Condensed-matter physics

Condensed-matter physics is the study of substances in their solid state. This includes the investigation of both crystalline solids in which the atoms are positioned on a repeating three-dimensional lattice, such as diamond, and amorphous materials in which atomic position is more irregular, like in glass.

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Latest Research and Reviews

  • Research
    | Open Access

    Magnet/superconductor hybrids have been explored for the realization of topological superconductivity but have mainly focused on ferromagnets with full gaps. Here, the authors find that the antiferromagnet/superconductor heterostructure of monolayer Mn on a Nb(110) surface is a topological nodal-point superconductor.

    • Maciej Bazarnik
    • , Roberto Lo Conte
    •  & Roland Wiesendanger
    Nature Communications 14, 614

  • Research
    | Open Access

    Recent experiments have found a two-fold van Hove singularity (TvHS) in the kagome metal CsV3Sb5. Here, the authors use perturbative renormalization group calculations to find that the leading instability in a model of TvHS is a chiral condensate of electron-hole pairs, breaking time-reversal symmetry.

    • Harley D. Scammell
    • , Julian Ingham
    •  & Oleg P. Sushkov
    Nature Communications 14, 605

  • Research
    | Open Access

    Much recent work has focused on the kagome metals AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, and Cs), but studies of the monolayer form are only just beginning. Here, the authors theoretically study monolayer kagome metals, and predict modified van Hove singularities that lead to charge-density-wave doublets and d-wave superconductivity.

    • Sun-Woo Kim
    • , Hanbit Oh
    •  & Youngkuk Kim
    Nature Communications 14, 591

  • Research
    | Open Access

    Superconducting (SC) gap of elemental yttrium under extreme pressure conditions was directly probed via the point-contact spectroscopy (PCS) in a diamond anvil cell. Strong enhancement in the differential conductance near the zero-biased voltage is observed owing to Andreev reflection, a hallmark of superconductivity. Taken together with the large initial slope of the upper critical field, the large SC gap-to-Tc ratio suggests that Y belongs to a family of the strongly coupled BCS superconductors.

    • Zi-Yu Cao
    • , Harim Jang
    •  & Tuson Park
    NPG Asia Materials 15, 5

  • Research
    | Open Access

    The Planckian metal is a special case of a strange metal, in which the linear-in-temperature scattering rate reaches a universal limit. Here the authors study this state in a heavy-fermion superconductor in magnetic field and propose a microscopic mechanical based on quantum criticality of the Kondo hybridization.

    • Yung-Yeh Chang
    • , Hechang Lei
    •  & Chung-Hou Chung
    Nature Communications 14, 581

  • Research
    | Open Access

    Efforts to understand skyrmion behaviour often overlook the interaction potentials but these are key to improve predictive modelling. Here, the authors use an Iterative Boltzmann Inversion technique to construct potentials for skyrmion-skyrmion and skyrmion-boundary interactions from a single experimental measurement, finding the two interactions are exponentially repulsive.

    • Yuqing Ge
    • , Jan Rothörl
    •  & Peter Virnau
    Communications Physics 6, 30
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News and Comment

  • News & Views |

    When BiFeO3 layers are confined between TbScO3 layers in an epitaxial superlattice, crystallographically orthogonal voltages can induce reversible, non-volatile switching between polar and antipolar states in BiFeO3. This symmetry switch also leads to marked changes in the nonlinear optical response, piezoresponse and resistivity of the system.

    Nature Materials 22, 159-160

  • News & Views |

    When a semiconductor material called black phosphorus is hit with intense laser light, the behaviour of its electrons is found to change. The discovery opens a route to time-dependent engineering of exotic electronic phases in solids.

    • Alberto Crepaldi
    Nature 614, 39-40

  • News & Views |

    Disturbances in the orientation of magnetization in a magnet can propagate as spin waves or magnons. A design that makes it possible to optically excite nanoscale spin waves offers a route to developing miniaturized spin-based devices.

    • Akashdeep Kamra
    •  & Lina G. Johnsen
    Nature Physics, 1-2
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