Condensed-matter physics articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    S. Gassner et al. propose using light pulses to drive a centrosymmetric s-wave superconductor with strong spin-orbit coupling into a metastable triplet p-wave superconductor with non-trivial topology. The two superconducting orders must be closely competing in equilibrium and the light pulse must break a generalized, dynamic form of inversion symmetry.

    • Steven Gassner
    • , Clara S. Weber
    •  & Martin Claassen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    While high-energy heavy ions create cylindrical damage zones called ion tracks in many materials, diamond was an exception for a long time. The authors have succeeded in creating the ion tracks in diamond utilizing 2−9MeV C60 fullerene ion irradiation and studied the structure of the tracks.

    • H. Amekura
    • , A. Chettah
    •  & Y. Saitoh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Studying out-of-equilibrium entanglement fluctuations is beyond the scope of current theories. Lim et al. present an analytical theory of fluctuations in long-time dynamics of entanglement in two classes of integrable lattice models, showing features reminiscent of universal mesoscopic fluctuations.

    • Lih-King Lim
    • , Cunzhong Lou
    •  & Chushun Tian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    P. Poduval et al. theoretically study the nonzero-temperature vestigial phases of a 2D model exhibiting both triplet superconductivity and magnetism. They show that this model allows for a unique superconducting state in which the condensate consists of entities with three electrons and one hole, with properties similar to those seen in experiments on moiré systems.

    • Prathyush P. Poduval
    •  & Mathias S. Scheurer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanism of charge density wave order in V-based kagome metals has been debated. Here the authors use a range of experimental techniques combined with ab initio calculations to study the electronic structure and phonon modes of ScV6Sn6, revealing the dominant role of strong electron-phonon coupling.

    • Yong Hu
    • , Junzhang Ma
    •  & Ming Shi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Real-time adaptive control of a qubit has been demonstrated but limited to single-axis Hamiltonian estimation. Here the authors implement two-axis control of a singlet-triplet spin qubit with two fluctuating Hamiltonian parameters, resulting in improved quality of coherent oscillations.

    • Fabrizio Berritta
    • , Torbjørn Rasmussen
    •  & Ferdinand Kuemmeth

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here the authors develop a coupled ring resonators platform for realizing topological states of matter with hyperbolic dispersion thus offering an approach to boost the efficiency of topological photonic devices.

    • Lei Huang
    • , Lu He
    •  & Xiangdong Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metallic systems in magnetic fields enter the quantum limit when the cyclotron energy exceeds the Fermi energy. Here the authors introduce the analogue of the quantum limit for insulators, where the Zeeman energy exceeds the cyclotron energy, and show that it explains key features of the Kondo insulator YbB12.

    • Christopher A. Mizzi
    • , Satya K. Kushwaha
    •  & Neil Harrison

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Entanglement entropy exhibits rich phenomenology connected to different kinds of phases in condensed matter. Here, the authors confirm some of these predictions by experimentally probing nonlocal correlations in 1D and 2D phononic crystal based on interconnected resonating acoustic cavities.

    • Zhi-Kang Lin
    • , Yao Zhou
    •  & Jian-Hua Jiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors report on the fabrication of strained wrinkles in monolayer WSe2 by placing the material on Au nanoconical substrates. They investigate the correlation between topographical stress factors and localised, quantum-dot-like photoluminescence emission.

    • Emanuil S. Yanev
    • , Thomas P. Darlington
    •  & P. James Schuck

  • Article
    | Open Access

    True amplification of spin waves by spin-orbit torque, which manifests itself by an exponential increase in amplitude with propagation distance, has so far remained elusive. Here, the authors realize amplification using clocked nanoseconds-long spin-orbit torque pulses in magnonic nano-waveguides.

    • H. Merbouche
    • , B. Divinskiy
    •  & V. E. Demidov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Huang et al. study fractional quantum Hall (fQH) states in high-quality GaAs/AlGaAs samples. They report evidence for a fQH state at filling factor ν = 9/11, which they associate with the formation of six-flux composite fermions.

    • Haoyun Huang
    • , Waseem Hussain
    •  & G. A. Csáthy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There hasn’t been much experimental attention to the interaction of chiral active particles with complex environments. Chan et al. propose an interesting granular particle system based on natural plant seeds to examine the transport of chiral active matter in complex surroundings.

    • Chung Wing Chan
    • , Daihui Wu
    •  & Rui Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Power-law scaling of low-frequency vibrational density of states is widely observed in glassy materials, yet the value of scaling exponents remains controversial. Here, Xu et al. identify two scaling exponents by separating stable from unstable glass to reconcile the debate in the literature.

    • Ding Xu
    • , Shiyun Zhang
    •  & Ning Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Certain delafossite materials are the most conductive oxides known, for poorly understood reasons. This work elucidates this finding by uncovering a sublattice purification mechanism that enables ultrapure conductive planes even in impure crystals.

    • Yi Zhang
    • , Fred Tutt
    •  & Chris Leighton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sliding ferroelectricity occurs in stacks of van der Waals materials. Depending on the particular stacking, the system can host a spontaneous polarization, and under an applied electric field, polarization domain walls will propagate transverse to the electric field. Here, Yang et al use an optical approach to directly observe this sliding of domain walls in bilayer MoS2.

    • Dongyang Yang
    • , Jing Liang
    •  & Ziliang Ye

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Stabilizing charge density wave states in low-dimensional systems is challenging. Here, the authors stabilize an ordered incommensurate charge density wave at elevated temperatures via endotaxial synthesis of TaS2 polytype heterostructures, where charge density wave layers are encapsulated within metallic layers.

    • Suk Hyun Sung
    • , Nishkarsh Agarwal
    •  & Robert Hovden

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Applications of spontaneous symmetry breaking are hindered by unavoidable imperfections. Here, the authors reveal how a phase defect provides topological robustness to this process, enabling a bias free realization without fine tuning of parameters.

    • Stéphane Coen
    • , Bruno Garbin
    •  & Julien Fatome

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent experiments reported the Kondo effect in 1H/1T dichalcogenide hetero-bilayers. Crippa et al. re-examine this interpretation using ab initio calculations and dynamical mean-field theory demonstrating strong charge transfer sensitive to the interlayer separation, indicative of a doped Mott insulator regime.

    • Lorenzo Crippa
    • , Hyeonhu Bae
    •  & Roser Valentí

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Many material properties are governed by the internal dislocation network within the material. Here, the authors describe a method to determine the three dimensional position and type of dislocations from a measurement along only a single direction within a scanning transmission electron microscope.

    • Tore Niermann
    • , Laura Niermann
    •  & Michael Lehmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    When multiple oscillators are tuned, degeneracies occur on a knot-shaped region in the space of tuning parameters. This knot influences how such systems can be tuned. Here, the authors reconcile two common means for visualizing this influence.

    • Chitres Guria
    • , Qi Zhong
    •  & Jack Gwynne Emmet Harris

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electron charge and spin shuttling is a promising technique for connecting distant spin qubits. Here the authors use conveyor-mode shuttling to achieve high-fidelity transport of a single electron spin in Si/SiGe by separation and rejoining of two spin-entangled electrons across a shuttling distance of 560 nm.

    • Tom Struck
    • , Mats Volmer
    •  & Lars R. Schreiber

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Coherent scattering of phonons in a periodic nanostructure leads to interference, which modifies phonon energies. Here, authors observed that a strong interference effect also influences phonon lifetime. Despite its reduction, energy transport is conserved thanks to a hopping of energy among the reflected waves.

    • Mohammad Hadi
    • , Haoming Luo
    •  & Valentina M. Giordano

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The combination of strong light-matter interactions and controllable magnetic properties make magnetic semiconductors attractive for both fundamental physics and the development of devices. Here, Hendriks et al show how the optically driven magnetization dynamics in Cr2Ge2Te6 can be controlled via electrostatic gating.

    • Freddie Hendriks
    • , Rafael R. Rojas-Lopez
    •  & Marcos H. D. Guimarães

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here the authors propose an isotropic three-dimensional metamaterial with nonreciprocal magnetoelectric resonant responses at visible and mid-infrared frequencies. The proposed metamaterials do not require external magnetization.

    • Shadi Safaei Jazi
    • , Ihar Faniayeu
    •  & Viktar Asadchy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    While the classification of single-particle topological phases has been established, recent efforts have been made to extend it to interacting limit. Here the authors present a classification of interacting topological systems in 2D based on the generalization of real space invariants.

    • Jonah Herzog-Arbeitman
    • , B. Andrei Bernevig
    •  & Zhi-Da Song

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Charge order has been typically reported in doped systems with high d-electron occupancy. Here the authors demonstrate a charge-ordered insulating state in a La-doped SrTiO3 epitaxial film which has the lowest d-electron occupancy and attribute it to surface distortion that favours electron-phonon coupling.

    • Kitae Eom
    • , Bongwook Chung
    •  & Jaichan Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultrasmall metallic clusters receive great attention for atom-efficient catalysts. Here a metallic cluster–organic framework is synthesized and characterized; authors demonstrate its stability and catalytic proficiency, paving the way for molecular-scale metal nanoparticle interlocking.

    • Xiyue Liu
    • , James N. McPherson
    •  & Kasper S. Pedersen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Blue phosphorene (BlueP) is a 2D phosphorus allotrope predicted to host Dirac fermions and other interesting electronic properties. Here, the authors report the growth of large-area BlueP films with ordered chiral nanostructures on Cu(111) substrates, expanding the range of its potential applications.

    • Ye-Heng Song
    • , M. U. Muzaffar
    •  & Zhenyu Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    2D vertical transport transistors (VTFETs) may promote the downscaling of electronic devices, but their performance is usually restricted by the thermionic limit. Here, the authors report the realization of short-channel steep-slope VTFETs based on MoS2/MoTe2 heterojunctions integrated with resistance threshold switching cells.

    • Qiyu Yang
    • , Zheng-Dong Luo
    •  & Genquan Han

  • Article
    | Open Access

    R.-J. Slager et al. extend the theory of multigap topology from static to non-equilibrium systems. They identify Floquet-induced non-Abelian braiding, resulting in a phase characterized by anomalous Euler class, a multi-gap topological invariant. They also find a gapped anomalous Dirac string phase. Both phases have no static counterparts and exhibit distinct boundary signatures.

    • Robert-Jan Slager
    • , Adrien Bouhon
    •  & F. Nur Ünal

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The apparent electronic confinement at nanographene boundaries in scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy is often misinterpreted. Here, the authors explain this phenomenon in terms of the decay of frontier orbitals and confinement at the edges of graphene nanoribbons and pores in nanoporous graphene.

    • Ignacio Piquero-Zulaica
    • , Eduardo Corral-Rascón
    •  & Johannes V. Barth

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Skyrmions, a type of topological spin texture, have garnered interest for use in spintronic devices. Typically, these devices necessitate moving the skyrmions via applied currents. Here, Yang et al demonstrate the driving of skyrmions by surface acoustic waves.

    • Yang Yang
    • , Le Zhao
    •  & Tianxiang Nan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlling spin direction is the key for spintronic devices as it induces efficient and field-free switching. Herein, the authors propose using lattice vibrations in acoustic devices to replace the charge motion in conventional spintronic devices to realize the rotation of spin direction, that is, acoustic spin rotation. Acoustic spin rotation offers higher efficiency than spin rotation in conventional charge-current based spintronic devices.

    • Yang Cao
    • , Hao Ding
    •  & Dezheng Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Higgs mode in condensed matter physics refers to the oscillations of the amplitude of the order parameter, and single Higgs modes have been studies in various systems. Here the authors report real-space observation of two coupled Higgs modes in a 1D charge density wave phase of CuTe.

    • SeongJin Kwon
    • , Hyunjin Jung
    •  & Han Woong Yeom

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Highly polarized nuclear spins can supress decoherence of electron spin qubits, but this requires near-unity polarization. Here the authors implement a protocol combining optical excitation and fast carrier tunnelling to achieve nuclear spin polarizations above 95% in GaAs quantum dots on a timescale of 1 minute.

    • Peter Millington-Hotze
    • , Harry E. Dyte
    •  & Evgeny A. Chekhovich

  • Article
    | Open Access

    X-ray Free Electron Lasers allow fast structure determination. Here, the authors push the temporal limit of atomic level structure determination to 25 fs, the length of a single pulse, paving the way to the study of fast, non-repeatable processes.

    • Gábor Bortel
    • , Miklós Tegze
    •  & Gyula Faigel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exceptional points emerge in systems with loss and gain when loss and gain in the system are balanced. Due to the careful balancing involved, they are highly sensitive to perturbations, making them exceptionally useful for sensors and other devices. Here, Wittrock et al observe a variety of complex dynamics associated with exceptional points in coupled spintronic nano-oscillators.

    • Steffen Wittrock
    • , Salvatore Perna
    •  & Vincent Cros

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