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The virtual photons that are exchanged when a free-electron vortex beam interacts with a nanoscopic target unlock an explicit connection between polarized optical spectroscopy and the inelastic scattering of scalar electron waves.
Multiplexing increases the capacity of optical communication, but it is limited by the number of modes and their orbital angular momentum. A robust vortex laser now solves this problem by emitting several beams, all carrying large topological charges.
SARS, MERS and now SARS-CoV-2 are unlikely to be the last emerging infections we face during our lifetimes. Tracing contacts both forward and backward through our heterogeneous populations will prove essential to future response strategies.
A quantum dot has been used to detect a single excitation among the tens of thousands of atomic nuclear spins comprising it. This result is an important step towards treating nuclear spins as a quantum memory rather than a troublesome source of noise.
Two experiments using entangled photons have successfully generated more randomness than consumed — at a level of security that is all but certain. They did so by exploiting non-locality, one of the most counterintuitive aspects of quantum mechanics.
The unavoidable effects of noise make quantum error correction necessary to realize the full potential of quantum computers. Devices that correct errors autonomously can avoid the computational and hardware overheads of traditional approaches.
The short lifetime of light-induced superconductivity prevents the measurement of its transport properties. Encouraging this state to stay a little longer in K3C60 allows the observation of vanishing electrical resistance.
Quantum computing combines great promise with daunting challenges — the road to devices that solve real-world problems is still long. Now, an implementation of a quantum algorithm maps the problems we want to solve to the devices we already have.
Moiré heterostructures have latterly captured the attention of condensed-matter physicists. This Review Article explores the idea of adopting them as a quantum simulation platform that enables the study of strongly correlated physics and topology in quantum materials.
Table-top superfluid experiments offer a way of bringing the physics of astrophysical black holes into the lab. But the presence of two event horizons in these superfluid black holes complicates matters — and makes them more interesting.
With increasing neutron number, the size of a nucleus grows, subject to subtle effects that act as fingerprints of its internal structure. A fresh look at potassium calls for theory to decipher the details.
Among the many reasons a signal may deviate from perfect periodicity, quantum-limited jitter is arguably the most fundamental. A clever experiment has now stripped away technical noise to unveil quantum-limited jitter of ultrafast soliton frequency combs.
The magnetic properties of intercalated metal dichalcogenides are dramatically affected by small crystal imperfections, potentially providing design principles and materials for spintronic devices.
Recent advances in spectroscopy give access to the decay time of excitations in disordered insulating silicon close to the metal–insulator transition, revealing similarities to high-temperature cuprate superconductors.
Biophysicists have long sought to probe the physical properties of the cell nucleus, but the sheer size of this tiny organelle puts limits on its exploration. The coarsening of biomolecular droplets looks set to give us the inside scoop.
Iridescent mother of pearl sports a complex structure that eludes standard imaging techniques. Now, a nanotomographic method provides high resolution 3D insight into the topological defects underpinning this composite material.
A Cooper-pair box qubit is used to squeeze the energy of a heavy oscillating membrane towards a quantum energy eigenstate, bringing measurements of how mass and quantum mechanics interact one step closer.
