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When a magnetic field exerts a force on a moving electron it creates direction-dependent phases; hence, it breaks time-reversal symmetry. A nonreciprocal flow of sound is much harder to achieve and requires artificial gauge potentials that give rise to a magnetic field for sound. Mathew, del Pino and Verhagen now implement such a gauge field for vibrations in an on-chip optomechanical system. They use dynamic modulation of strong laser light to induce multi-mode interactions between two nanoscale resonators of different resonance frequencies. The laser light’s radiation pressure force mediates phonon transport between the resonators, but with a phase difference depending on the direction of the phonon transfer. These experiments establish a synthetic gauge field for nanomechanical transport, such that vibrations feel an effective magnetic field. The cover art displays one of the vibrating nanomechanical resonators under strong laser light illumination.
The addition of carbon nanotubes to the SIN (‘Substitute It Now’) list has evoked reactions from nanomedicine and nanotoxicology researchers, who ask for a fairer and more recent research-based risk assessment of carbon nanotubes.
On two-dimensional layered materials, elemental sulfur can be controllably generated in a supercooled liquid state with enhanced electrochemical figures of merit compared to solid sulfur.
Cell-derived extracellular vesicles are important intercellular communicators involved in many biological processes and diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases, but, thus far, how they navigate within complex extracellular matrices has been poorly understood.
This Review summarizes the current nanoscale understanding of the interface chemistries between solid state electrolytes and electrodes for future all solid state batteries.
Skyrmions and antiskyrmions are nanometric spin whirls with opposite topological charges. In the Heusler magnet Mn1.4Pt0.9Pd0.1Sn, modulations of the orientation and strength of an in-plane magnetic field induces the transformation from antiskyrmions to non-topological bubbles and skyrmions.
Controlling the individual layer magnetization in CrI3 enables the observation of a layer-resolved magnetic proximity effect in WSe2/CrI3 heterostructures.
A double-buffer-layer engineering strategy enables the selective growth of magnetic materials at specific locations on a wide variety of semiconducting nanorods.
Gauge fields in condensed matter give rise to nonreciprocal transport and topological non-trivial states. In an on-chip experiment, multi-mode optomechanical interactions generate a magnetic gauge field for nanomechanical motion and yield phonon transport with a nonreciprocal phase.
Tunnel field-effect transistors with spatially varying layer thickness in black phosphorus enable high performance with a record-low subthreshold swing.
Tautomerization, the interconversion between two constitutional isomers of a molecule, plays a major role in chemistry. The combination of hyper-resolved fluorescence microscopy with time-correlated measurements and spectral selection enables the identification and in-depth characterization of a tautomerization reaction within a single molecular switch.
Stress relaxation properties of the matrix as well as water transport through aquaporin-1 enable extracellular vesicles to deform and travel through the dense mesh of the extracellular matrix between cells.
An operando mass spectrometry technique, along with molecular dynamics simulations, unveils the evolution of the solid–electrolyte interphase chemistry and structure in lithium-ion batteries during the first cycle.
A supercooled liquid phase of elemental sulfur can be grown electrochemically on two-dimensional materials. This phase has a markedly higher areal capacity than solid sulfur, with possible implications for future lithium–sulfur batteries.