Research articles

X-ray-induced explosions in water drops, examined using time-resolved imaging, show interacting high-speed liquid and vapour flows. This type of X-ray absorption dynamics is predictable and may be used for inducing particular dynamical liquid states.

The detection of spin–orbit torques in a non-centrosymmetric magnetic Heusler alloy at room temperature could guide the search for materials whose magnetism can efficiently be manipulated using electrical currents.

While we sleep, our neuronal networks sustain slow oscillations that are remarkably regular. Experiments on the cerebral cortex suggest that these oscillations optimize regularity in spite of synaptic noise—revealing a regime of stochastic coherence.

A light-induced spin voltage is demonstrated that arises from a spin-dependent excitation and diffusion of photo-excited electrons near heavy-metal/magnetic-insulator interfaces.

The interaction of two magnetic moments on a metallic surface is usually understood as a competition between an indirect surface-mediated exchange interaction and the Kondo effect. Now, a different mechanism, involving chemical interactions driving a quantum phase transition, is reported.

The IceCube neutrino telescope in the South Pole has observed several high-energy neutrinos of undetermined origin. Could the third detected PeV event be from blazar PKS B1424–418?

Inertial confinement fusion, based on laser-heating a deuterium–tritium mixture, is one of the approaches towards energy production from fusion reactions. Now, record energy-yield experiments are reported—bringing us closer to ignition conditions.

It takes extreme sensitivity to measure the elementary excitations in liquid helium-4. An optomechanical cavity with a thin film of superfluid inside can be used to both observe and control phonons in real time.

Experiments combining dynamic and static light scattering have probed a colloidal hard-sphere system for the formation of dynamical and structural heterogeneities, which play a role in both forms of solidification: crystallization and vitrification.

Defects affect materials’ properties. A method is now presented for studying dynamic processes during the growth of thin films — specifically, the evolution of defects — based on the coherent mixing of bulk and surface X-ray scattering signals.

Atoms in optical lattices are interesting for quantum technologies but engineering entanglement between atom pairs is difficult. Using the double-well potentials of a superlattice, the generation and detection of entanglement is more straightforward.

Entanglement in many-body systems is notoriously hard to quantify, but in certain situations relevant to atomic and condensed-matter experiments an entanglement witness, the quantum Fisher information, becomes measurable by means of the dynamic susceptibility.

Segregation between binding and non-binding proteins in the space between cells is critical for immune response. In vitro experiments show that size alone suffices to explain the exclusion of non-binding proteins from membrane interfaces.

In a Fermi gas with s-wave interactions the contact relations link the thermodynamic and microscopic properties. For the p-wave case two new types of contacts that characterize the interactions have now been measured experimentally.

Doubly magic atomic nuclei — having a magic number of both protons and neutrons — are very stable. Now, experiments revealing unexpectedly large charge radii for a series of Ca isotopes put the doubly magic nature of the ⁵²Ca nucleus into question.

Controlled motion of a droplet on a hot surface is hampered by the formation of an evaporation layer below the droplet (Leidenfrost effect). But a cleverly patterned surface induces a Leidenfrost–contact-boiling state, directing the droplet’s motion.

A combination of neutron scattering, X-ray scattering and Mössbauer spectroscopy experiments reveal the existence of a collinear double-Q magnetic ordering in an iron arsenide superconductor.

The electronic properties of oxide interfaces are renowned for their richness. A comprehensive study of a series of perovskite nickelates examines the interplay between charge transfer and hybridization effects.

Knots have been observed in a variety of classical systems, but so far not in the quantum regime. Knot solitons have now been created in a spinor Bose–Einstein condensate, exhibiting interesting topological structures, including Hopf fibration.

The membranes of red blood cells exhibit a flickering motion that has long been ascribed a thermal origin. Microrheology experiments provide direct evidence that flickering is an active process characterized by non-equilibrium dynamics.