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Ultrashort high-intensity laser pulses change the properties of dielectrics in different ways. One unexpected outcome is light amplification in an excited dielectric, observed in a two-colour pump–probe experiment.
α-RuCl3 has recently attracted great interest as a possible experimental realization of the Kitaev model. Neutron scattering measurements of a single crystal of this material reveal signatures of Majorana excitations, consistent with Kitaev’s predictions.
The demonstration of a direct correlation between an optical stimulus and the biological function of a photoreceptor in living brain tissue charts the course for designing tailored pulses to control molecular dynamics in vivo.
Particles in strongly coupled plasmas behave collectively as in liquids, with additional long-range collisions. Experimental evidence is provided that fluctuation theorems obeyed by liquid are also valid for strongly coupled dusty plasmas.
A thermodynamic study of doped single crystals of NbFe2 reveals the phase diagram of this system as a function of temperature, magnetic field and Nb doping — which includes an unusual quantum tricritical point.
When molten tin droplets impact clean substrates, they either stick or spontaneously detach depending on the substrate temperature. Competition between heat extraction and fluidity controls this behaviour, forgoing the need for surface treatment.
A candidate for efficient broadband quantum memory at telecommunication wavelengths is identified. The long coherence time and the efficient optical spin pumping demonstrated in the experiment make it practical for spin-wave storage.
Traditionally quantum state tomography is used to characterize a quantum state, but it becomes exponentially hard with the system size. An alternative technique, matrix product state tomography, is shown to work well in practical situations.
Ring-exchange interactions are basic elements needed for realizing topological quantum computation. These interactions and anyonic statistics have been engineered using ultracold atoms in an optical lattice.
Magneto-optical trapping and sub-Doppler cooling of atoms has been instrumental for research in ultracold atomic physics. This regime has now been reached for a molecular species, CaF.
Spontaneous formation of a half-skyrmion lattice is observed in a thin-film chiral liquid crystal. The dynamics are shown to be thermally driven — presenting a platform to study the thermal fluctuations of topological defects.
A detailed resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) study of a series of well-known cuprate superconductors reveals a correlation between the number of apical oxygens in these systems, and the strength of their in-plane exchange interaction.
Understanding crack formation is important for improving the mechanical performance of materials. A new theory is now presented for the description of cracks propagating at high speeds, with elastic nonlinearity as the underlying principle.
Graphene systems are clean platforms for studying electron–electron (e–e) collisions. Electron transport in graphene constrictions is now found to behave anomalously due to e–e interactions: conductance values exceed the maximum free-electron value.
Experimental signatures of a Berry phase for composite fermions in the fractional quantum Hall effect provide support for the predictions that these composite fermions are Dirac particles.
A bed of deformable hairs is shown to exhibit a nonlinear response to fluid flows. The biomimetic system suggests that hair-covered surfaces in living systems may function to reduce fluid drag as a means of minimizing excessive stresses.
Semiconductor nanowires with superconducting leads are considered promising for quantum computation. The current–phase relation is systematically explored in gate-tunable InAs Josephson junctions, and is shown to provide a clean handle for characterizing the transport properties of these structures.
A photonic experiment demonstrates protective measurements, a type of weak measurements. These make it possible to determine the expectation value of the polarization of a photon from a single measurement.
Quantum electrodynamics predicts a rare process in which light is scattered by light. The ATLAS Collaboration reports signs of this elusive effect in the collisions of ultra-relativistic lead ions.
The Jovian atmosphere is highly turbulent due to processes happening on a wide range of length scales. Cassini spacecraft data now suggest the presence of kinetic energy cascades over different length scales — a likely origin of Jupiter’s turbulence.
