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At high pressure and temperature, water forms two crystalline phases, known as hot ‘black’ ices due to their partial opaqueness. A detailed characterization of these phases may explain magnetic field formation in giant icy planets like Neptune.
Integrating quantum technology with existing telecom infrastructure is hampered by a mismatch in operating frequencies. An optomechanical resonator now offers a strain-mediated spin–photon interface for long-distance quantum networks.
In a study on high-harmonic generation from a dense atomic xenon gas, the strong-field light–matter interaction is shown to leave a quantum mechanical imprint on the incident light that escapes the semiclassical picture of strong-field physics.
The tin isotope 100Sn is key to understanding nuclear stability, but little is known about its properties. Precision measurements of closely related indium isotopes have now pinned down its mass.
Scanning tunnelling microscopy reveals an unexpected periodicity in the local density of states of a transition metal dichalcogenide — with a puzzling wavelength that casts the material as a quantum spin liquid.
Polaritons are hybrid states of light and matter that occur in a wide range of physical platforms. When a nanosphere is levitated inside an optical cavity, light can hybridize with the motion on a plane rather than along an axis, resulting in ‘vectorial’ polaritons.
Some material defects have quantum degrees of freedom that are measurably disturbed by environmental changes, making them excellent sensors. A two-dimensional material with such defects could improve the versatility of quantum-sensing technologies.
Light propagating in the topological edge channel of an array of ring resonators is predicted to generate nested frequency combs: like a Matryoshka doll containing a set of smaller dolls, each ‘tooth’ of the comb comprises another frequency comb.
The state that forms at low temperatures in a quantum antiferromagnet on a kagome lattice has been debated for decades. Nuclear magnetic resonance has now shown the gradual emergence of entangled spin singlets in a disordered kagome antiferromagnet.
Frictional sliding starts with a crack front propagating across an interface — a process that is well described by fracture mechanics. Experiments now show that the onset of crack formation is governed by physics that is yet to be fully understood.
Spin waves can carry information that could be used for data processing, but producing and controlling them can be challenging. Now it is possible to generate short-wavelength coherent spin waves that can travel at high speed over a long distance.
Using pressure to tune the balance of interactions in a new class of kagome superconductor results in a surprising competition between states — and hints at an unusual, electronically intertwined order.
The flagella of microorganisms have provided inspiration for many synthetic devices, but they’re typically not easy to produce. A new class of swimmer makes it look simple by spontaneously growing a tail that it can whip to self-propel.
