News & Views in 2022

Although the mass of the electron antineutrino is still eluding direct measurement, the KATRIN experiment with its huge spectrometer has pushed the sensitivity below a billionth of the proton mass.

Entanglement can provide an extra boost in precision, but entangled states are hard to detect. A recent experiment solves this problem by letting the entangling dynamics come full circle — or not, depending on the subtle perturbation to be sensed.

The interactions between coupled photonic resonators influence the properties of the whole network. Dissipative coupling extends the ability to engineer photonic networks and brings fully controllable, ‘utopian’ networks within reach.

Environmental noise can severely hinder the storage and transmission of quantum information. Experiments now reveal that trapped ions are promising candidates for reliable quantum memories.

Light travels through disordered media on a random path that is hard to control. A comprehensive study has now shown that optical energy can be deposited at a desired depth in a disordered waveguide by injecting a light field with a particular shape.

Predicting collapses of a complex system is notoriously hard. Finding ways to pull a collapsed system back to normal is even harder. A theoretical study now shows how reviving a single unit of a failed network might restore its whole functionality.

The physics of large systems is often understood as the outcome of the local operations among its components. Now, it is shown that this picture may be incomplete in quantum systems whose interactions are constrained by symmetries.

The atmospheres of most planets in our Solar System have a single large cyclonic vortex at each of their poles. Jupiter with its polygonal cyclones surrounding a single one, however, falls out of line, owing to an energy transfer to larger scales.