Condensed-matter physics articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    2D bilayers have recently attracted significant attention due to fundamental properties like interlayer excitons and interfacial ferroelectricity. Here, the authors report a density functional theory approach to identify 2586 stable homobilayer systems and calculate their stacking-dependent electronic, magnetic and vibrational properties.

    • Sahar Pakdel
    • , Asbjørn Rasmussen
    •  & Kristian S. Thygesen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    P. Rout et al. study Josephson junctions where the weak link is WSe2-encapsulated bilayer graphene, which features helical edge modes. They argue that the supercurrent channels along opposite edges of the weak link are coupled by a circulating helical mode.

    • Prasanna Rout
    • , Nikos Papadopoulos
    •  & Srijit Goswami

  • Article
    | Open Access

    I. Silber et al. discover a two-fold symmetry of the superconducting upper critical field in hexagonal 4Hb-TaS2 just below Tc, a clear signature of nematic, two-component superconductivity. They further suggest a theoretical model that reconciles the nematic superconductivity with the previously-observed time-reversal-symmetry-breaking in this material.

    • I. Silber
    • , S. Mathimalar
    •  & Y. Dagan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent work has demonstrated the potential of polycrystalIine antiferromagnetic materials for spintronics. Here the authors report evidence of magnetic phase transitions in a polycrystalline non-collinear antiferromagnet, which are explained by a phenomenological model with topological orbital momenta.

    • Sihao Deng
    • , Olena Gomonay
    •  & Christoph Sürgers

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Most multi-degrees-of-freedom systems are composed of several piezoelectric stacks, leading to cumbersome and complicated structures. Here, the authors propose a piezo metasurface to achieve various types of high strains in a wide frequency range.

    • Liao Qiao
    • , Xiangyu Gao
    •  & Fei Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors report the characterization of stable few-layer PdSe2 transistors encapsulated in hexagonal boron nitride, showing field effect mobilities up to 700 cm2/Vs at room temperature and signatures of an 8-fold spin-valley degeneracy of the magnetotransport quantum oscillations at cryogenic temperatures.

    • Yuxin Zhang
    • , Haidong Tian
    •  & Chun Ning Lau

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The charge-density-wave Weyl semimetal (TaSe4)2I is a candidate for an axion insulator, however it may be obscured by polaron physics. Here, using ultrafast terahertz photocurrent spectroscopy, the authors realize phase switches from the polaronic state, to the charge density wave phase, and to the Weyl phase.

    • Bing Cheng
    • , Di Cheng
    •  & Jigang Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electrical control of topological magnets is of great interest for future spintronic applications. Here, the authors demonstrate the effective manipulation of antiferromagnetic order in a Weyl semimetal using orbital torques, with implications for neuromorphic device applications.

    • Zhenyi Zheng
    • , Tao Zeng
    •  & Jingsheng Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photoinduced phase transitions occur in a variety of materials and allow for the optical control of the materials properties. Here, Herve et al present a streaming powder X-ray diffraction method allowing them to study the ultrafast photoinduced phase transition of Rb0.94Mn0.94Co0.06[Fe(CN)6]0.9 within thermal hysteresis.

    • Marius Hervé
    • , Gaël Privault
    •  & Eric Collet

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The use of NISQ devices for useful quantum simulations of materials and chemistry is still mainly limited by the necessary circuit depth. Here, the authors propose to combine classically-generated effective Hamiltonians, hybrid fermion-to-qubit mapping and circuit optimisations to bring this requirement closer to experimental feasibility.

    • Laura Clinton
    • , Toby Cubitt
    •  & Evan Sheridan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Strongly correlated and topological phases of matter can be often described using the tools of quantum field theory. Here the authors report the thermal Hall effect in the antiferromagnetic skyrmion lattice of MnSc2S4, revealing transport features that can be attributed to an emergent SU(3) gauge field.

    • Hikaru Takeda
    • , Masataka Kawano
    •  & Chisa Hotta

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Conventional deoxygenation methods typically result in inevitable trace oxygen residue in organic semiconductors. Here, Huang et al. reports a non-destructive soft-plasma treatment for deoxygenation and that removal of trace oxygen can be used to modulate p-type characteristics.

    • Yinan Huang
    • , Kunjie Wu
    •  & Wenping Hu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum devices exhibiting non-reciprocal behaviour have been attracting attention for fundamental studies and applications. Here the authors report a microwave quantum diode based on a superconducting flux qubit coupled to two resonators, which has the advantage of compactness and scalability.

    • Rishabh Upadhyay
    • , Dmitry S. Golubev
    •  & Jukka P. Pekola

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors proposed a Silicon technology-compatible approach to convert Germanium from an indirect bandgap to a direct bandgap via doping. This is done to expand the lattice to produce tunable effective tensile strain, aiming towards the on-chip light sources.

    • Lin-Ding Yuan
    • , Shu-Shen Li
    •  & Jun-Wei Luo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    3D higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs) exhibit 1D hinge states depending on extrinsic sample details, while intrinsic features of HOTIs remain unknown. Here, K.S. Lin et al. introduce the framework of spin-resolved topology to show that helical HOTIs can realize a doubled axion insulator phase with nontrivial partial axion angles.

    • Kuan-Sen Lin
    • , Giandomenico Palumbo
    •  & Barry Bradlyn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Designing efficient high-density crossbar arrays are nowadays highly demanded for many artificial intelligence applications. Here, the authors propose a two-terminal ferroelectric fin diode non-volatile memory in which a ferroelectric capacitor and a fin-like semiconductor channel are combined to share both top and bottom electrodes with high performance and easy fabrication process

    • Guangdi Feng
    • , Qiuxiang Zhu
    •  & Chungang Duan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quasiparticles’ have formed an extremely effective explanation for the charge, spin and lattice excitations of materials, allowing for the otherwise complex response to be explained in terms of a single (quasi)particle with an effective Hamiltonian. Here, Hasegawa et al demonstrate the tuning of magnon quasiparticle decay in the quantum antiferromagnet, RbFeCl3.’

    • Shunsuke Hasegawa
    • , Hodaka Kikuchi
    •  & Takatsugu Masuda

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Yu-Shiba-Rusinov state, arising from exchange coupling between a magnetic impurity and a superconductor, undergoes a quantum phase transition at a critical coupling. In a scanning tunnelling microscopy experiment, Karan et al. reveal distinct tunnelling spectra on each side of the transition in a magnetic field, which allows them to distinguish the free spin regime from the screened spin regime.

    • Sujoy Karan
    • , Haonan Huang
    •  & Christian R. Ast

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In the field of multiferroic thin films, attaining low-temperature epitaxy has been a long-standing problem. In this work, authors propose a pathway to significantly reduce the BiFeO3 thin film growth temperature using the BaBiPbO3 template.

    • Sajid Husain
    • , Isaac Harris
    •  & Ramamoorthy Ramesh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Superconductivity was recently reported experimentally in nitrogen-doped lutetium hydride with Tc = 294 K at 1 GPa. Here, via theoretical calculations taking into account temperature and quantum anharmonic lattice effects, the authors find that room-temperature superconductivity in the suggested parent phase of LuH3 cannot be explained by a conventional electron-phonon mediated pairing mechanism.

    • Roman Lucrezi
    • , Pedro P. Ferreira
    •  & Christoph Heil

  • Article
    | Open Access

    SrCu2(BO3)2 realizes the Shastry-Sutherland model (SSM), a 2D frustrated dimer model. Here, via high-magnetic-field inelastic neutron scattering measurements and matrix-product-state calculations, Fogh et al. find evidence for Bose-Einstein condensation of S = 2 two-triplon bound states, which is a spin-nematic phase.

    • Ellen Fogh
    • , Mithilesh Nayak
    •  & Henrik M. Rønnow

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nanoscale ferroelectric domains called electric bubbles are shown to behave as dynamical particles. Using atomistic simulations and experiments, the authors reveal a bubble liquid phase and demonstrate teleportation-like displacements of single bubbles.

    • S. Prokhorenko
    • , Y. Nahas
    •  & L. Bellaiche

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The interaction of flexoelectric polarization arising from strain gradients with ferroelectricity impacts tribological properties and facilitates fine physical lithography without masks or chemicals, with potential applications in various fields.

    • Seongwoo Cho
    • , Iaroslav Gaponenko
    •  & Seungbum Hong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The sign of longitudinal piezoelectric coefficients is typically positive. Here, the authors tune the sign of the linear piezoelectric coefficient of HfO2 from positive to negative via epitaxial strain, finding nonlinear and parabolic piezoelectric behaviors at tensile epitaxial strain.

    • Hao Cheng
    • , Peijie Jiao
    •  & Yurong Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spin and charge dynamics are inevitably linked, the study of the one often illuminating the other. Here, the authors study spin relaxation in ambipolar polymers and, backed by simulations, show how charge dynamics and wavefunction localization together set relaxation times up to room temperature.

    • Remington L. Carey
    • , Samuele Giannini
    •  & Henning Sirringhaus

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The thermal Hall effect has been reported in several materials, but it is not expected in triangular lattice systems due to chirality cancellation. Kim et al. report the thermal Hall effect attributed to topological spin fluctuations in the supposedly paramagnetic phase of YMnO3 with a trimerized triangular lattice.

    • Ha-Leem Kim
    • , Takuma Saito
    •  & Je-Geun Park

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The second order nonlinear Hall effect leads to a direct voltage generated from the rectification effect. While this rectification property is appeal for use in devices, most materials exhibiting a second order nonlinear hall effect are constrained to low temperatures. Here, Lu et al demonstrate a second order nonlinear transport behaviour that persists above room temperature in BiTeBr, and construct a prototype rectifier based on this effect.

    • Xiu Fang Lu
    • , Cheng-Ping Zhang
    •  & Kian Ping Loh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A. G. Eaton et al. directly probe the Fermi surface of the candidate triplet superconductor UTe2 by measuring magnetic quantum oscillations in ultra-pure crystals. By comparison with model calculations, the data are found to be consistent with a Fermi surface that consists of two cylindrical sections of electron and hole-type respectively.

    • A. G. Eaton
    • , T. I. Weinberger
    •  & M. Vališka

  • Article
    | Open Access

    When imbibed in an anisotropic silica aerogel, superfluid 3He undergoes a temperature-driven “orbital flop" transition, where the orbital quantization axis rotates by 90 degrees. Here, by simulating planar and nematic aerogel, M. D. Nguyen et al. show that the orbital flop transition is driven by the distinct large- and small-scale structures of the aerogel.

    • M. D. Nguyen
    • , Joshua Simon
    •  & W. P. Halperin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metasurfaces show variable scattering with frequency sequence. This frequency-hopping response breaks a conventional linear frequency concept and markedly expands available frequency channels from a linear number to its factorial number.

    • Hiroki Takeshita
    • , Ashif Aminulloh Fathnan
    •  & Hiroki Wakatsuchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The superconductor UTe2 exhibits a reentrant superconducting phase at magnetic fields above 40 T for particular field angles. Here, from high-field Hall-effect measurements, T. Helm et al. find evidence for a partial compensation between the applied field and an exchange field, pointing to the Jaccarino-Peter effect as a possible mechanism for the reentrant superconductivity.

    • Toni Helm
    • , Motoi Kimata
    •  & Jean-Pascal Brison

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A concept of fractional quantum ferroelectricity is proposed, where the direction of ferroelectric polarization difference no longer subjects to the symmetry restrictions of Neumann’s principle. It indicates that ferroelectricity can exist in nonpolar systems, which may lead to discovery of many overlooked ferroelectrics.

    • Junyi Ji
    • , Guoliang Yu
    •  & H. J. Xiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    M. Valentini et al. study superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) where the weak link of the Josephson junctions is a germanium 2D hole gas. They report signatures of the tunneling of pairs of Cooper pairs. For a particular microwave drive power, they observe a 100% efficient superconducting diode effect.

    • Marco Valentini
    • , Oliver Sagi
    •  & Georgios Katsaros

  • Article
    | Open Access

    By combining real and diffraction space data recorded in electron microscopes, ptychography retrieves specimen details with super-resolution. Here, the inverse problem is solved in the presence of thermal diffuse scattering and applied to measure ferroelectric displacements with picometer precision.

    • Benedikt Diederichs
    • , Ziria Herdegen
    •  & Knut Müller-Caspary

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Light-induced hydrophilicity of TiO2 and ZnO surfaces rely on the same physics and involve excitation of electron-hole pairs. Here, the authors propose and test a model for the photowetting of TiO2 and ZnO thin films. The results suggest design rules for materials exhibiting photocatalytic wetting.

    • Rucha Anil Deshpande
    • , Jesper Navne
    •  & Rafael Taboryski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Halide perovskites exhibit largely tunable spin-orbit interactions, and long carrier lifetimes, making this class of materials promising for spintronic applications. Here, Xu et al present first principles calculations to determine the spin lifetimes, and identify the dominant spin-relaxation and dephasing processes.

    • Junqing Xu
    • , Kejun Li
    •  & Yuan Ping

  • Article
    | Open Access

    At the microscopic level, the localized spins arise due to the electron-electron interactions. Here, the authors show how a topological phase of the Haldane spin chain emerges in a two-orbital Hubbard model with increasing interaction strength.

    • A. Jażdżewska
    • , M. Mierzejewski
    •  & J. Herbrych

  • Article
    | Open Access

    “Exchange bias” occurs in heterostructures of antiferromagnets and ferromagnetic materials, which biases the magnetization of the ferromagnet so that it exhibits a preferred direction. This phenomenon has proven critical for the development of a variety of spintronic devices. Here, Hasan et al demonstrate reversible control of exchange bias via solid-state hydrogen gating.

    • M. Usama Hasan
    • , Alexander E. Kossak
    •  & Geoffrey S. D. Beach

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Van der Waals antiferromagnets offer a unique platform for studying magnetism in reduced dimensions, however, the low dimensionality, combined with lack of net magnetization, renders investigation challenging with conventional experimental probes. Here, Houmes et al show how van der Waals antiferromagnets can be investigated via the resonances of a vibrating rectangular membranes of this material.

    • Maurits J. A. Houmes
    • , Gabriele Baglioni
    •  & Herre S. J. van der Zant

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