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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum spin liquids emerge when quantum fluctuations suppress a magnetically ordered state. Here the authors measure magnetic torque inκ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu2(CN)3, showing universal critical scaling in the magnetic susceptibilities, with critical exponents incompatible with known models for quantum spin liquids.

    • Takayuki Isono
    • , Taichi Terashima
    •  & Shinya Uji

  • Article
    | Open Access

    All-optical coherent control schemes offer well-localized and ultrafast control of individual qubits in many-qubit systems. Here the authors report on all-optical resonant and Raman-based control of single silicon vacancies using picosecond pulses, much faster than the ground state coherence time.

    • Jonas Nils Becker
    • , Johannes Görlitz
    •  & Christoph Becher

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In the weak field limit, boson star evolution is governed by the Newton-Schrödinger equation. Here the authors report an optical setup that provides a formal analogue of such dynamics via the interaction between vortex beams and a medium with positive thermo-optical nonlinearity.

    • Thomas Roger
    • , Calum Maitland
    •  & Daniele Faccio

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High-mobility graphene can play host to exciton polaritons—hybrid matter–light particles, which can form into a state known as a quantum Hall polariton fluid. Here, the authors show that electron–electron interactions can act to destabilize this state and lead to the formation of a modulated phase.

    • Francesco M. D. Pellegrino
    • , Vittorio Giovannetti
    •  & Marco Polini

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Interference of linear plane waves produces non-trivial phenomena in both classical and quantum wave systems. Here, the authors describe and observe anomalously large time delays and frequency shifts in the resonant inelastic scattering of a 1D wave packet near a zero of the scattering coefficient.

    • M. Asano
    • , K. Y. Bliokh
    •  & F. Nori

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Network science and game theory have been traditionally combined to analyse interactions between nodes of a network. Here, the authors model competition for importance among networks themselves, and reveal dominance of the underdogs in the fate of networks-of-networks.

    • Jaime Iranzo
    • , Javier M. Buldú
    •  & Jacobo Aguirre

  • Article
    | Open Access

    By forming heterostructures of different layered two-dimensional materials, functional spintronic devices may be built by exploiting the materials’ different spin-orbit coupling and spin transport properties. Here, the authors demonstrate a spin switch in a gated structure of graphene and MoS2.

    • Wenjing Yan
    • , Oihana Txoperena
    •  & Fèlix Casanova

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Topological protected acoustic wave propagation has been predicted, but yet awaits for experimental demonstration. Here, Peng et al. report one-way propagation of pseudo-spin-dependent edge states for sound, analogous to Floquet topological insulator in solid state.

    • Yu-Gui Peng
    • , Cheng-Zhi Qin
    •  & Xue-Feng Zhu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multipartite entangled states are a fundamental resource for quantum information processing tasks; it is thus important to verify their presence. Here the authors present and demonstrate a protocol that allows any party in a network to verify if an untrusted source is distributing multipartite entangled states.

    • W. McCutcheon
    • , A. Pappa
    •  & M. S. Tame

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Anti-icing surfaces are useful in our daily life, but creation of these surfaces at low temperatures remains challenging due to the onset of heterogeneous nucleation. Irajizad et al. show a surface design using magnetic fluid that lowers the freezing temperature to −34 °C and ice adhesion strength to 2 Pa.

    • Peyman Irajizad
    • , Munib Hasnain
    •  & Hadi Ghasemi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A superconducting material containing a topologically non-trivial electronic band structure presents the possibility of realizing Majorana states as well as exotic excitations with potential in quantum computing. Here, the authors evidence the required ingredients in the noncentrosymmetric superconductor BiPd.

    • Madhab Neupane
    • , Nasser Alidoust
    •  & Tomasz Durakiewicz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Objective collapse theories are formulations of quantum physics that attempt to solve the measurement problem through modified dynamical laws. Here, the authors constrain such theories by testing a generalization of the Leggett-Garg inequality in a superconducting flux qubit experiment.

    • George C. Knee
    • , Kosuke Kakuyanagi
    •  & William J. Munro

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Most microelectronic devices today exploit the electronic properties of semiconductors. Here, the authors demonstrate a microelectronic device for free-space electrons by using the enhanced fields in a microstructured metal surface to induce effective photoemission.

    • Ebrahim Forati
    • , Tyler J. Dill
    •  & Dan Sievenpiper

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Scalable quantum information processing requires controllable high-coherence qubits. Here, the authors present superconducting flux qubits with broad frequency tunability, strong anharmonicity and high reproducibility, identifying photon shot noise as the main source of dephasing for further improvements.

    • Fei Yan
    • , Simon Gustavsson
    •  & William D. Oliver

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Probing the evolution of mixed-phase states in materials offers unique insights into the microscopic mechanism of phase transitions. Here, Mattoni et al. report imaging of nanoscale formation and growth of insulating domains across the metal-insulator transition in NdNiO3thin films, uncovering a rich interplay between structural and electronic degrees of freedom.

    • G. Mattoni
    • , P. Zubko
    •  & A. D. Caviglia

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It would be desirable to have a reliable and scalable method to manipulate neutral-atoms for the creation of controllable quantum systems. Here the authors demonstrate real-time transport of single rubidium atoms in holographic microtraps controlled by liquid-crystal spatial light modulators.

    • Hyosub Kim
    • , Woojun Lee
    •  & Jaewook Ahn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Thanks to their strong light-matter interaction, atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides are ideal active materials for cavity quantum electrodynamics. Here, the authors embed a WSe2monolayer within a Tamm-plasmon-polariton cavity, and observe exciton-polariton formation at room temperature.

    • Nils Lundt
    • , Sebastian Klembt
    •  & Christian Schneider

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Surface currents in topological insulators can be controlled by light, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Here, Braun et al. report an ultrafast shift photocurrent at the surface of Ca-doped Bi2Se3, whereas injection currents are much smaller than expected from asymmetric depopulation of the Dirac cone.

    • Lukas Braun
    • , Gregor Mussler
    •  & Tobias Kampfrath

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Large methane hydrates reserves are found in mud volcanoes, but climate change may lead to methane release. Here, the authors show that methane adsorption creates overpressures leading to rapid recirculation of seawater, thus reducing the melting timescales of methane hydrates from millennia to decades.

    • Silvana S. S. Cardoso
    •  & Julyan H. E. Cartwright

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Probing individual impurities will become increasingly important as devices shrink towards the nanoscale. Here Rashidi et al., introduce a method based on time-resolved scanning tunnelling spectroscopy of surface dangling bonds to investigate the dynamics of individual dopants in silicon.

    • Mohammad Rashidi
    • , Jacob A. J. Burgess
    •  & Robert A. Wolkow

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ferroelectric reliability must be solved prior to practical non-volatile electronic devices based on magnetoelectric multiferroics. Here, Hsiehet al. report a long lasting ferroelectric retention in the heteroepitaxially constrained multiferroic mesocrystal.

    • Ying-Hui Hsieh
    • , Fei Xue
    •  & Ying-Hao Chu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The wurtzite crystal structure of nitride semiconductors results in strong piezoelectricity. Here, the authors also achieve electric-field control of the magnetization of gallium manganese nitride, thus showing that piezoelectric and magnetoelectric effects can be combined in the same material.

    • D. Sztenkiel
    • , M. Foltyn
    •  & T. Dietl

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Majorana zero modes are a potential resource for quantum information processing as they offer immunity to noise, but they are difficult to create and control experimentally. Here, the authors use a photonic quantum simulator to mimic the exchange of Majorana zero modes in a spin-half chain.

    • Jin-Shi Xu
    • , Kai Sun
    •  & Guang-Can Guo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The suppression of crystallization due to the appearance of structures with fivefold symmetry is widely adopted, but its kinetic and thermodynamic origin remains elusive. Taffs et al.show that fivefold symmetry substantially slows down the nucleation rate but not the crystal growth rate as expected.

    • Jade Taffs
    •  & C. Patrick Royall

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High performance CdTe thin film solar cells typically require a chloride activation treatment. Here, Majoret al. show that the main effect of the most effective chloride-based treatments is chloride accumulation at grain boundaries and that it results in improved open circuit voltages.

    • J. D. Major
    • , M. Al Turkestani
    •  & K. Durose

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Forming self-assembled soft materials with unconventional properties can be useful in many different applications. Here, Sciortino and co-workers have designed and experimentally realized a one-pot DNA hydrogel that melts both on heating and on cooling.

    • Francesca Bomboi
    • , Flavio Romano
    •  & Francesco Sciortino

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The strongly-correlated electron system URu2Si2 possesses a hidden-order phase whose order parameter remains unidentified. Here, the authors demonstrate the development of spin-density-wave phases in URu2Si2under high magnetic fields, providing a potential in-road to understanding this system.

    • W. Knafo
    • , F. Duc
    •  & L.-P. Regnault

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cavity optomechanics enables measurement of torque at levels unattainable by previous techniques, but the main obstacle to improved sensitivity is thermal noise. Here the authors present cryogenic measurement of a cavity-optomechanical torsional resonator with unprecedented torque sensitivity of 2.9 yNm/√Hz.

    • P. H. Kim
    • , B. D. Hauer
    •  & J. P. Davis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Voltage control of magnetism in ferromagnetic semiconductor is appealing for spintronic applications, which is yet hindered by compound formation and low Curie temperature. Here, Nie et al. report electric-field control of ferromagnetism in MnxGe1−xnanomeshes with a Curie temperature above 400 K and controllable giant magnetoresistance.

    • Tianxiao Nie
    • , Jianshi Tang
    •  & Kang L. Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The properties of magnetic, crystalline solids can be described in terms of quantum particles of spin-wave and lattice-vibration energy, known as magnons and phonons respectively. Here, the authors show that strong magnon-phonon coupling in a noncollinear antiferromagnet can create magnetoelastic excitations.

    • Joosung Oh
    • , Manh Duc Le
    •  & Je-Geun Park

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The spin-orbit interaction is central to the defining characteristics of topological insulators. Here, Jozwiaket al. report a spin-polarized unoccupied surface resonance coevolving with topological surface states from a pair of Rashba-like states through spin-orbit induced band inversion.

    • Chris Jozwiak
    • , Jonathan A. Sobota
    •  & Alessandra Lanzara

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The actomyosin cytoskeleton consists of a contractile array but how it becomes organized is not clear. Here the authors reconstitute a controllable contractile system to show that force balances at boundaries determine contraction dynamics, and spatial anisotropy leads to self-organization or aligned contractile fibres.

    • Matthias Schuppler
    • , Felix C. Keber
    •  & Andreas R. Bausch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Direct measurement of electron-phonon interactions at the single-mode level has been a challenge. Here, Liaoet al. use a three-pulse photoacoustic spectroscopy technique to investigate the damping of a single sub-terahertz coherent phonon mode by photo-excited free charge carriers in silicon at room temperature.

    • Bolin Liao
    • , A. A. Maznev
    •  & Gang Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single spin defects can allow high-resolution sensing of molecules under an applied magnetic field. Here, the authors propose a protocol for three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging with angstrom-level resolution exploiting the dipolar field of a spin qubit, such as a diamond nitrogen-vacancy.

    • V. S. Perunicic
    • , C. D. Hill
    •  & L.C.L. Hollenberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In thin film spintronic devices, heavy metals with strong spin-orbit coupling are required to achieve a sizeable spin Hall effect. Here, the authors demonstrate an enhancement of the spin Hall effect in Cu, a material with weak spin-orbit coupling, via natural oxidation.

    • Hongyu An
    • , Yuito Kageyama
    •  & Kazuya Ando

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rare-earth perovskite nickelates show intriguing metal–insulator transitions, whose mechanism remains elusive. Here, Bisogni et al. evidenced a 3d8 Ni configuration together with abundance of oxygen 2p holes in the ground state of a NdNiO3thin film, suggesting a negative charge-transfer scenario.

    • Valentina Bisogni
    • , Sara Catalano
    •  & Thorsten Schmitt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    FeRh possesses a unique hysteretic metamagnetic phase transition between antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic order close to room temperature. Here, the authors demonstrate a strong enhancement of the asymmetry of this transition in mesoscale stripes of FeRh.

    • V. Uhlíř
    • , J. A. Arregi
    •  & E. E. Fullerton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Visualizing surface plasmon polaritons at buried interfaces has remained elusive. Here, the authors develop a methodology to study the spatiotemporal evolution of buried near-fields within complex heterostructures, enabling the characterization of the next generation of plasmonic devices.

    • Tom T. A. Lummen
    • , Raymond J. Lamb
    •  & F. Carbone

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The thermoelectric effect can be used to explore electronic properties. Here, the authors show experimentally that Cd3As2exhibits a negative magnetic thermopower which reverses sign at high field, and relate it to the chiral anomaly, a signature of Weyl fermions.

    • Zhenzhao Jia
    • , Caizhen Li
    •  & Xiaosong Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Systems of interacting quantum spins provide a basis for quantum computation devices. Here, the authors demonstrate a quantum spin transistor in a Heisenberg spin chain, which may be realized in a system of trapped cold atoms.

    • O. V. Marchukov
    • , A. G. Volosniev
    •  & N. T. Zinner

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