Pub Date : 2025-07-23DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00841-5
Hans-Jürgen Butt, Rüdiger Berger, Joel De Coninck, Rafael Tadmor
Wetting phenomena have been studied quantitatively for more than 200 years, but there remain many fundamental questions that are not understood. For example, the speed of a water drop sliding down an inclined plane cannot be predicted. A drop that slides down a surface experiences a resistance. We call this resistance drop friction. It is still debated how and where energy is dissipated in a sliding drop. Particularly for the most common liquid, water, there have been considerable advances in the understanding of wetting, driven by the development of new physical, preparative and theoretical methods. Water is a special liquid, owing to its polar nature, its tendency to form hydrogen bonds, the self-ionization into OH− and H3O+, its low viscosity and its high surface tension. In recent years, water–surface interactions due to adaptation, spontaneous electrostatic charging and deformation on elastomers have been identified as important processes that increase drop friction. They may be responsible for drop friction even on seemingly smooth, homogeneous and rigid surfaces. The dynamic wetting of sliding drops, particularly of water, remains poorly understood. New experimental techniques have shown that, in addition to viscous dissipation, other energy dissipation mechanisms such as adaptation, electrostatic charging and deformation can contribute significantly and affect the motion of the drops.
{"title":"Drop friction","authors":"Hans-Jürgen Butt, Rüdiger Berger, Joel De Coninck, Rafael Tadmor","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00841-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00841-5","url":null,"abstract":"Wetting phenomena have been studied quantitatively for more than 200 years, but there remain many fundamental questions that are not understood. For example, the speed of a water drop sliding down an inclined plane cannot be predicted. A drop that slides down a surface experiences a resistance. We call this resistance drop friction. It is still debated how and where energy is dissipated in a sliding drop. Particularly for the most common liquid, water, there have been considerable advances in the understanding of wetting, driven by the development of new physical, preparative and theoretical methods. Water is a special liquid, owing to its polar nature, its tendency to form hydrogen bonds, the self-ionization into OH− and H3O+, its low viscosity and its high surface tension. In recent years, water–surface interactions due to adaptation, spontaneous electrostatic charging and deformation on elastomers have been identified as important processes that increase drop friction. They may be responsible for drop friction even on seemingly smooth, homogeneous and rigid surfaces. The dynamic wetting of sliding drops, particularly of water, remains poorly understood. New experimental techniques have shown that, in addition to viscous dissipation, other energy dissipation mechanisms such as adaptation, electrostatic charging and deformation can contribute significantly and affect the motion of the drops.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 8","pages":"425-438"},"PeriodicalIF":39.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123737","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 : 2025-07-21DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00855-z
Aziz Ghoufi
This Review surveys methods that use atomistic simulations to compute solid–fluid surface tension, a key parameter for understanding and controlling physical properties at interfaces. Accurate calculation and understanding of these properties are increasingly important in applications, especially in confined-fluid systems in which surface effects dominate over bulk properties. Traditional approaches such as contact angle measurements, the Wilhelmy plate method, and sessile drop methods often fall short in directly measuring solid–liquid surface tension. By contrast, molecular simulations allow the direct extraction of this parameter, offering a more detailed insight into its behaviour at the nanoscale. The Review emphasizes the challenges associated with solid–fluid interfaces, particularly their anisotropic nature, and discusses computational techniques such as the cleaving method, perturbation approaches and capillary wave theory. This article reviews atomistic methods for computing solid–fluid surface free energy and tension, highlighting challenges from anisotropy. It discusses simulation techniques and methodological developments, and emphasizes the need for improved methods to address complex, confined or disordered systems.
{"title":"Atomistic computing of the solid–fluid surface free energy and tension","authors":"Aziz Ghoufi","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00855-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00855-z","url":null,"abstract":"This Review surveys methods that use atomistic simulations to compute solid–fluid surface tension, a key parameter for understanding and controlling physical properties at interfaces. Accurate calculation and understanding of these properties are increasingly important in applications, especially in confined-fluid systems in which surface effects dominate over bulk properties. Traditional approaches such as contact angle measurements, the Wilhelmy plate method, and sessile drop methods often fall short in directly measuring solid–liquid surface tension. By contrast, molecular simulations allow the direct extraction of this parameter, offering a more detailed insight into its behaviour at the nanoscale. The Review emphasizes the challenges associated with solid–fluid interfaces, particularly their anisotropic nature, and discusses computational techniques such as the cleaving method, perturbation approaches and capillary wave theory. This article reviews atomistic methods for computing solid–fluid surface free energy and tension, highlighting challenges from anisotropy. It discusses simulation techniques and methodological developments, and emphasizes the need for improved methods to address complex, confined or disordered systems.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 9","pages":"473-486"},"PeriodicalIF":39.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123742","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 : 2025-07-16DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00839-z
Sergei N. Yurchenko, Jonathan Tennyson, Matteo Brogi
Understanding the atmospheres of exoplanets is crucial for unravelling their formation, evolution and potential habitability. High-resolution cross-correlation spectroscopy (HRCCS) has emerged as a powerful tool for probing exoplanetary atmospheres, enabling the detection of molecular species and the characterization of atmospheric dynamics. However, the reliability of these detections depends critically on the accuracy of laboratory spectroscopic data, particularly precise line positions and the careful statistical treatment of observational data. This Technical Review explores the interplay between laboratory data and high-resolution exoplanet spectroscopy, emphasizing the growing shift from isolated molecular detections to comprehensive whole-atmosphere characterization. We discuss the specific challenges of producing high-quality laboratory data and outline the needs of the exoplanetary community in this context. Key topics include the reliability of HRCCS detections, typical jargon of HRCCS and the ethical considerations in data attribution. By bridging the perspectives of laboratory spectroscopy, quantum chemistry and observational astronomy, we provide recommendations for advancing the field towards a more robust and self-consistent framework for exoplanetary atmospheric studies. Exoplanetary atmosphere studies rely on the quality of laboratory spectroscopy and observational astronomy. This Technical Review highlights the power of high-resolution cross-correlation spectroscopy for advancing the field for all stakeholders.
{"title":"Data challenges and prospects of high-resolution spectroscopy of exoplanets","authors":"Sergei N. Yurchenko, Jonathan Tennyson, Matteo Brogi","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00839-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00839-z","url":null,"abstract":"Understanding the atmospheres of exoplanets is crucial for unravelling their formation, evolution and potential habitability. High-resolution cross-correlation spectroscopy (HRCCS) has emerged as a powerful tool for probing exoplanetary atmospheres, enabling the detection of molecular species and the characterization of atmospheric dynamics. However, the reliability of these detections depends critically on the accuracy of laboratory spectroscopic data, particularly precise line positions and the careful statistical treatment of observational data. This Technical Review explores the interplay between laboratory data and high-resolution exoplanet spectroscopy, emphasizing the growing shift from isolated molecular detections to comprehensive whole-atmosphere characterization. We discuss the specific challenges of producing high-quality laboratory data and outline the needs of the exoplanetary community in this context. Key topics include the reliability of HRCCS detections, typical jargon of HRCCS and the ethical considerations in data attribution. By bridging the perspectives of laboratory spectroscopy, quantum chemistry and observational astronomy, we provide recommendations for advancing the field towards a more robust and self-consistent framework for exoplanetary atmospheric studies. Exoplanetary atmosphere studies rely on the quality of laboratory spectroscopy and observational astronomy. This Technical Review highlights the power of high-resolution cross-correlation spectroscopy for advancing the field for all stakeholders.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 11","pages":"645-659"},"PeriodicalIF":39.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-025-00839-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145429585","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 : 2025-07-16DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00856-y
Jonathan Tennyson, Sergei N. Yurchenko
K2-18 b is the only habitable-zone exoplanet with a detectable atmosphere — initially associated with water vapour, now accepted as being due to methane. Recent observations suggest possible biomarkers. This Comment assesses these shifting conclusions.
{"title":"A spectroscopist’s view of the evolving story of exoplanet K2-18 b","authors":"Jonathan Tennyson, Sergei N. Yurchenko","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00856-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00856-y","url":null,"abstract":"K2-18 b is the only habitable-zone exoplanet with a detectable atmosphere — initially associated with water vapour, now accepted as being due to methane. Recent observations suggest possible biomarkers. This Comment assesses these shifting conclusions.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 11","pages":"596-597"},"PeriodicalIF":39.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-025-00856-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145429601","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 : 2025-07-15DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00854-0
Francesco Bova, Roger G. Melko
In software development, open-source projects are common and directly compete with proprietary for-profit products. Francesco Bova and Roger Melko argue that in quantum computing, an open-source initiative is needed and would play a more complementary role.
{"title":"An open-source initiative would benefit quantum computing","authors":"Francesco Bova, Roger G. Melko","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00854-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00854-0","url":null,"abstract":"In software development, open-source projects are common and directly compete with proprietary for-profit products. Francesco Bova and Roger Melko argue that in quantum computing, an open-source initiative is needed and would play a more complementary role.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 8","pages":"406-407"},"PeriodicalIF":39.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123667","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 : 2025-07-08DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00843-3
Ivonne Bente, Shabnam Taheriniya, Francesco Lenzini, Frank Brückerhoff-Plückelmann, Michael Kues, Harish Bhaskaran, C. David Wright, Wolfram Pernice
The rapidly increasing demands on computational throughput, bandwidth and memory capacity fuelled by breakthroughs in machine learning pose substantial challenges for conventional electronic computing platforms. Historically, advancing compute performance relied on miniaturization to increase the transistor count on a given chip area and, more recently, on the development of parallel and multicore architectures. Computing platforms that process data using multiple, orthogonal dimensions can achieve exponential scaling on trajectories much steeper than what is possible with conventional strategies. One promising analog platform is photonics, which makes use of the physics of light, such as sensitivity to material properties and ability to encode information across multiple degrees of freedom. With recent breakthroughs in integrated photonic hardware and control, large-scale photonic systems have become a practical and timely solution for data-intensive, real-time computational tasks. Here, we explain developments in the realization of multidimensional computing platforms based on photonic systems. Moving to such architectures holds promise for low-latency, high-bandwidth information processing at reduced energy consumption. Multidimensional photonic computing is a framework that combines classical and quantum approaches, leveraging the properties of light. This Perspective explores its potential to enable scalable, neuromorphic photonic quantum systems suited to data-intensive and complex computational tasks.
{"title":"The potential of multidimensional photonic computing","authors":"Ivonne Bente, Shabnam Taheriniya, Francesco Lenzini, Frank Brückerhoff-Plückelmann, Michael Kues, Harish Bhaskaran, C. David Wright, Wolfram Pernice","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00843-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00843-3","url":null,"abstract":"The rapidly increasing demands on computational throughput, bandwidth and memory capacity fuelled by breakthroughs in machine learning pose substantial challenges for conventional electronic computing platforms. Historically, advancing compute performance relied on miniaturization to increase the transistor count on a given chip area and, more recently, on the development of parallel and multicore architectures. Computing platforms that process data using multiple, orthogonal dimensions can achieve exponential scaling on trajectories much steeper than what is possible with conventional strategies. One promising analog platform is photonics, which makes use of the physics of light, such as sensitivity to material properties and ability to encode information across multiple degrees of freedom. With recent breakthroughs in integrated photonic hardware and control, large-scale photonic systems have become a practical and timely solution for data-intensive, real-time computational tasks. Here, we explain developments in the realization of multidimensional computing platforms based on photonic systems. Moving to such architectures holds promise for low-latency, high-bandwidth information processing at reduced energy consumption. Multidimensional photonic computing is a framework that combines classical and quantum approaches, leveraging the properties of light. This Perspective explores its potential to enable scalable, neuromorphic photonic quantum systems suited to data-intensive and complex computational tasks.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 8","pages":"439-450"},"PeriodicalIF":39.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123664","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 : 2025-07-08DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00850-4
Andrea Reichenberger
A substantial number of female physicists in the first half of the 20th century contributed to quantum physics. For the history of physics to properly recognize their work, new approaches are needed.
{"title":"Shaping the history of quantum physics to make women visible","authors":"Andrea Reichenberger","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00850-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00850-4","url":null,"abstract":"A substantial number of female physicists in the first half of the 20th century contributed to quantum physics. For the history of physics to properly recognize their work, new approaches are needed.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 8","pages":"404-405"},"PeriodicalIF":39.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123665","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 : 2025-07-07DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00852-2
Calls to recognize research software engineers are not new — but such professionals are needed now more than ever.
承认研究软件工程师的呼声并不新鲜，但现在比以往任何时候都更需要这样的专业人士。
{"title":"Physics needs research software engineers","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00852-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00852-2","url":null,"abstract":"Calls to recognize research software engineers are not new — but such professionals are needed now more than ever.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 7","pages":"349-349"},"PeriodicalIF":39.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-025-00852-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123708","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 : 2025-07-07DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00858-w
Yaowen Hu, Di Zhu, Shengyuan Lu, Xinrui Zhu, Yunxiang Song, Dylan Renaud, Daniel Assumpcao, Rebecca Cheng, C. J. Xin, Matthew Yeh, Hana Warner, Xiangwen Guo, Amirhassan Shams-Ansari, David Barton, Neil Sinclair, Marko Loncar
Pub Date : 2025-07-07DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00845-1
Omar Amer, Shouvanik Chakrabarti, Kaushik Chakraborty, Shaltiel Eloul, Niraj Kumar, Charles Lim, Minzhao Liu, Pradeep Niroula, Yash Satsangi, Ruslan Shaydulin, Marco Pistoia
The use of randomness is ubiquitous in our society, including jury pool selection, encryption of digital communications, and many other activities. However, in many applications, there is an incentive for malicious actors to influence or predict the randomness. Therefore, it is beneficial if the trustworthiness, unpredictability and security of the randomness can be certified by any participant that does not trust the randomness provider. Certified randomness can be generated with untrusted remote quantum computers using multiple known protocols, one of which has recently been realized experimentally. Unlike the randomness sources accessible on today’s classical computers, the output of these protocols can be certified to be random under certain computational hardness assumptions, with no trust required in the hardware generating the randomness. In this Perspective, we explore real-world applications for which the use of certified randomness protocols may lead to improved security and fairness. We identify promising applications in areas including cryptography, differential privacy, financial markets and blockchain. Randomness is used in many applications where unpredictability is often paramount to ensure fairness and security. This Perspective discusses how quantum computation can generate certified randomness that can be verified by any participant and introduces several applications that can benefit from it.
{"title":"Applications of certified randomness","authors":"Omar Amer, Shouvanik Chakrabarti, Kaushik Chakraborty, Shaltiel Eloul, Niraj Kumar, Charles Lim, Minzhao Liu, Pradeep Niroula, Yash Satsangi, Ruslan Shaydulin, Marco Pistoia","doi":"10.1038/s42254-025-00845-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42254-025-00845-1","url":null,"abstract":"The use of randomness is ubiquitous in our society, including jury pool selection, encryption of digital communications, and many other activities. However, in many applications, there is an incentive for malicious actors to influence or predict the randomness. Therefore, it is beneficial if the trustworthiness, unpredictability and security of the randomness can be certified by any participant that does not trust the randomness provider. Certified randomness can be generated with untrusted remote quantum computers using multiple known protocols, one of which has recently been realized experimentally. Unlike the randomness sources accessible on today’s classical computers, the output of these protocols can be certified to be random under certain computational hardness assumptions, with no trust required in the hardware generating the randomness. In this Perspective, we explore real-world applications for which the use of certified randomness protocols may lead to improved security and fairness. We identify promising applications in areas including cryptography, differential privacy, financial markets and blockchain. Randomness is used in many applications where unpredictability is often paramount to ensure fairness and security. This Perspective discusses how quantum computation can generate certified randomness that can be verified by any participant and introduces several applications that can benefit from it.","PeriodicalId":19024,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Physics","volume":"7 9","pages":"514-524"},"PeriodicalIF":39.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123746","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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