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For a system to exhibit spiral patterns one would expect its parts to behave synchronously, as in a Mexican wave. Proving the contrary, chemical oscillators have now been observed in a state comprising a spiral surrounding an asynchronous core.
A spiral chimera state, composed by an ordered spiral surrounding a core of asynchronous oscillators, is revealed in a large grid of chemical oscillators.
Atomically thin chromium tri-iodide is shown to be a 2D ferromagnetic insulator with an optical response dominated by ligand-field transitions, emitting circularly polarized photoluminescence with a helicity determined by the magnetization direction.
Large spin–orbit coupling can be induced when graphene interfaces with semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides, leading to strongly anisotropic spin dynamics. As a result, orientation-dependent spin relaxation is observed.
Droplets moving on the surface of a vibrating fluid bath mimic the behaviour of electrons in quantum corrals. Introducing submerged features in the bath can even drive the droplets to excite modes that induce effects reminiscent of quantum mirages.
Understanding how some single cells evolved into multicellular life means figuring out how they overcome the stresses associated with crowding as they multiply. New insights from yeast suggest that changes in the shape of cells may provide an answer.
Classical wave-driven particles can mimic basic quantum properties, but how far this parallel extends is yet to be seen. Evidence for quantum-like mirages in a system of droplets moving on a fluid surface pushes the analogy into many-body territory.
Attosecond light pulses are used to probe ultrafast processes. The experimental observation of attosecond electron pulses now promises the marriage of these techniques with electron microscopy and diffraction.
Understanding how single cells evolved into multicellular organisms requires knowledge of the physical constraints on the evolution of cell clusters. Evidence that an evolution in cell shape delays fracturing offers a route to increased complexity.
Multiphoton superradiance is observed in a nuclear system excited by an X-ray free-electron laser. Tracking the system decay photon by photon shows strong enhancement of the first photon’s decay rate, in good agreement with Dicke’s formulation.
A photonic crystal can realize an analogue of a valley Hall insulator, promising more flexibility than in condensed-matter systems to explore these exotic topological states.
A significant enhancement in the effective mass of Dirac-like quasiparticles residing near a nodal loop in the electronic band structure provides evidence for strong correlation effects in a topological semimetal.
A liquid droplet is shown to slide across a solid surface subject to friction forces analogous with those between two solids. The phenomenon is generic, and closes a gap in our understanding of liquid–solid friction.
A tracing of the phase-ordering kinetics of a charge density wave system demonstrates the potential of ultrafast low-energy electron diffraction for studying phase transitions and ordering phenomena at surfaces and in low-dimensional systems.
