Physics articles within Nature Materials

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• News & Views | 02 February 2022

  Supercurrents in magnetic materials heat up

  Previous demonstrations of long-range supercurrents through magnetic materials were achieved only at liquid helium temperatures. Now, using specially tailored samples, long-distance supercurrents have been realized at temperatures as high as 40 K.

  • Norman O. Birge

• Article | 30 December 2021

  The Ising triangular-lattice antiferromagnet neodymium heptatantalate as a quantum spin liquid candidate

  Neutron scattering, electron spin resonance, muon spectroscopy and magnetization measurements are applied to evidence a quantum spin liquid phase in NdTa₇O₁₉.

  • T. Arh
  • , B. Sana
  •  & A. Zorko

• News & Views | 23 December 2021

  Synchronization by memristors

  Integration of memristors in a chain of nano-constriction spintronic oscillators allows for individual control of oscillation frequencies and emerging synchronization patterns. The control of such synchronization could enable learning through association like neurons in the brain.

  • Danijela Marković

• Perspective | 23 December 2021

  Topological spintronics and magnetoelectronics

  This Perspective discusses the interplay between magnetism and topology in condensed matter.

  • Qing Lin He
  • , Taylor L. Hughes
  •  & Kang L. Wang

• Review Article | 23 December 2021

  Ferrimagnetic spintronics

  Ferrimagnets offer the combined advantages of both ferromagnets and antiferromagnets for spintronics applications. This Review surveys recent progress.

  • Se Kwon Kim
  • , Geoffrey S. D. Beach
  •  & Hyunsoo Yang

• Letter | 16 December 2021

  Moiré enhanced charge density wave state in twisted 1T-TiTe₂/1T-TiSe₂ heterostructures

  A moiré-trapped charge density wave is observed at room temperature in a twisted transition metal dichalcogenide system and attributed to local strain variation due to atomic reconstruction.

  • Wei-Min Zhao
  • , Li Zhu
  •  & Shao-Chun Li

• Article | 02 December 2021

  Extremely long-range, high-temperature Josephson coupling across a half-metallic ferromagnet

  Josephson coupling over micrometres and at tens of kelvins is demonstrated across the half-metallic manganite La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ combined with the superconducting cuprate YBa₂Cu₃O₇.

  • D. Sanchez-Manzano
  • , S. Mesoraca
  •  & J. Santamaria

• Editorial | 23 November 2021

  Soft features for robotics

  Innovations in soft materials design and engineering are delivering promising functional components for advanced soft robotic applications.

• News & Views | 23 November 2021

  Synchronized dancing under light

  Coupled liquid-crystalline network oscillators incorporating light-responsive molecules show synchronized motion when stimulated by light. This behaviour resembles that of synchronized clock pendulums and may find uses in advanced soft robotics applications.

  • Yanlei Yu

• News & Views | 23 November 2021

  Popping, locking robots

  An interplay between deswelling and buckling in a polymer gel is harnessed to achieve sequential snap events for repeatable jumping motion, opening the door to autonomously moving soft robots.

  • Johannes T. B. Overvelde

• Letter | 22 November 2021

  Superconductivity in a quintuple-layer square-planar nickelate

  The authors report a superconducting transition beginning at 13 K in films of the quintuple-layer nickelate Nd₆Ni₅O₁₂.

  • Grace A. Pan
  • , Dan Ferenc Segedin
  •  & Julia A. Mundy

• Article | 18 November 2021

  Fabrication and nanophotonic waveguide integration of silicon carbide colour centres with preserved spin-optical coherence

  Colour centres are a promising quantum information platform, but coherence degradation after integration in nanostructures has hindered scalability. Here, the authors show that waveguide-integrated V_Si centres in SiC maintain spin-optical coherences, enabling nuclear high-fidelity spin qubit operations.

  • Charles Babin
  • , Rainer Stöhr
  •  & Jörg Wrachtrup

• Article | 11 November 2021

  Direct visualization of the three-dimensional shape of skyrmion strings in a noncentrosymmetric magnet

  The authors use scalar magnetic X-ray tomography under applied magnetic fields to directly visualize the three-dimensional shape of individual skyrmion strings.

  • S. Seki
  • , M. Suzuki
  •  & T. Ono

• Article | 08 November 2021

  Photocurrent-driven transient symmetry breaking in the Weyl semimetal TaAs

  The authors demonstrate ultrafast symmetry breaking by optically driven photocurrents.

  • N. Sirica
  • , P. P. Orth
  •  & R. P. Prasankumar

• Article | 18 October 2021

  Three-dimensional atomic packing in amorphous solids with liquid-like structure

  Atomic electron tomography is used to determine the three-dimensional atomic structure of monatomic amorphous solids with liquid-like structure, which is characterized by the existence of pentagonal bipyramid networks with medium-range order.

  • Yakun Yuan
  • , Dennis S. Kim
  •  & Jianwei Miao

• Article | 04 October 2021

  Enhanced superconductivity and ferroelectric quantum criticality in plastically deformed strontium titanate

  Plastic deformation is shown to tune the quantum degrees of freedom in SrTiO₃.

  • S. Hameed
  • , D. Pelc
  •  & M. Greven

• News & Views | 24 September 2021

  Supercurrents in a topological antiferromagnet

  The non-collinear spin structure and nontrivial Berry curvature of Mn₃Ge give rise to a long-range supercurrent in superconductor–Mn₃Ge–superconductor lateral Josephson junctions.

  • Su-Yang Xu
  •  & Qiong Ma

• News & Views | 24 September 2021

  Kagome lattices with chiral charge density

  Scanning tunnelling microscopy experiments reveal a chiral charge density wave order underpinning the anomalous Hall effect in kagome lattice materials. Under pressure this charge order is suppressed, while superconductivity gets a boost.

  • Erik van Heumen

• Article | 23 September 2021

  Anisotropic epitaxial stabilization of a low-symmetry ferroelectric with enhanced electromechanical response

  Strain in thin films can increase piezoelectric properties, but crystallographic constraints may restrict the enhanced response to localized regions. Here, by combining strain and orientation engineering, a low-symmetry bridging phase of BiFeO₃ with enhanced piezoresponse is stabilized uniformly throughout the film.

  • Oliver Paull
  • , Changsong Xu
  •  & Daniel Sando

• News & Views | 06 September 2021

  A solution for two-dimensional hole gases

  Metallic behaviour from a two-dimensional hole gas has been observed in solution-processed organic crystals, giving hope for this state of matter to be used in next-generation large-area soft electronics.

  • Mario Caironi

• News & Views | 30 August 2021

  Precision doping to heal traps

  Passivation of traps via site-specific surface doping allows access to the intrinsic properties of organic semiconductors and leads to the observation of electron atmospheres in organic crystals.

  • Oana D. Jurchescu

• Letter | 30 August 2021

  Atomic-scale visualization of electronic fluid flow

  Atomic-scale visualization of the superfluid velocity field, the electron-pair density and the superfluid current density in an electron-pair superfluid surrounding an Abrikosov vortex in a superconducting sample of NbSe₂ is demonstrated, using superconducting-tip scanning tunnelling microscopy.

  • Xiaolong Liu
  • , Yi Xue Chong
  •  & J. C. Séamus Davis

• Article | 30 August 2021

  Site-specific chemical doping reveals electron atmospheres at the surfaces of organic semiconductor crystals

  Organic semiconductor crystals can be selectively doped at the crystallographic step edges, deactivating shallow traps and recovering band-like transport. The space charge induced by chemical doping is observed by scanning Kelvin probe microscopy.

  • Tao He
  • , Matthias Stolte
  •  & C. Daniel Frisbie

• Article | 26 August 2021

  The transport–structural correspondence across the nematic phase transition probed by elasto X-ray diffraction

  The authors combine simultaneous transport and X-ray diffraction measurements with in-situ tunable strain to measure the temperature dependence of the shear modulus and elastoresistivity above the nematic transition and the spontaneous orthorhombicity and resistivity anisotropy below the nematic transition of Co-doped BaFe₂As₂.

  • Joshua J. Sanchez
  • , Paul Malinowski
  •  & Jiun-Haw Chu

• Article | 19 August 2021

  Weyl-mediated helical magnetism in NdAlSi

  The Weyl fermions in NdAlSi mediate a helical incommensurate spin density wave, providing a rare example of Weyl-mediated collective phenomena.

  • Jonathan Gaudet
  • , Hung-Yu Yang
  •  & Collin L. Broholm

• Letter
  05 August 2021 | Open Access

  Long-range supercurrents through a chiral non-collinear antiferromagnet in lateral Josephson junctions

  Long-range lateral Josephson supercurrents are observed in a chiral non-collinear antiferromagnet, indicating topologically generated triplet pairing states.

  • Kun-Rok Jeon
  • , Binoy Krishna Hazra
  •  & Stuart S. P. Parkin

• News & Views | 28 July 2021

  Hole spin qubits work at mT magnetic fields

  A singlet-triplet hole spin qubit in a Ge quantum well is demonstrated to be fast, coherent, and compatible with operation at magnetic fields below 10 mT, opening the door to integration with superconducting technologies.

  • Floris Braakman
  •  & Pasquale Scarlino

• Article | 26 July 2021

  Interlayer electronic coupling on demand in a 2D magnetic semiconductor

  Interlayer hybridization in 2D van der Waals materials can change their properties. Here, it is shown that the coupling in CrSBr can be changed from switching the magnetic order from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic states.

  • Nathan P. Wilson
  • , Kihong Lee
  •  & Xiaoyang Zhu

• Perspective | 01 July 2021

  Perovskite semiconductors for room-temperature exciton-polaritonics

  An outlook on the potential of lead-halide perovskites as a playground for exciton-polariton studies and for the development of polaritonic devices operating at room temperature is provided.

  • Rui Su
  • , Antonio Fieramosca
  •  & Qihua Xiong

• Article | 01 July 2021

  Achieving adjustable elasticity with non-affine to affine transition

  A non-affine to affine transition in elasticity occurs with the change of system topology in a packing-derived network, which enables the tuning of elastic moduli and Poisson’s ratio.

  • Xiangying Shen
  • , Chenchao Fang
  •  & Lei Xu

• Article | 17 June 2021

  Centimetre-scale crack-free self-assembly for ultra-high tensile strength metallic nanolattices

  Metal nanolattices are fabricated at an unprecedented scale by using a crack-free self-assembly method. The dense nanostructures enable tensile strengths that approach the theoretical limit.

  • Zhimin Jiang
  •  & James H. Pikul

• Letter | 10 June 2021

  Unconventional chiral charge order in kagome superconductor KV₃Sb₅

  An unconventional chiral charge order is observed in a kagome superconductor by scanning tunnelling microscopy. This charge order has unusual magnetic tunability and intertwines with electronic topology.

  • Yu-Xiao Jiang
  • , Jia-Xin Yin
  •  & M. Zahid Hasan

• Article | 07 June 2021

  Thermal chiral anomaly in the magnetic-field-induced ideal Weyl phase of Bi_1−xSb_x

  A thermal signature of the chiral anomaly is reported in an ideal Weyl semimetal.

  • Dung Vu
  • , Wenjuan Zhang
  •  & Joseph P. Heremans

• Article | 03 June 2021

  Synthetic Rashba spin–orbit system using a silicon metal-oxide semiconductor

  Silicon is a light element with high lattice inversion symmetry, and so is not expected to possess a substantial spin–orbit interaction (SOI), which is desirable for spintronics. Here, a silicon-based heterostructure is demonstrated to have a gate-tuneable Rashba-type SOI.

  • Soobeom Lee
  • , Hayato Koike
  •  & Masashi Shiraishi

• Article | 03 June 2021

  A singlet-triplet hole spin qubit in planar Ge

  A singlet-triplet spin qubit using holes in a Ge quantum well is demonstrated, and can be operated at low magnetic fields of a few millitesla.

  • Daniel Jirovec
  • , Andrea Hofmann
  •  & Georgios Katsaros

• News & Views | 27 May 2021

  The sound of Weyl hinges

  Clever 3D-printed acoustic materials allow probing a new higher-order semimetallic topological phase using audible sound.

  • R. Fleury

• Review Article | 27 May 2021

  From predictive modelling to machine learning and reverse engineering of colloidal self-assembly

  This Review provides an overview of computational tools and strategies, from simulation methods to machine learning and reverse-engineering approaches, used for the design of soft materials made from self-assembling colloids and nanoparticles.

  • Marjolein Dijkstra
  •  & Erik Luijten

• Article | 13 May 2021

  Chiral-spin rotation of non-collinear antiferromagnet by spin–orbit torque

  Current-induced rotation in epitaxial films of the non-collinear antiferromagnet Mn₃Sn is investigated.

  • Yutaro Takeuchi
  • , Yuta Yamane
  •  & Hideo Ohno

• Review Article | 10 May 2021

  Single organic molecules for photonic quantum technologies

  This Review discusses the photophysical properties and nonlinear behaviour of single molecules, and their use as single-photon sources and in single-molecule sensing and quantum-sensing applications.

  • C. Toninelli
  • , I. Gerhardt
  •  & M. Orrit

• Matters Arising | 10 May 2021

  On the observation of photo-excitation effects in molecules using muon spin spectroscopy

  • R. Scheuermann
  •  & I. McKenzie

• Letter | 06 May 2021

  Single-spin resonance in a van der Waals embedded paramagnetic defect

  The optically detected magnetic resonance of a single defect in hexagonal boron nitride is reported.

  • Nathan Chejanovsky
  • , Amlan Mukherjee
  •  & Jörg Wrachtrup

• Article | 29 April 2021

  Elastohydrodynamic friction of robotic and human fingers on soft micropatterned substrates

  A framework for the elastohydrodynamic lubrication between soft patterned surfaces identifies the contributions of substrate elasticity and pattern geometry for friction, which have implications for the engineering of haptic soft materials.

  • Yunhu Peng
  • , Christopher M. Serfass
  •  & Lilian C. Hsiao

• Article | 15 April 2021

  Strain fields in twisted bilayer graphene

  Complete strain tensor fields of twisted bilayer graphene are quantitatively mapped, revealing two-regime reconstruction mechanics depending on twist angle.

  • Nathanael P. Kazmierczak
  • , Madeline Van Winkle
  •  & D. Kwabena Bediako

• News & Views | 01 April 2021

  Hot plasmons make graphene shine

  Bright hot plasmon emission is observed in graphene due to the ultrafast relaxation of hot carriers that were excited by femtosecond laser pulses of visible light.

  • Frank H. L. Koppens
  •  & Klaas-Jan Tielrooij

• Letter | 25 March 2021

  Stripe phases in WSe₂/WS₂ moiré superlattices

  Optical anisotropy and electronic compressibility measurements are used to uncover stripe phases, where the rotational symmetry of charge density is spontaneously broken, in a two-dimensional semiconductor moiré superlattice.

  • Chenhao Jin
  • , Zui Tao
  •  & Kin Fai Mak

• News & Views | 26 February 2021

  Interacting with current

  Very low-density pulsed current is shown to sharply change the dislocation evolution pattern of Ti–Al alloy with 7 at.% Al, enhancing its strength and ductility.

  • Stefan Zaefferer

• Letter | 25 February 2021

  Observation of the antiferromagnetic spin Hall effect

  A magnetic spin Hall effect is reported in the collinear antiferromagnet Mn₂Au.

  • Xianzhe Chen
  • , Shuyuan Shi
  •  & Feng Pan

• Article | 25 February 2021

  Ultra-high-quality two-dimensional electron systems

  Source-material purification and optimized vacuum chamber design lead to a breakthrough in GaAs sample quality.

  • Yoon Jang Chung
  • , K. A. Villegas Rosales
  •  & L. N. Pfeiffer

• Article | 15 February 2021

  Higher-order topological semimetal in acoustic crystals

  A second-order topological Weyl semimetal based on a 3D-printed acoustic crystal, exhibiting Weyl points, Fermi arc surface states, and hinge states, has been experimentally demonstrated.

  • Qiang Wei
  • , Xuewei Zhang
  •  & Suotang Jia

• Article | 15 February 2021

  Chern insulators, van Hove singularities and topological flat bands in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene

  A magneto-transport study of twisted bilayer graphene near the magic angle further reveals its rich physics.

  • Shuang Wu
  • , Zhenyuan Zhang
  •  & Eva Y. Andrei