Physical sciences articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hypersonic and aerospace applications motivate development of materials with improved resistance against ablation and oxidation at high temperatures. Here authors demonstrate a quaternary carbide, where sealing by surface oxides, slow oxygen diffusion and a graded structure yield improved ablation resistance over established ceramics.

    • Yi Zeng
    • , Dini Wang
    •  & Ping Xiao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metamaterials enable the realization of unique material properties such as coupling between strain and momentum in a fluid—known as Willis coupling. Here, Muhlesteinet al. use homogenization theory to better understand Willis coupling in acoustic metamaterials and demonstrate the unusual material response.

    • Michael B. Muhlestein
    • , Caleb F. Sieck
    •  & Michael R. Haberman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Thermal rectification is instrumental to achieving active heat flow control and energy harvesting in nanoscale devices. Here, the authors demonstrate thermal rectification in asymmetric graphene nanostructures, achieving a large rectification factor up to 26%.

    • Haidong Wang
    • , Shiqian Hu
    •  & Jie Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Observation of the entire dispersion relation for spin waves remains a challenge which prevents the full understanding of many intriguing magnetic properties. Here, the authors develop a table-top all-optical approach to map out the dispersion curve of pure-magnetostatic waves in magnetic films.

    • Yusuke Hashimoto
    • , Shunsuke Daimon
    •  & Eiji Saitoh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    2D nanomaterials are promising capacitive energy storage materials, but their tendency to restack hinders electrolyte transport. Here, Yamauchi and colleagues introduce 2D ordered mesoporous carbons in between MXene layers, and metal removal affords all-carbon porous 2D–2D heterostructures in which restacking is prevented.

    • Jie Wang
    • , Jing Tang
    •  & Yusuke Yamauchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Organic non-volatile memories based on ferroelectric and semiconductor polymers are one of promising candidates for flexible electronics, yet the relevant device physics remains elusive. Ghittorelliet al. show that quantum tunnelling and charge accumulation govern the ferroelectric memory operation.

    • Matteo Ghittorelli
    • , Thomas Lenz
    •  & Fabrizio Torricelli

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ion migration in perovskite solar cells are known to cause hysteresis and instability. Biet al., report a charge extraction layer based on graphene, fullerenes and carbon quantum dots which suppresses ion diffusion and enhances charge carrier diffusion leading to efficient devices with improved stability.

    • Enbing Bi
    • , Han Chen
    •  & Liyuan Han

  • Article
    | Open Access

    CrMnFeCoNi high entropy alloys have high fracture toughness at cryogenic temperatures due to deformation twinning but twinning is not active in this alloy at room temperature. Here authors optimize composition and thermomechanical treatments to introduce non-recrystallized grains, producing high yield strength while maintaining good ductility.

    • Y. H. Jo
    • , S. Jung
    •  & S. Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exploiting topological insulator surface states in electronic devices requires an understanding of the factors that affect transport. Here, the authors use scanning tunnelling potentiometry to determine the contributions of different kinds of surface defects to the electrical resistance.

    • Felix Lüpke
    • , Markus Eschbach
    •  & Bert Voigtländer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Kynurenine-3-monooxygenase (KMO) is an emerging clinical target for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and acute pancreatitis. Here, the authors report potent inhibitors that bind KMO in an unexpected conformation, offering structural and mechanistic insights for future drug discovery ventures.

    • Jonathan P. Hutchinson
    • , Paul Rowland
    •  & Chun-wa Chung

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multipartite photon states are desirable in quantum information technology but their generation in optical systems is less efficient with poor scaling. Here the authors demonstrate time-ordered photon triplets from a quantum dot molecule in a direct generation process with increased efficiency.

    • Milad Khoshnegar
    • , Tobias Huber
    •  & Hamed Majedi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Reconstruction of time-resolved interactions in networks is more challenging than for the time-independent case, as causal relations limit accessibility to empirical data. Here the authors propose a method based on first-arrival observations of a diffusion process to infer stochastic temporal networks.

    • Xun Li
    •  & Xiang Li

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    Nanoscale magnetic devices play a key role in modern technologies but current applications involve only 2D structures like magnetic discs. Here the authors review recent progress in the fabrication and understanding of 3D magnetic nanostructures, enabling more diverse functionalities.

    • Amalio Fernández-Pacheco
    • , Robert Streubel
    •  & Russell P. Cowburn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    While automated reaction systems typically work for the synthesis of pre-defined molecules, automated systems to discover reactivity are more challenging. Here the authors report an autonomous organic reaction search engine that allows discovery of the most reactive pathways in a multi-reagent, multistep reaction system.

    • Vincenza Dragone
    • , Victor Sans
    •  & Leroy Cronin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tuning electronic properties of metallic catalysts is a useful way to improve their activity, however control over metal-support interactions is still challenging. Here the authors report a vacancy-induced interfacial electronic effect for Pt assembled on vacancy-abundanth-BN nanosheets leading to superior CO oxidation catalysis.

    • Wenshuai Zhu
    • , Zili Wu
    •  & Huiyuan Zhu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Regulating guest access and release in porous materials remains an important goal. Here, May and colleagues elucidate the mechanism by which guest admission can be temperature-regulated in typical microporous materials, and experimentally exploit this process to achieve appreciable and reversible hydrogen storage.

    • Gang (Kevin) Li
    • , Jin Shang
    •  & Eric F. May

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Inadequate pore infiltration and low conductivity of hole transporter materials limit the performance of solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. Using fast charge-exchange Cu(II/I) complexes as part of the hole transporting material, Caoet al. overcome these issues to achieve a record photoconversion efficiency of 11%.

    • Yiming Cao
    • , Yasemin Saygili
    •  & Michael Grätzel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Conventional 3D electron microscopes rely on emission, focusing, deflection, and detection of a focused beam of ballistic electrons to analyse the structure and composition of materials. Here, the authors examine the analogous concept of a 2D electron microscope based on graphene ballistic Dirac electrons.

    • Peter Bøggild
    • , José M. Caridad
    •  & Mads Brandbyge

  • Article
    | Open Access

    An exhausting characterization of the coherence properties of quantum system becomes challenging with increasing system size. Here the authors demonstrate that phonon autocorrelation functions and quantum discord can be measured with local control, and validate it in a string of 42 trapped ions.

    • A. Abdelrahman
    • , O. Khosravani
    •  & H. Häffner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ion exchange at charged mineral-water interfaces is an important geochemical process, but a molecular-level understanding is still required. Here, the authors probe real-time variations of the interfacial ion exchange dynamics at the muscovite-water interface, providing a general picture of adsorbed ion coverage and speciation.

    • Sang Soo Lee
    • , Paul Fenter
    •  & Neil C. Sturchio

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Integrable models have an infinite number of conserved quantities but most realizations suffer from integrability breaking perturbations. Here the authors show that weakly driving such a system by periodic perturbations leads to large nonlinear responses governed by the approximate conservation laws.

    • Florian Lange
    • , Zala Lenarčič
    •  & Achim Rosch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single-material monolithic optoelectronic integrated circuits via CMOS compatible low-temperature approaches are crucial to the continued development of post-Moore electronics. Liuet al., report carbon nanotube based electrically driven 3D monolithic optoelectronic integrated circuits.

    • Yang Liu
    • , Sheng Wang
    •  & Lian-Mao Peng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Parity-time (PT) symmetry has been mainly studied in optical and weakly interacting open quantum systems without many-body correlations. Here the authors show that in a strongly correlated many-body system the interplay between correlations and PT symmetry leads to the emergence of new critical phenomena.

    • Yuto Ashida
    • , Shunsuke Furukawa
    •  & Masahito Ueda

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Precise assembly of undecorated colloids demands a clever approach. Here, the authors draw unlikely inspiration from vector graphics to direct colloids into 2D structures, pinning the ends and corners of assembled patterns with optical tweezers and manipulating the segments like vectors.

    • Lingxiang Jiang
    • , Shenyu Yang
    •  & Steve Granick

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The creation of practical devices based on magnetic skyrmions depends on the development of methods to create and control stable individual skyrmions. Here, the authors present a bilayer device that uses dipolar interactions to stabilize skyrmions that can be manipulated using electric currents.

    • A. Hrabec
    • , J. Sampaio
    •  & S. Rohart

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The majority of treatment options for cancers are ineffective due to limited therapeutic targeting. Here, the authors develop bispecific antibodies that effectively target nanomaterials to triple-negative breast cancer cell receptors and deliver therapeutics leading to inhibition of tumour growth.

    • Yu-Cheng Su
    • , Pierre-Alain Burnouf
    •  & Steve R. Roffler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photoacoustic imaging becomes an enabling technology that is designed for clinic diagnosis of disease. Here, Chenet al. report an imaging contrast agent—plasmonic nanoparticles caged in hydrogel subject to reversible volume change depending on temperature, which exhibits tunable photoacoustic signal.

    • Yun-Sheng Chen
    • , Soon Joon Yoon
    •  & Stanislav Emelianov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photoemission spectroscopy studies of anatase titanium oxide have demonstrated a doping-driven crossover in the polaronic character of charge carriers. Here, the authors obtain a first principles understanding of these observations in terms of plasma screening and electron–phonon coupling.

    • Carla Verdi
    • , Fabio Caruso
    •  & Feliciano Giustino

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Advanced diagnostic probes are required for monitoring disease progression. Here Galanzhaet al. demonstrate a 22 nm plasmonic nanolaser to serve as a super-bright, biocompatible probe capable of generating stimulated emission directly inside living cells and animal tissue, while targeting cancer cells.

    • Ekaterina I. Galanzha
    • , Robert Weingold
    •  & Vladimir P. Zharov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum annealing aims at solving optimization problems mapped to Ising interactions between neighbouring spins, but it is crucial to implement it in a noise-resilient way. Here the authors propose a network of all-to-all connected driven Kerr-nonlinear resonators, which exhibits high success probabilities.

    • Shruti Puri
    • , Christian Kraglund Andersen
    •  & Alexandre Blais

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is unclear whether strategies involving antibiotic cycling can efficiently control the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Here, Yoshidaet al. show that the evolution of multi-drug-resistant bacteria in vitrocan be manipulated by administering pairs of antibiotics and switching between them.

    • Mari Yoshida
    • , Sabrina Galiñanes Reyes
    •  & Leroy Cronin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the structure of domain walls is an important step in developing nanoscale ferroelectric devices. Here, the authors use second harmonic imaging to verify predictions of Bloch and Néel, rather than simple Ising, domain wall structures in lead zirconium titanate and lithium tantalate.

    • Salia Cherifi-Hertel
    • , Hervé Bulou
    •  & Patrycja Paruch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors report a near-field study of hyperbolic phonon polaritons in linear antennas made of hexagonal boron nitride. Infrared nanospectroscopy and nanoimaging experiments reveal sharp Fabry-Perot resonances with large quality factors, exhibiting atypical modal behaviour.

    • F. J. Alfaro-Mozaz
    • , P. Alonso-González
    •  & R. Hillenbrand

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exploring the Rashba spin splitting in colloidal materials enables spintronic device with low cost and high flexibility. Here, the authors report Rashba spin splitting in colloidal PbS nanosheets and demonstrate a mechanism for selectively exciting the carriers with different spin states.

    • Mohammad Mehdi Ramin Moayed
    • , Thomas Bielewicz
    •  & Christian Klinke

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Films of iron-rhodium alloy undergo a magnetic transition at 100°C, and so are attractive for applications, but a detailed understanding of the transition mechanism has not been achieved. Here, the authors use electron holography to quantitatively map the transition’s progress through the film depth.

    • C. Gatel
    • , B. Warot-Fonrose
    •  & M.J. Casanove

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites are garnering attention for light emitting diode (LED) applications. Employing a thin hydrophilic insulating polymer, Zhanget al. report LEDs exhibiting a brightness of 91,000 cd m−2and external quantum efficiency of 10.4% using a mixed-cation perovskite.

    • Liuqi Zhang
    • , Xiaolei Yang
    •  & Jingbi You

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multimode entanglement is an important resource for quantum information processing, but setups are often able to generate specific configurations only. Here the authors present an on-demand reconfigurable multimode entangled state source, realizing thirteen cluster states of various sizes and connectivities.

    • Y. Cai
    • , J. Roslund
    •  & N. Treps

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Post-translational modifications modulate nanomechanics of proteins. Here the authors use single-molecule force-clamp spectroscopy supported by density functional theory calculations to show how reactive low-weight molecular thiol compounds directly affect mechanical protein folding.

    • Amy E. M. Beedle
    • , Marc Mora
    •  & Sergi Garcia-Manyes

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