Physics articles within Nature Communications

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  • 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

    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

    Nonlinear epsilon-near-zero nanodevices are attractive solutions for large-scale integrated system-on-chips yet heat genearation upon operation affects their performance. Here, the authors studied the linear and nonlinear thermo-optic effects in the indium tin oxide, commonly used material for this system.

    • Jiaye Wu
    • , Marco Clementi
    •  & Camille-Sophie Brès

  • 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

    Existing neuromorphic hardware, focusing mainly on shallow-reservoir computing, is challenged in providing adequate spatial and temporal scales characteristic for effective computing. Here, Gao et al. report an ultra-short channel organic neuromorphic vertical transistor with distributed reservoir states.

    • Changsong Gao
    • , Di Liu
    •  & Huipeng Chen

  • 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

    Here, the authors report the generation and manipulation of transient hyperbolic plasmons in black phosphorus via ultrafast photocarrier injection, demonstrating a topological transition of the non-equilibrium iso-frequency contours and the coexistence of different transient plasmonic modes.

    • Rao Fu
    • , Yusong Qu
    •  & Jianing 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

    A fundamental feature of planetary magnetospheres is internal convection induced by surrounding solar wind. Here, authors offer insights into the interplay among solar wind, magnetosphere, and ionosphere, and evidence a dayside-driven convection pattern linked to magnetic-field-aligned currents.

    • Lei Dai
    • , Minghui Zhu
    •  & Graziella Branduardi-Raymont

  • 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

    Thermal fluctuations can induce ordering in frustrated magnetic systems, yet the impact of quantum fluctuations is less explored. Here, in the controlled environment of a quantum annealer composed of superconducting qubits, the authors study a frustrated magnetic system finding that quantum fluctuations enhance magnetic correlations.

    • Alejandro Lopez-Bezanilla
    • , Andrew D. King
    •  & Avadh Saxena

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Light-matter interfaces implementing arbitrary conditional operations on incoming photons would have several applications in quantum computation and communications. Here, the authors demonstrate conditional polarization rotation induced by a single quantum dot spin embedded in an electrically contacted micropillar, spanning up to a pi flip.

    • E. Mehdi
    • , M. Gundín
    •  & L. Lanco

  • 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

    In existing soft robotic sensing strategies, additional components and design changes are often required to sense the environment. Zou et al. introduce a retrofit self-sensing strategy for soft pneumatic actuators, utilizing internal pressure variations arising from interactions.

    • Shibo Zou
    • , Sergio Picella
    •  & Johannes T. B. Overvelde

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transport of rodlike particles in macromolecular networks is relevant to various biological processes and technological applications, where thin rods have been mainly in focus. Here the authors investigate diffusion dynamics of thick rods in confinement media of macromolecular networks, and uncover dependence of translational diffusion upon rod length.

    • Xuanyu Zhang
    • , Xiaobin Dai
    •  & Li-Tang Yan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photonic Stochastic Emergent Storage is a neuromorphic photonic device for image storage and classification based on scattering-intrinsic patterns. Here, the authors show emergent storage employs stochastic prototype scattering-induced light patterns to generate categories corresponding to emergent archetypes.

    • Marco Leonetti
    • , Giorgio Gosti
    •  & Giancarlo Ruocco

  • 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

    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 authors demonstrate a method controlling the lattice filling of doped 1D Bose-Hubbard system of Rb atoms composed of chains of 3 to 6 sites in an optical lattice. The control is achieved by changing of the light potential and interaction strength.

    • Andrea Di Carli
    • , Christopher Parsonage
    •  & Stefan Kuhr

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Enhanced sensitivity is a key parameter in quantum metrology. Here the authors demonstrate a distributed quantum phase sensing method that uses fewer photons than the number of parameters needed, and an enhanced quantum sensitivity is achieved.

    • Dong-Hyun Kim
    • , Seongjin Hong
    •  & Hyang-Tag Lim

  • 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

    It is still unclear whether and how quantum computing might prove useful in solving known large-scale classical machine learning problems. Here, the authors show that variants of known quantum algorithms for solving differential equations can provide an advantage in solving some instances of stochastic gradient descent dynamics.

    • Junyu Liu
    • , Minzhao Liu
    •  & Liang Jiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnetic resonance imaging is a useful clinical tool, but its widespread use is constrained by size, cost, and time. Here, the authors report the development of a magnetic resonance sensor for the clinical detection of muscle tissue, allowing for new point-of-care quantitative diagnostic measurements

    • Sydney E. Sherman
    • , Alexa S. Zammit
    •  & Michael J. Cima

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Drones are an effective and flexible tool for safety assessment of aging infrastructure, especially in locations with challenging accessibility. Here, authors demonstrate a phase-based sampling moiré technique with a drone for measurement of millimeter-scale infrastructural displacement in bridges.

    • Shien Ri
    • , Jiaxing Ye
    •  & Norihiko Ogura

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Jets have been found in Earth’s magnetosheath for two decades and, more recently, also in Mars. Yet, their universal existence in planetary magnetosheath remains an open question. Here, authors report the presence of anti-sunward and sunward jets at Jupiter and compare them to Earth and Mars.

    • Yufei Zhou
    • , Savvas Raptis
    •  & Lan Ma

  • 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

    Gate-defined superconducting moiré devices offer high tunability for probing the nature of superconducting and correlated insulating states. Here, the authors report the Little–Parks and Aharonov–Bohm effects in a single gate-defined magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene device.

    • Shuichi Iwakiri
    • , Alexandra Mestre-Torà
    •  & Klaus Ensslin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Efficient characterisation of quantum many-body Hamiltonians has important applications for benchmarking NISQ devices. Here, the authors propose a method employing Chebyshev regression to learn the full Hamiltonian of a quantum system, with a sample complexity that scales efficiently with the system size.

    • Andi Gu
    • , Lukasz Cincio
    •  & Patrick J. Coles

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Learning Hamiltonians or Lindbladians of quantum systems from experimental data is important for characterization of interactions and noise processes in quantum devices. Here the authors propose an efficient protocol based on estimating time derivatives using multiple temporal sampling points and robust polynomial interpolation.

    • Daniel Stilck França
    • , Liubov A. Markovich
    •  & Johannes Borregaard

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Under strong surface or geometric constraints, achiral nematic liquid crystals can form chiral structures. Using pressure driven flow, Zhang et al. show a pathway to mirror symmetry breaking that does not require such constraints and that occurs in nematic lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals.

    • Qing Zhang
    • , Weiqiang Wang
    •  & Irmgard Bischofberger

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