Phase transitions and critical phenomena articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Predicting plastic deformation in crystals remains challenging owing to the nonlinear nature of stochastic avalanches involved, which resemble the critical phenomena. Salmenjoki et al. use machine learning to predict plastic deformation and show that it works better for those under large strains.

    • Henri Salmenjoki
    • , Mikko J. Alava
    •  & Lasse Laurson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Supersonic particle impacts can cause permanent damage to space vehicles and satellites, but how exactly remains unclear. Here, the authors visualise for the first time the high impact of single tin microparticles on a tin substrate and show erosion of ductile metallic materials is melt-driven.

    • Mostafa Hassani-Gangaraj
    • , David Veysset
    •  & Christopher A. Schuh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Adapting statistical physics tools to study active systems is challenging due to their non-equilibrium nature. Here the authors use simulations to present a phase diagram of a 2D active system, showing a two-step melting scenario far from equilibrium along with gas-liquid motility-induced phase separation.

    • Juliane U. Klamser
    • , Sebastian C. Kapfer
    •  & Werner Krauth

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nitrogen has a complex phase diagram with rich polymorphism, which is challenging to characterize due to the extreme conditions and uncertain stability ranges needed to do so. Here the authors resolve one of the most elusive phases of this model system, reporting a crystalline structure with unusual complexity.

    • Robin Turnbull
    • , Michael Hanfland
    •  & Eugene Gregoryanz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phase-change materials are applied as thermoelectric converters and battery electrodes, but underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Here, the authors comprehensively describe thermal transport mechanisms of lithium sulfide based on molecular dynamics and first-principles simulations.

    • Yanguang Zhou
    • , Shiyun Xiong
    •  & Ming Hu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Whether the quantum Griffiths singularity state exists in one-dimensional (1D) systems remains elusive. Here, Zhang et al. report violation of the Pauli limit in the superconducting critical field and multiple phase transitions in the current-voltage hysteresis loops in a Ta2PdS5 nanowire, suggesting signatures of quasi-1D quantum Griffith singularity.

    • Enze Zhang
    • , Jinhua Zhi
    •  & Faxian Xiu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultrafast excitation of materials can cause the formation of hidden phases that are not accessible in thermal equilibrium. Li et al. identify and investigate theoretically a hidden phase that can be accessed in systems with intertwined spin and orbital-ordering such as KCuF3.

    • Jiajun Li
    • , Hugo U. R. Strand
    •  & Martin Eckstein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Iron oxides exist in a variety of polymorphs at different pressure and temperature conditions, displaying important magnetic properties, and are major constituents of the Earth’s interior. Here the authors investigate the structural and electronic changes in the uncommon epsilon phase under compression to deep Mantle pressures.

    • J. A. Sans
    • , V. Monteseguro
    •  & C. Popescu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The role of the lattice in the correlated metal-insulator transition of Ca2RuO4 has led to significant interest but experiments that are at the same time sensitive to crystal and electronic structure are difficult. Riccò et al. successfully combine ARPES measurements with in situ strain tuning across the Mott transition.

    • S. Riccò
    • , M. Kim
    •  & F. Baumberger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There are many proposals for new forms of quantum matter in frustrated magnets but in practice disorder prevents the realisation of theoretically-tractable idealised models. Kimchi et al. show that recently observed scaling behavior common to several disordered quantum magnets can be understood as the emergence of a universal random-singlet regime.

    • Itamar Kimchi
    • , John P. Sheckelton
    •  & Patrick A. Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The emergence of superconductivity from the normal state in the cuprates above the transition temperature (Tc) has been controversial. Here, Pelc et al. report nonlinear conductivity, resulting from superconducting precursors only, vanishing exponentially above Tc both with temperature and with magnetic field.

    • Damjan Pelc
    • , Marija Vučković
    •  & Neven Barišić

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultrafast light pulses can manipulate and probe materials faster than relaxation timescales, leading to new electronic states and insights into equilibrium properties. Okazaki et al. use the properties of photo-induced metallic states to investigate unconventional correlated behaviour in Ta2NiSe5 and Ta2NiS5.

    • Kozo Okazaki
    • , Yu Ogawa
    •  & Shik Shin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The charge order transition of commonly known magnetite has only recently been unraveled. Here, the measurement of the low-temperature high-pressure phase diagram of a related material (Fe4O5) elucidates the interplay of average oxidation state and charge-ordering phenomena in the iron oxide family.

    • Sergey V. Ovsyannikov
    • , Maxim Bykov
    •  & Leonid S. Dubrovinsky

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The broad use of elastocaloric materials in cooling applications is hindered by the need to exert large forces onto the material. Compressing a magnetostrictive-elastocaloric composite using a low magnetic field of 0.16 T, temperature changes up to 4 K are achieved without applying external forces.

    • Huilong Hou
    • , Peter Finkel
    •  & Ichiro Takeuchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Insights into the behavior of quantum materials are only possible because of the development of suitable experimental probes. Modic et. al. develop the theoretical and experimental basis for resonant torsion magnetometry—a technique to measure anisotropic magnetic responses with high sensitivity.

    • K. A. Modic
    • , Maja D. Bachmann
    •  & Philip J. W. Moll

  • Article
    | Open Access

    At low densities, it is understood that the physics of two-dimensional electron gases becomes dominated by interactions but the nature of the state that forms remains controversial. Here the authors present transport measurements that indicate the existence of a Wigner crystal in silicon MOSFETs.

    • Pedro Brussarski
    • , S. Li
    •  & M. P. Sarachik

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The insulator-to-metal transition in vanadium dioxide still has many unexplored properties. Here the authors use multi-modal THz and mid-IR nano-imaging to examine the phase transition in VO2 thin films, and discuss the unexpectedly smooth transition at THz frequencies in the context of a dimer Hubbard model.

    • H. T. Stinson
    • , A. Sternbach
    •  & D. N. Basov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    3D printing of titanium alloys today is based on known alloy compositions that result in anisotropic structural properties. Here, the authors add lanthanum to commercially pure titanium and exploit a solidification path that reduces texture and anisotropy.

    • Pere Barriobero-Vila
    • , Joachim Gussone
    •  & Guillermo Requena

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In general the computational requirements for simulating quantum systems scale exponentially but in some cases it is possible to formulate more efficient schemes. Here the authors present an efficient approach to calculate non-Markovian quantum dynamics using matrix product operator methods.

    • A. Strathearn
    • , P. Kirton
    •  & B. W. Lovett

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The competition between Kondo correlations and magnetic ordering in heavy fermion materials leads to emergent physics that is not fully understood. Seiro et al. show inter-site Kondo correlations only dominate over local ones at temperatures well below the single-ion Kondo temperature but this is a prerequisite for quantum critical behavior.

    • S. Seiro
    • , L. Jiao
    •  & S. Wirth

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the fracture toughness of metallic glasses remains challenging. Here, the authors show that a fictive temperature controls an abrupt mechanical toughening transition in metallic glasses, and can explain the scatter in previously reported fracture toughness data.

    • Jittisa Ketkaew
    • , Wen Chen
    •  & Jan Schroers

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the occurrence of sudden changes in plasma parameters is important for the operation of magnetically confined fusion devices. Here the authors use simulation to shed light on the formation of abrupt large-amplitude events and the associated redistribution of energetic ions in a tokamak.

    • Andreas Bierwage
    • , Kouji Shinohara
    •  & Masatoshi Yagi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The critical behavior of a continuous phase transition is determined by both symmetry and dimensionality. Wang et al. present evidence that the cubic all-in-all-out spin order in Cd2Os2O7 leads to a realization of a non-mean-field strongly-coupled quantum phase transition in three dimensions.

    • Yishu Wang
    • , T. F. Rosenbaum
    •  & Yejun Feng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnetic metamaterials can be designed to provide models of frustrated systems that allow theoretical predictions to be experimentally tested. Here the authors realise a 2D XY model with dipolar interactions and find behaviour consistent with predictions of a low-temperature ordered state.

    • Naëmi Leo
    • , Stefan Holenstein
    •  & Laura J. Heyderman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hydrogen atoms in water ices, under pressures at which they might exist in ocean exoplanets and icy moons, exhibit dynamics that are still poorly understood. Here, 1H-NMR experiments approaching the Mbar range shed light on the symmetrisation of hydrogen bonds preceding and accompanying the transformation of ice VII into ice X.

    • Thomas Meier
    • , Sylvain Petitgirard
    •  & Leonid Dubrovinsky

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nitrogen is a model system still presenting unknown behaviors at the pressures and temperatures typical of deep planets’ interiors. Here the authors explore, by pulsed laser heating in a diamond anvil cell and optical measurements, the metallization and non-molecular states of nitrogen in a previously unexplored domain above 1 Mbar and at 2000-7000K.

    • Shuqing Jiang
    • , Nicholas Holtgrewe
    •  & Alexander F. Goncharov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Two-dimensional electron systems at half-filled Landau levels can form unusual electronic states such as paired fractional quantum Hall and nematic phases. Here the authors observe the transition between these two phases at filling factors 5/2 and 7/2 and demonstrate the important influence of interactions.

    • K. A. Schreiber
    • , N. Samkharadze
    •  & G. A. Csáthy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The electronic behaviour of complex oxides such as LaNiO3 depends on many intrinsic and extrinsic factors, making it challenging to identify microscopic mechanisms. Here the authors demonstrate the influence of oxygen vacancies on the thickness-dependent metal-insulator transition of LaNiO3 films.

    • M. Golalikhani
    • , Q. Lei
    •  & X. X. Xi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Weyl semimetals should exhibit unusual electronic behaviour but conditions where these effects dominate are difficult to achieve. Ramshaw et al. use high magnetic fields to drive TaAs into the quantum limit, finding evidence for the predicted chiral anomaly and an unanticipated increase in resistivity at the highest fields.

    • B. J. Ramshaw
    • , K. A. Modic
    •  & R. D. McDonald

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Unusual electronic behavior can emerge in complex oxides due to strong coupling between charge, magnetic and lattice degrees of freedom. Zhu et al. observe separation of electronic and lattice equilibration times in La1/3Sr2/3FeO3 as magnetic interactions make the recovery of charge order much slower than lattice relaxation.

    • Yi Zhu
    • , Jason Hoffman
    •  & Haidan Wen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A number of materials have been proposed as realizations of exotic quantum spin liquids but many important properties are difficult to establish. Isono et al. show evidence for spin-lattice decoupling in an organic material, which may help resolve conflicting results about the existence of a spin-excitation gap.

    • Takayuki Isono
    • , Shiori Sugiura
    •  & Shinya Uji

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Droplet evaporation control has applications in inkjet printing and surface patterning. Here, the authors show that on slippery curved substrates droplets evaporate by slowly retracting and then suddenly snapping, which can be exploited to design surfaces that control an evaporation sequence.

    • Gary G. Wells
    • , Élfego Ruiz-Gutiérrez
    •  & Rodrigo Ledesma-Aguilar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Medium entropy alloy CoCrNi has better mechanical properties than high entropy alloys such as CrMnFeCoNi, but why that is remains unclear. Here, the authors show that a nanostructured phase at lattice defects in CoCrNi causes its extraordinary properties, while it is magnetically frustrated and suppressed in CrMnFeCoNi.

    • Changning Niu
    • , Carlyn R. LaRosa
    •  & Maryam Ghazisaeidi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanical and thermodynamic properties of amorphous materials are governed by their disordered network at microscales, but the detail remains elusive. Yan shows that the vibrational entropy induces a floppy-rigid phase separation near the rigidity onset and thus favors heterogeneous structures.

    • Le Yan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A fundamental understanding of nematic order is one of the most important issues to explore in the high temperature superconductors. Here, the authors unveil an internal spin structure of the nematic order in BaFe2As2 by using nuclear magnetic resonance under precisely controlled tunable strain.

    • T. Kissikov
    • , R. Sarkar
    •  & N. J. Curro

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Active rotating particles were shown to undergo a phase separation through numerical simulations. Here the authors provide an experimental realization of this phenomenon by presenting an ensemble of 3D-printed robots that rotate in different directions and interact with each other.

    • Christian Scholz
    • , Michael Engel
    •  & Thorsten Pöschel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hydrogenation is an effective way to tune the property of metal oxides. Here, the authors report a simple approach to hydrogenate VO2 in acid solution under ambient conditions by placing a small piece of low workfunction metal on VO2 surface.

    • Yuliang Chen
    • , Zhaowu Wang
    •  & Yi Luo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Superconductor-insulator transitions predominantly occur in highly disordered thin films. Here, Saito et al. report that a quantum metallic state transforms via the quantum Griffiths state to a weakly localized metal at high magnetic fields in a crystalline two-dimensional superconductor.

    • Yu Saito
    • , Tsutomu Nojima
    •  & Yoshihiro Iwasa

Browse broader subjects

Browse Phase transitions and critical phenomena across other nature.com journals