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Thermodynamic processes at the microscopic scale can be quite surprising. New limits on the amount of work that can be extracted from a system in an almost deterministic fashion have now been uncovered.
Through carefully controlled deposition of graphene on hexagonal boron nitride, an experimental system is created with which to probe the quantum physics of electrons in two dimensions — allowing experimental access to the elusive 'Hofstadter butterfly'.
Most multiferroic materials are antiferromagnets, yet ferromagnetism can be induced in bismuth ferrite by substrate-induced strain. Strain is now shown to afford useful control of the orientation of magnetic moments in the multiferroics.
Would you ever guess that a microscopic flake of graphite could reverse the diffraction of light? An experiment that demonstrates just such an effect highlights the exciting optical applications of graphene — an atomic layer of carbon with a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice.
One of the fundamental problems in few-body physics is the formation of diatomic molecules in three-atom collisions. An experimental technique now explores the resulting distribution of molecular quantum states in an ultracold gas.
Comparing quantitative calculations of the magnetic field decay of neutron stars and their corresponding spin evolution with observations suggests a high degree of disorder in the inner crust, which might provide evidence for nuclear 'pasta'.
Small metal-free organic molecules on an epitaxial graphene monolayer are shown to receive a local magnetic moment from the substrate. This magnetic moment survives when many molecules combine to form a layer, with some indication of long-range ferromagnetic order.
Surface-plasmon polaritons are hybrid particles that result from strong coupling between light and collective electron motion on the surface of a metal. This Review presents an overview of the quantum properties of surface plasmons, their role in controlling light–matter interactions at the quantum level and potential applications.
Teleportation of simple quantum states of light and matter has already been demonstrated in several experiments. Now the teleportation of continuous-variable states encoded in the collective spin of an atomic ensemble is also possible.
Usually a laser consists of a light-amplifying medium nested between two mirrors. A mirrorless laser that operates by forcing the light to take a long, random path through the gain medium has now been demonstrated.
Model magnetic systems known as artificial spin ices have almost always been found in frozen, athermal states. But an artificial spin ice that is designed to be thermally active has now been imaged as it explores its frustrated energy landscape.
Engineering the interactions between atoms allows a fragile system in its quantum degenerate state to persist for much longer than equilibrium statistical physics would otherwise allow.
In the light of more data, the particle discovered at CERN last year is now confirmed to be a Higgs boson — but what kind of Higgs boson? And what might the discovery mean for theories that reach beyond the standard model?
