demonstrate acoustic spin-orbit interaction enabling chiral sound-matter interactions with unprecedented applications.

    • Shubo Wang
    • , Guanqing Zhang
    •  & Guancong Ma

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Two-dimensional antennas that can create and steer narrow beams are of interest for modern communication systems. Here, the authors demonstrate a scalable antenna array design that performs these functions with fewer elements than standard approaches and excited only with peripheral sources.

    • Ayman H. Dorrah
    •  & George V. Eleftheriades

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A general theory for Floquet topology applicable to all crystalline symmetry groups is lacking. Here, the authors propose such a theory for noninteracting Floquet crystals and predict an inversion-protected Floquet higher-order topological phase with anomalous chiral hinge modes.

    • Jiabin Yu
    • , Rui-Xing Zhang
    •  & Zhi-Da Song

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mechanical metamaterials can be engineered with properties not possible in ordinary materials. Here the authors demonstrate and study an active metamaterial with self-sensing characteristics that enables odd elastic properties not observed in passive media.

    • Yangyang Chen
    • , Xiaopeng Li
    •  & Guoliang Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The awareness of rock shape dependence in rockfall hazard assessment is growing, but experimental and field studies are scarce. This study presents a large data set of induced single block rockfall events quantifying the influence of rock shape and mass on its complex kinematic behaviour.

    • Andrin Caviezel
    • , Adrian Ringenbach
    •  & Perry Bartelt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Though non-Hermitian physics has contributed toward the advance of research in quantum, electronic and classical systems, previous work focused on zero- or one-dimensional systems. Here, the authors report higher-order non-Hermitian skin effects in a 2D acoustic higher-order topological insulator.

    • Xiujuan Zhang
    • , Yuan Tian
    •  & Yan-Feng Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Additives have been widely used for passivating defects in perovskite semiconductors, yet the role of additive and their interaction is not clear. Here, the authors reveal an additive-assisted crystal formation in FAPbI3 perovskite by tracking the chemical interaction in the precursor solution and crystallographic evolution using multi-functional additives.

    • Lin Zhu
    • , Hui Cao
    •  & Jianpu Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors create synthetic dimensions in acoustic crystals composed of cavity arrays, strongly coupled through modulated channels. They provide evidence for 1D and 2D dynamic topological pumping, and show that the higher-order topological sound transport is robust against the geometrical imperfections.

    • Hui Chen
    • , Hongkuan Zhang
    •  & Guoliang Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Common photovoltaic effect is across the interface of heterojunctions. Here, the authors find that scanning a light beam can induce a persistent in-plane photoelectric voltage along silicon-water interfaces, due to the following movement of a charge packet in the vicinity of the silicon surface.

    • Jidong Li
    • , Yuyang Long
    •  & Jun Yin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pulsed operation of perovskite light-emitting diodes is of particular importance in display and visible light communication, yet the ionic behaviour under this mode is not well-understood. Here, the authors reveal that the transient electroluminescence intensity increases with increasing pulse width as the result of accumulation of mobile ions at the interfaces.

    • Naresh Kumar Kumawat
    • , Wolfgang Tress
    •  & Feng Gao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Though bound states in the continuum (BICs) in acoustic systems are attractive for acoustic resonators design, acoustic BICs typically show low Q-factor. Here, the authors report a high performance open acoustic resonator that supports symmetry-protected, Friedrich-Wintgen and mirror symmetry-induced BICs.

    • Lujun Huang
    • , Yan Kei Chiang
    •  & Andrey E. Miroshnichenko

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mechanisms of cluster formation in networks with directed links differ from those in undirected networks. Lodi et al. propose a method to compute interdependencies among clusters of nodes in directed networks. They show that clusters can be one-way dependent, as found in social and neural networks.

    • Matteo Lodi
    • , Francesco Sorrentino
    •  & Marco Storace

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Networks describe the intricate patterns of interaction occurring within ecological systems, but they are unfortunately difficult to construct from data. Here, the authors show how Bayesian statistical techniques can separate structure from noise in networks gathered in observational studies of plant-pollinator systems.

    • Jean-Gabriel Young
    • , Fernanda S. Valdovinos
    •  & M. E. J. Newman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Precise and dynamic manipulation of nano-objects on a large scale has been challenging. Here, the authors introduce acoustoelectronic nanotweezers, combining precision of electronic tweezers with large-field dynamic control of acoustic tweezers, demonstrating complex patterning of sub-100 nm objects.

    • Peiran Zhang
    • , Joseph Rufo
    •  & Tony Jun Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Typically, sending sound from transmitter to receiver requires pre-amplification and disturbs the surrounding sound environment. Here, the authors present a metamaterial designed to enable transmission of weak sound that can be recovered even in the presence of strong noise

    • Jin Zhang
    • , Wei Rui
    •  & Johan Christensen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors introduce a 3D Weyl metamaterial hosting modes bound to a 1D topological lattice defect. The modes carry nonzero orbital angular momentum locked to the direction of propagation, and they experimentally demonstrate the ability to emit acoustic vortices into free space.

    • Qiang Wang
    • , Yong Ge
    •  & Y. D. Chong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Assessing mechanics of nanoporous silicon is challenging, but important for new applications. Here, the authors use non-destructive laser-excited elastic guided waves detected contactless, to study dry and liquid-infused single-crystalline porous silicon, revealing its complex mechanics and significant deviations from bulk silicon.

    • Marc Thelen
    • , Nicolas Bochud
    •  & Patrick Huber

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This work presents a mechanical metamaterial with 1D array of bistable arches where nonreciprocity and reversibility can be independently programmed. The effects of asymmetry both at the structural and element level on propagation of transition waves are examined.

    • Gabriele Librandi
    • , Eleonora Tubaldi
    •  & Katia Bertoldi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors introduce beyond-nearest-neighbour interactions as a mechanism for molding the flow of waves in acoustic metamaterials. They find that for strong third-nearest-neighbour interactions, this mechanism allows for engineering roton-like acoustical dispersion relations under ambient conditions.

    • Yi Chen
    • , Muamer Kadic
    •  & Martin Wegener

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Inverse design is a recent development in photonics, where by locally controlling the refractive index in a matrix, nearly any information processing functionality can be achieved. Here, Wang et al. present a scheme for inverse design for spin-waves, magnons, which have a variety of unique advantages, such as short wavelength, and large non-linearity.

    • Qi Wang
    • , Andrii V. Chumak
    •  & Philipp Pirro

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exploiting Willis coupling in acoustic metamaterials with designed geometrical asymmetries opens up new opportunities related to sound control and manipulation. Here, the authors report a dual form of Willis coupling in geometrically symmetric acoustic scatterers.

    • Li Quan
    • , Simon Yves
    •  & Andrea Alù

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Losses, due to their non-Hermitian nature, are generally disregarded or even considered harmful when looking for non-trivial topological phases. Here, the authors experimentally demonstrate that higher-order topology can emerge as a result of introducing losses in an acoustic crystal.

    • He Gao
    • , Haoran Xue
    •  & Baile Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Integrated photonics are promising to scale up quantum optics. Here the authors combine low-power microelectromechanical control and superconducting single-photon detectors on the same chip and demonstrate routing, high-dynamic-range detection, and power stabilization.

    • Samuel Gyger
    • , Julien Zichi
    •  & Carlos Errando-Herranz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Conventional optical readout limits the sensitivity of solid state spin sensors due to photon shot noise and poor contrast. Here, the authors demonstrate room-temperature microwave detection of an ensemble of NV centers embedded in a microwave cavity, which offers high-fidelity readout without time overhead.

    • Erik R. Eisenach
    • , John F. Barry
    •  & Danielle A. Braje

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nanofluidic channels offer the possibility to process small molecules or colloids, but transport control meets serious challenges. Seo et al. use evaporation-driven advective flow to establish a versatile manipulation scheme of the fluid carrier, disposing of external connectors.

    • Sangjin Seo
    • , Dogyeong Ha
    •  & Taesung Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Human-like robotic sensing aims at extracting and processing complicated environmental information via multisensory integration and interaction. Tan et al. report an artificial spiking multisensory neural network that integrates five primary senses and mimics the crossmodal perception of biological brains.

    • Hongwei Tan
    • , Yifan Zhou
    •  & Sebastiaan van Dijken

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, a strong nonlinearity of the gate-induced tunnel junction in bilayer graphene is used for efficient terahertz detection. The improved signal-to-noise ratio, as compared to conventional detectors, offers the application of steep-switching transistors in terahertz technology.

    • I. Gayduchenko
    • , S. G. Xu
    •  & D. A. Bandurin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors present a passive meta-neural-network for real-time recognition of objects by analysis of acoustic scattering. It consists of unit cells termed meta-neurons, mimicking an analogous neural network for classical waves, and is shown to recognise handwritten digits and misaligned orbital-angular-momentum vortices.

    • Jingkai Weng
    • , Yujiang Ding
    •  & Jianchun Cheng

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