Pub Date : 2025-04-17DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00826-4
Andres M. Biondi Vaccariello
Andres Biondi Vaccariello explains how a femtosecond laser can machine channels in optical fibres to allow their use as gas sensors.
Andres Biondi Vaccariello解释了飞秒激光如何在光纤中加工通道，使其用作气体传感器。
{"title":"Femtosecond laser machining of microchannels in hollow core fibres","authors":"Andres M. Biondi Vaccariello","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00826-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00826-4","url":null,"abstract":"Andres Biondi Vaccariello explains how a femtosecond laser can machine channels in optical fibres to allow their use as gas sensors.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 5","pages":"236-236"},"PeriodicalIF":39.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-04-11DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00827-3
Christophe Couteau, Snežana Lazić
As quantum technologies attract more and more funding, Christophe Couteau and Snežana Lazić argue for a clear and accessible definition of the label ‘quantum’. This would help public and private investors to make the right choices.
{"title":"How to define quantum technology","authors":"Christophe Couteau, Snežana Lazić","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00827-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00827-3","url":null,"abstract":"As quantum technologies attract more and more funding, Christophe Couteau and Snežana Lazić argue for a clear and accessible definition of the label ‘quantum’. This would help public and private investors to make the right choices.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 5","pages":"234-235"},"PeriodicalIF":39.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123670","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-04-03DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00824-6
This April, we reflect on the varied and surprisingly close connection between physics and cats.
今年四月，我们回顾了物理学和猫之间多样而又惊人的密切联系。
{"title":"The physics of cats","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00824-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00824-6","url":null,"abstract":"This April, we reflect on the varied and surprisingly close connection between physics and cats.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 4","pages":"165-165"},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-025-00824-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143787358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-04-03DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00819-3
Shanay Rab, Richard J. C. Brown
The Metre Convention was signed in May 1875, bringing international agreement on how to measure accurately and consistently — a consensus that was essential for trade, industrialization and scientific progress. 150 years later, how does the metrology community continue this tradition?
{"title":"150 years of international cooperation under the Metre Convention","authors":"Shanay Rab, Richard J. C. Brown","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00819-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00819-3","url":null,"abstract":"The Metre Convention was signed in May 1875, bringing international agreement on how to measure accurately and consistently — a consensus that was essential for trade, industrialization and scientific progress. 150 years later, how does the metrology community continue this tradition?","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 5","pages":"232-233"},"PeriodicalIF":39.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-26DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00813-9
Martín Larocca, Supanut Thanasilp, Samson Wang, Kunal Sharma, Jacob Biamonte, Patrick J. Coles, Lukasz Cincio, Jarrod R. McClean, Zoë Holmes, M. Cerezo
Variational quantum computing offers a flexible computational approach with a broad range of applications. However, a key obstacle to realizing their potential is the barren plateau (BP) phenomenon. When a model exhibits a BP, its parameter optimization landscape becomes exponentially flat and featureless as the problem size increases. Importantly, all the moving pieces of an algorithm — choices of ansatz, initial state, observable, loss function and hardware noise — can lead to BPs if they are ill-suited. As BPs strongly impact on trainability, researchers have dedicated considerable effort to develop theoretical and heuristic methods to understand and mitigate their effects. As a result, the study of BPs has become a thriving area of research, influencing and exchanging ideas with other fields such as quantum optimal control, tensor networks and learning theory. This article provides a review of the current understanding of the BP phenomenon. Barren plateaus are widely considered as one of the main limitations for variational quantum algorithms. This Review summarizes the latest understandings of barren plateaus, indicating its causes, architecture that will suffer from this phenomenon, and discusses strategies that can — and cannot — avoid it.
{"title":"Barren plateaus in variational quantum computing","authors":"Martín Larocca, Supanut Thanasilp, Samson Wang, Kunal Sharma, Jacob Biamonte, Patrick J. Coles, Lukasz Cincio, Jarrod R. McClean, Zoë Holmes, M. Cerezo","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00813-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00813-9","url":null,"abstract":"Variational quantum computing offers a flexible computational approach with a broad range of applications. However, a key obstacle to realizing their potential is the barren plateau (BP) phenomenon. When a model exhibits a BP, its parameter optimization landscape becomes exponentially flat and featureless as the problem size increases. Importantly, all the moving pieces of an algorithm — choices of ansatz, initial state, observable, loss function and hardware noise — can lead to BPs if they are ill-suited. As BPs strongly impact on trainability, researchers have dedicated considerable effort to develop theoretical and heuristic methods to understand and mitigate their effects. As a result, the study of BPs has become a thriving area of research, influencing and exchanging ideas with other fields such as quantum optimal control, tensor networks and learning theory. This article provides a review of the current understanding of the BP phenomenon. Barren plateaus are widely considered as one of the main limitations for variational quantum algorithms. This Review summarizes the latest understandings of barren plateaus, indicating its causes, architecture that will suffer from this phenomenon, and discusses strategies that can — and cannot — avoid it.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 4","pages":"174-189"},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143787397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-26DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00817-5
Andrea Gabrielli, Diego Garlaschelli, Subodh P. Patil, M. Ángeles Serrano
The renormalization group (RG) is a powerful theoretical framework. It is used on systems with many degrees of freedom to transform the description of their configurations, along with the associated model parameters and coupling constants, across different levels of resolution. The RG also provides a way to identify critical points of phase transitions and study the system’s behaviour around them. In traditional physical applications, the RG largely builds on the notions of homogeneity, symmetry, geometry and locality to define metric distances, scale transformations and self-similar coarse-graining schemes. More recently, efforts have been made to extend RG concepts to complex networks. However, in such systems, explicit geometric coordinates do not necessarily exist, different nodes and subgraphs can have different statistical properties, and homogeneous lattice-like symmetries are absent — all features that make it complicated to define consistent renormalization procedures. In this Technical Review, we discuss the main approaches, important advances, and the remaining open challenges for network renormalization. The renormalization group (RG) is a theoretical framework to transform systems across scales and identify critical points of phase transitions. In recent years, efforts have extended RG to complex networks, which challenge traditional assumptions. This Technical Review covers key approaches and open challenges.
{"title":"Network renormalization","authors":"Andrea Gabrielli, Diego Garlaschelli, Subodh P. Patil, M. Ángeles Serrano","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00817-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00817-5","url":null,"abstract":"The renormalization group (RG) is a powerful theoretical framework. It is used on systems with many degrees of freedom to transform the description of their configurations, along with the associated model parameters and coupling constants, across different levels of resolution. The RG also provides a way to identify critical points of phase transitions and study the system’s behaviour around them. In traditional physical applications, the RG largely builds on the notions of homogeneity, symmetry, geometry and locality to define metric distances, scale transformations and self-similar coarse-graining schemes. More recently, efforts have been made to extend RG concepts to complex networks. However, in such systems, explicit geometric coordinates do not necessarily exist, different nodes and subgraphs can have different statistical properties, and homogeneous lattice-like symmetries are absent — all features that make it complicated to define consistent renormalization procedures. In this Technical Review, we discuss the main approaches, important advances, and the remaining open challenges for network renormalization. The renormalization group (RG) is a theoretical framework to transform systems across scales and identify critical points of phase transitions. In recent years, efforts have extended RG to complex networks, which challenge traditional assumptions. This Technical Review covers key approaches and open challenges.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 4","pages":"203-219"},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143787399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-26DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00814-8
Yong-Su Na, T. S. Hahm, P. H. Diamond, A. Di Siena, J. Garcia, Z. Lin
Along with high temperature and density, magnetic fusion requires good confinement and a degree of transport control for thermal plasmas. Meanwhile, fast ions are generated by the external heating used to raise plasma temperature and by the fusion reactions. As a result, the fusion plasmas are effectively rendered into systems with two coexisting populations of main interest — namely, the fast ions and the thermal plasma. Interestingly, several recent experiments indicate that the fast-ion population can improve the confinement of the thermal plasmas by mitigating turbulence. In this Review, we describe the physical mechanisms that underpin the improved confinement and discuss recent experimental results in terms of these mechanisms. Experiments have shown that fast ions generated in fusion plasmas improve confinement by mitigating plasma turbulence. This Review explores possible physical mechanisms to explain these experimental observations.
{"title":"How fast ions mitigate turbulence and enhance confinement in tokamak fusion plasmas","authors":"Yong-Su Na, T. S. Hahm, P. H. Diamond, A. Di Siena, J. Garcia, Z. Lin","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00814-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00814-8","url":null,"abstract":"Along with high temperature and density, magnetic fusion requires good confinement and a degree of transport control for thermal plasmas. Meanwhile, fast ions are generated by the external heating used to raise plasma temperature and by the fusion reactions. As a result, the fusion plasmas are effectively rendered into systems with two coexisting populations of main interest — namely, the fast ions and the thermal plasma. Interestingly, several recent experiments indicate that the fast-ion population can improve the confinement of the thermal plasmas by mitigating turbulence. In this Review, we describe the physical mechanisms that underpin the improved confinement and discuss recent experimental results in terms of these mechanisms. Experiments have shown that fast ions generated in fusion plasmas improve confinement by mitigating plasma turbulence. This Review explores possible physical mechanisms to explain these experimental observations.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 4","pages":"190-202"},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143787367","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-26DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00820-w
Josephine Hunout, Shey Dylan Lovett, Jessica Wade, Isabella von Holstein
The UK’s quantum strategy prioritizes quantum sensing, but hiring trends focus on quantum computing and communication. To meet targets, the UK must realign hiring and education with its immediate needs.
{"title":"Assessing the skills gap for the UK’s quantum missions","authors":"Josephine Hunout, Shey Dylan Lovett, Jessica Wade, Isabella von Holstein","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00820-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00820-w","url":null,"abstract":"The UK’s quantum strategy prioritizes quantum sensing, but hiring trends focus on quantum computing and communication. To meet targets, the UK must realign hiring and education with its immediate needs.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 4","pages":"171-173"},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143787392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-25DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00818-4
Klaus Zollner, Marcin Kurpas, Martin Gmitra, Jaroslav Fabian
Spin–orbit coupling (SOC) is fundamental to many phenomena in solid-state physics. Two-dimensional materials and van der Waals heterostructures provide researchers with exquisite control over this interaction; the ability to fine-tune SOC has impacts on spin transport and relaxation, topological states, optoelectronics, magnetization dynamics and even superconductivity and other correlated states. This Technical Review covers both the theoretical methodology and experimentally relevant phenomenology of SOC in 2D materials, by providing essential insights into the process of extracting the spin interactions from the underlying electronic structure obtained from first-principles density functional theory calculations. This Technical Review begins with graphene. Its SOC has a surprisingly complicated origin yet graphene remains the benchmark for other elemental centrosymmetric 2D materials in which SOC leads to a mixing of spin-up and spin-down components of the Bloch states. We then discuss spin–orbit materials, such as transition-metal dichalcogenides, in which strong SOC and the lack of space-inversion symmetry yield large spin splittings of the valence and conduction bands. This enables highly efficient optical spin orientation or robust valley Hall effect in transition-metal dichalcogenides. Next, we give guidelines for extracting the spin–orbit characteristics of van der Waals heterostructures, such as graphene/WSe2, which serve as a platform for SOC engineering. For these representative systems, we highlight the essentials of first-principles-based methodology, including supercell formation, strain artefacts, twisting, gating and lattice relaxation. Finally, we briefly discuss the effects of proximity exchange coupling, which is another relevant spin interaction for spintronics. This Technical Review demonstrates how first-principles calculations and effective modelling provide realistic insights into spin–orbit interactions and their engineering in 2D materials and van der Waals heterostructures.
{"title":"First-principles determination of spin–orbit coupling parameters in two-dimensional materials","authors":"Klaus Zollner, Marcin Kurpas, Martin Gmitra, Jaroslav Fabian","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00818-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00818-4","url":null,"abstract":"Spin–orbit coupling (SOC) is fundamental to many phenomena in solid-state physics. Two-dimensional materials and van der Waals heterostructures provide researchers with exquisite control over this interaction; the ability to fine-tune SOC has impacts on spin transport and relaxation, topological states, optoelectronics, magnetization dynamics and even superconductivity and other correlated states. This Technical Review covers both the theoretical methodology and experimentally relevant phenomenology of SOC in 2D materials, by providing essential insights into the process of extracting the spin interactions from the underlying electronic structure obtained from first-principles density functional theory calculations. This Technical Review begins with graphene. Its SOC has a surprisingly complicated origin yet graphene remains the benchmark for other elemental centrosymmetric 2D materials in which SOC leads to a mixing of spin-up and spin-down components of the Bloch states. We then discuss spin–orbit materials, such as transition-metal dichalcogenides, in which strong SOC and the lack of space-inversion symmetry yield large spin splittings of the valence and conduction bands. This enables highly efficient optical spin orientation or robust valley Hall effect in transition-metal dichalcogenides. Next, we give guidelines for extracting the spin–orbit characteristics of van der Waals heterostructures, such as graphene/WSe2, which serve as a platform for SOC engineering. For these representative systems, we highlight the essentials of first-principles-based methodology, including supercell formation, strain artefacts, twisting, gating and lattice relaxation. Finally, we briefly discuss the effects of proximity exchange coupling, which is another relevant spin interaction for spintronics. This Technical Review demonstrates how first-principles calculations and effective modelling provide realistic insights into spin–orbit interactions and their engineering in 2D materials and van der Waals heterostructures.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 5","pages":"255-269"},"PeriodicalIF":39.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123668","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-25DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00821-9
Sara Bassanelli, Carringtone Kinyanjui, Simone Turchetti
Despite its benefits, globalized science also has problems, including asymmetric data sharing. Understanding the origin of these imbalances can help mitigate their long-term impacts.
{"title":"Mapping inequalities in the global availability of physics data over time","authors":"Sara Bassanelli, Carringtone Kinyanjui, Simone Turchetti","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00821-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00821-9","url":null,"abstract":"Despite its benefits, globalized science also has problems, including asymmetric data sharing. Understanding the origin of these imbalances can help mitigate their long-term impacts.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 4","pages":"168-170"},"PeriodicalIF":44.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143787393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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