Pub Date : 2025-11-18DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03084-4
Matthias Christandl
The second law of thermodynamics says that entropy may only ever increase during the conversion of one physical state into another. Finding an analogous quantity to characterize the conversion of entangled quantum states has been a rollercoaster ride.
{"title":"A cornerstone of entanglement theory restored","authors":"Matthias Christandl","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03084-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03084-4","url":null,"abstract":"The second law of thermodynamics says that entropy may only ever increase during the conversion of one physical state into another. Finding an analogous quantity to characterize the conversion of entangled quantum states has been a rollercoaster ride.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 12","pages":"1881-1882"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145536043","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 : 2025-11-17DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03099-x
Matthew Jankousky, Dimitar Pashov, João H. Mazo, Ross E. Larsen, Vladimir Dobrosavljević, Mark van Schilfgaarde, Vladan Stevanović
The localization of electrons caused by atomic disorder is a well-known phenomenon. However, under which circumstances electrons remain delocalized and retain band-like characteristics even when the crystal structure is completely absent, as found in certain amorphous solids, is less well understood. Here, to probe this phenomenon, we develop a fully first-principles description of the electronic structure and charge transport in amorphous materials, which combines a representation of the amorphous state as a composite (ensemble) of local environments and the state-of-the-art many-body electronic structure methods. Using amorphous In2O3 as an example, we demonstrate the accuracy of our approach in reproducing the band-like nature of the conduction electrons as well as their disorder-limited mobility. Our approach reveals the physical origins responsible for the electron delocalization and survival of the band dispersions despite the absence of long-range order. The standard band structure picture cannot be applied to amorphous materials as they lack crystal symmetry. Now a first-principles approach that captures the possibility of band-like electron transport in amorphous solids is presented, with In2O3 as an example.
{"title":"Effective bands and band-like electron transport in amorphous solids","authors":"Matthew Jankousky, Dimitar Pashov, João H. Mazo, Ross E. Larsen, Vladimir Dobrosavljević, Mark van Schilfgaarde, Vladan Stevanović","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03099-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03099-x","url":null,"abstract":"The localization of electrons caused by atomic disorder is a well-known phenomenon. However, under which circumstances electrons remain delocalized and retain band-like characteristics even when the crystal structure is completely absent, as found in certain amorphous solids, is less well understood. Here, to probe this phenomenon, we develop a fully first-principles description of the electronic structure and charge transport in amorphous materials, which combines a representation of the amorphous state as a composite (ensemble) of local environments and the state-of-the-art many-body electronic structure methods. Using amorphous In2O3 as an example, we demonstrate the accuracy of our approach in reproducing the band-like nature of the conduction electrons as well as their disorder-limited mobility. Our approach reveals the physical origins responsible for the electron delocalization and survival of the band dispersions despite the absence of long-range order. The standard band structure picture cannot be applied to amorphous materials as they lack crystal symmetry. Now a first-principles approach that captures the possibility of band-like electron transport in amorphous solids is presented, with In2O3 as an example.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 1","pages":"88-93"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145531881","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 : 2025-11-12DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03093-3
Jonas Heimerl, Stefan Meier, Anne Herzig, Felix López Hoffmann, Lennart Seiffert, Daniel M. B. Lesko, Simon Hillmann, Simon Wittigschlager, Tobias Weitz, Thomas Fennel, Peter Hommelhoff
Attosecond science—the control of electrons by ultrashort laser pulses—is developing into lightfield-driven, or petahertz, electronics. Optical-field-driven nanostructures provide elements for such electronics, which rely on understanding electron dynamics in the optical near field. Here we report near-field-induced low-energy stripes in carrier-envelope-phase-dependent electron spectra—a spectral feature that appears in the direct electrons emitted from a strongly driven nanostructure. These stripes arise from the subcycle sensitivity of the ponderomotive acceleration of electrons injected into a strong near-field gradient by a few-cycle optical waveform. They allow the tracking of direct and rescattered electron emissions on subcycle timescales and provide access to the electron momentum width at emission. Because this effect occurs in the direct electron signal, a large fraction of the emitted electrons can be steered, enabling the isolation of individual attosecond electron bursts with high charge density. Attosecond control of electrons in nanostructures requires resolving dynamics in the optical near field. Now, an experiment finds low-energy spectral stripes that track subcycle electron emission and allow the isolation of attosecond electron bursts.
{"title":"Attosecond physics in optical near fields","authors":"Jonas Heimerl, Stefan Meier, Anne Herzig, Felix López Hoffmann, Lennart Seiffert, Daniel M. B. Lesko, Simon Hillmann, Simon Wittigschlager, Tobias Weitz, Thomas Fennel, Peter Hommelhoff","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03093-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03093-3","url":null,"abstract":"Attosecond science—the control of electrons by ultrashort laser pulses—is developing into lightfield-driven, or petahertz, electronics. Optical-field-driven nanostructures provide elements for such electronics, which rely on understanding electron dynamics in the optical near field. Here we report near-field-induced low-energy stripes in carrier-envelope-phase-dependent electron spectra—a spectral feature that appears in the direct electrons emitted from a strongly driven nanostructure. These stripes arise from the subcycle sensitivity of the ponderomotive acceleration of electrons injected into a strong near-field gradient by a few-cycle optical waveform. They allow the tracking of direct and rescattered electron emissions on subcycle timescales and provide access to the electron momentum width at emission. Because this effect occurs in the direct electron signal, a large fraction of the emitted electrons can be steered, enabling the isolation of individual attosecond electron bursts with high charge density. Attosecond control of electrons in nanostructures requires resolving dynamics in the optical near field. Now, an experiment finds low-energy spectral stripes that track subcycle electron emission and allow the isolation of attosecond electron bursts.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 12","pages":"1893-1898"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-025-03093-3.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145492610","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 : 2025-11-11DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03119-w
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit”.
{"title":"The prize at the end of the quantum tunnel","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03119-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03119-w","url":null,"abstract":"The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit”.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 11","pages":"1681-1681"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-025-03119-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145487117","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 : 2025-11-11DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03080-8
Zhida Liu, Qiang Gao, Yanxing Li, Giovanny Espitia, Xiaohui Liu, Chuqiao Shi, Fan Zhang, Dong Seob Kim, Yue Ni, Miles Mackenzie, Hamza Abudayyeh, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Yimo Han, Mit H. Naik, Chih-Kang Shih, Eslam Khalaf, Xiaoqin Li
Quasicrystals are characterized by atomic arrangements having long-range order without periodicity. Van der Waals bilayers provide an opportunity to controllably vary the atomic alignment between two layers from a periodic moiré crystal to an aperiodic quasicrystal. Here we reveal that in a dodecagonal WSe2 quasicrystal, two separate valleys in separate layers are brought arbitrarily close in momentum space through higher-order Umklapp scatterings. A modest perpendicular electric field is then sufficient to induce strong interlayer valley hybridization, manifested as another hybrid excitonic doublet. Concurrently, we observe the disappearance of the trion that exists at low field, which we attribute to a modified spatial distribution of the wavefunction due to the quasicrystal potential. This is possibly a precursor to localization. Our findings highlight the ability of incommensurate systems to bring any pair of momenta into close proximity, thereby introducing opportunities for valley engineering. Lacking translational symmetry, the momentum-space description of quasicrystals is distinct from that of fully crystalline materials. Now, a quasicrystal with two 2D layers links different momenta from the individual layers, allowing new excitons to form.
{"title":"Field-tunable valley coupling in a dodecagonal semiconductor quasicrystal","authors":"Zhida Liu, Qiang Gao, Yanxing Li, Giovanny Espitia, Xiaohui Liu, Chuqiao Shi, Fan Zhang, Dong Seob Kim, Yue Ni, Miles Mackenzie, Hamza Abudayyeh, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Yimo Han, Mit H. Naik, Chih-Kang Shih, Eslam Khalaf, Xiaoqin Li","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03080-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03080-8","url":null,"abstract":"Quasicrystals are characterized by atomic arrangements having long-range order without periodicity. Van der Waals bilayers provide an opportunity to controllably vary the atomic alignment between two layers from a periodic moiré crystal to an aperiodic quasicrystal. Here we reveal that in a dodecagonal WSe2 quasicrystal, two separate valleys in separate layers are brought arbitrarily close in momentum space through higher-order Umklapp scatterings. A modest perpendicular electric field is then sufficient to induce strong interlayer valley hybridization, manifested as another hybrid excitonic doublet. Concurrently, we observe the disappearance of the trion that exists at low field, which we attribute to a modified spatial distribution of the wavefunction due to the quasicrystal potential. This is possibly a precursor to localization. Our findings highlight the ability of incommensurate systems to bring any pair of momenta into close proximity, thereby introducing opportunities for valley engineering. Lacking translational symmetry, the momentum-space description of quasicrystals is distinct from that of fully crystalline materials. Now, a quasicrystal with two 2D layers links different momenta from the individual layers, allowing new excitons to form.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 1","pages":"33-38"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145484688","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 : 2025-11-11DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03085-3
Mark Buchanan
{"title":"The beat of digital twins","authors":"Mark Buchanan","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03085-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03085-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 11","pages":"1683-1683"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145487118","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 : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03072-8
B. A. Bernevig, L. Fu, L. Ju, A. H. MacDonald, K. F. Mak, J. Shan
The discovery of the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects naturally prompted the question of whether these effects can be realized without a magnetic field. Answering this is fundamentally important and requires a synthesis of the concepts of band topology, quantum geometry and electronic correlations. Here we summarize the basic concepts of both fractional Chern and fractional topological insulators and illustrate them with the theoretical lattice models that support the flat Chern bands in which the states were first predicted. We then examine their experimental realizations in twisted bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides and moiré rhombohedral few-layer graphene. We also discuss the future challenges and opportunities in this research field. This Review describes the concepts behind generalized quantum Hall effects that can take place without a magnetic field, and summarizes recent experimental manifestations of these phenomena in twisted two-dimensional materials and few-layer graphene.
{"title":"Fractional quantization in insulators from Hall to Chern","authors":"B. A. Bernevig, L. Fu, L. Ju, A. H. MacDonald, K. F. Mak, J. Shan","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03072-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03072-8","url":null,"abstract":"The discovery of the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects naturally prompted the question of whether these effects can be realized without a magnetic field. Answering this is fundamentally important and requires a synthesis of the concepts of band topology, quantum geometry and electronic correlations. Here we summarize the basic concepts of both fractional Chern and fractional topological insulators and illustrate them with the theoretical lattice models that support the flat Chern bands in which the states were first predicted. We then examine their experimental realizations in twisted bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides and moiré rhombohedral few-layer graphene. We also discuss the future challenges and opportunities in this research field. This Review describes the concepts behind generalized quantum Hall effects that can take place without a magnetic field, and summarizes recent experimental manifestations of these phenomena in twisted two-dimensional materials and few-layer graphene.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 11","pages":"1702-1713"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145455641","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 : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03092-4
Marcelo Ciappina
When driven by nonclassical light, photoemission from a needle tip reveals signatures of strong-field physics, opening up opportunities to control matter and to engineer the building blocks of quantum technologies.
{"title":"Quantum light steers photoelectrons","authors":"Marcelo Ciappina","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03092-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03092-4","url":null,"abstract":"When driven by nonclassical light, photoemission from a needle tip reveals signatures of strong-field physics, opening up opportunities to control matter and to engineer the building blocks of quantum technologies.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 12","pages":"1871-1872"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145455638","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 : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03087-1
Jonas Heimerl, Andrei Rasputnyi, Jonathan Pölloth, Stefan Meier, Maria Chekhova, Peter Hommelhoff
Attosecond science relies on driving photoemitted electrons with the strong optical field of a laser pulse, which represents an intense classical coherent state of light. Bright squeezed vacuum is a quantum state of light that is also intense enough to drive strong-field physics. However, its mean optical electric field is zero, suggesting that, in a semi-classical view, electrons should not experience strong driving. The question arises if and how this quantum state of light can generate signatures of attosecond dynamics in strong-field photoemission. Here we show that the key signatures of strong-field physics—the high energy plateau and subsequent cut-off—also appear under driving of a needle tip by bright squeezed vacuum, but only when we post-select electron energy spectra on the individual photon number of each pulse. When averaging over many shots, we observe broad energy spectra without a plateau. This suggests that electrons driven by bright squeezed vacuum behave as if driven by an ensemble of coherent states of light. Our findings bridge strong-field physics and quantum optics, offering insights into bright squeezed vacuum and other quantum light states, and suggest the use of strongly driven electrons as quantum light sensors. The common description of strong-field light–matter interaction neglects the quantum-optical nature of the driving field. Now signatures of strong-field photoemission appear in electron energy spectra when driving with non-classical light.
{"title":"Quantum light drives electrons strongly at metal needle tips","authors":"Jonas Heimerl, Andrei Rasputnyi, Jonathan Pölloth, Stefan Meier, Maria Chekhova, Peter Hommelhoff","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03087-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03087-1","url":null,"abstract":"Attosecond science relies on driving photoemitted electrons with the strong optical field of a laser pulse, which represents an intense classical coherent state of light. Bright squeezed vacuum is a quantum state of light that is also intense enough to drive strong-field physics. However, its mean optical electric field is zero, suggesting that, in a semi-classical view, electrons should not experience strong driving. The question arises if and how this quantum state of light can generate signatures of attosecond dynamics in strong-field photoemission. Here we show that the key signatures of strong-field physics—the high energy plateau and subsequent cut-off—also appear under driving of a needle tip by bright squeezed vacuum, but only when we post-select electron energy spectra on the individual photon number of each pulse. When averaging over many shots, we observe broad energy spectra without a plateau. This suggests that electrons driven by bright squeezed vacuum behave as if driven by an ensemble of coherent states of light. Our findings bridge strong-field physics and quantum optics, offering insights into bright squeezed vacuum and other quantum light states, and suggest the use of strongly driven electrons as quantum light sensors. The common description of strong-field light–matter interaction neglects the quantum-optical nature of the driving field. Now signatures of strong-field photoemission appear in electron energy spectra when driving with non-classical light.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 12","pages":"1899-1904"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-025-03087-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145455639","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}
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