Pub Date : 2025-12-30DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03133-y
In most metals, free electrons form a homogeneous and isotropic fluid. However, a periodically modulated electronic fluid — known as a liquid charge density wave — is thought to form when electrons interact strongly with the vibrations of the crystalline host. This state is now observed using ultrafast electron diffraction.
{"title":"Experimental evidence of a spatially textured electron fluid","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03133-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03133-y","url":null,"abstract":"In most metals, free electrons form a homogeneous and isotropic fluid. However, a periodically modulated electronic fluid — known as a liquid charge density wave — is thought to form when electrons interact strongly with the vibrations of the crystalline host. This state is now observed using ultrafast electron diffraction.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 1","pages":"15-16"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145894092","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 : 2025-12-30DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03108-z
Joshua S. H. Lee, Thomas M. Sutter, Goran Karapetrov, Pietro Musumeci, Anshul Kogar
Charge density waves, electronic crystals that form within a host solid, have long been theorized to melt into a spatially textured electronic liquid. Although such liquid charge density waves have not been previously observed, they may be central to the phase diagrams of correlated electron systems, including high-temperature superconductors and quantum Hall states. In 1T-TaS2, a promising material for hosting a liquid charge density wave, a structural phase transition hinders observation. Here we use femtosecond light pulses to bypass this transition, revealing how topological defect dynamics govern hidden charge density wave correlations. Following photoexcitation, charge density wave diffraction peaks broaden azimuthally, indicating the emergence of a hexatic state. At elevated temperatures, photoexcitation fully destroys both translational and orientational orders, leaving only a ring of diffuse scattering—the hallmark of a liquid charge density wave. These findings offer compelling evidence for a defect-unbinding transition to a charge density wave liquid. More broadly, this approach demonstrates a route to uncover electronic phases obscured by intervening transitions in thermal equilibrium. Liquid charge density wave order is thought to occur in many correlated electron systems but has not been observed experimentally. Now, a liquid-like electronic state is shown to emerge in a transition metal dichalcogenide on photoexcitation.
{"title":"Observation of a hidden charge density wave liquid","authors":"Joshua S. H. Lee, Thomas M. Sutter, Goran Karapetrov, Pietro Musumeci, Anshul Kogar","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03108-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03108-z","url":null,"abstract":"Charge density waves, electronic crystals that form within a host solid, have long been theorized to melt into a spatially textured electronic liquid. Although such liquid charge density waves have not been previously observed, they may be central to the phase diagrams of correlated electron systems, including high-temperature superconductors and quantum Hall states. In 1T-TaS2, a promising material for hosting a liquid charge density wave, a structural phase transition hinders observation. Here we use femtosecond light pulses to bypass this transition, revealing how topological defect dynamics govern hidden charge density wave correlations. Following photoexcitation, charge density wave diffraction peaks broaden azimuthally, indicating the emergence of a hexatic state. At elevated temperatures, photoexcitation fully destroys both translational and orientational orders, leaving only a ring of diffuse scattering—the hallmark of a liquid charge density wave. These findings offer compelling evidence for a defect-unbinding transition to a charge density wave liquid. More broadly, this approach demonstrates a route to uncover electronic phases obscured by intervening transitions in thermal equilibrium. Liquid charge density wave order is thought to occur in many correlated electron systems but has not been observed experimentally. Now, a liquid-like electronic state is shown to emerge in a transition metal dichalcogenide on photoexcitation.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 1","pages":"68-74"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145894079","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 : 2025-12-19DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03142-x
Georgios Pavlou, Isabelle Tardieux
Malaria parasites rapidly glide through host tissues in right-handed spirals. A tilted architecture and asymmetric forces power this chiral motion and help them to transition between different environments.
{"title":"Chirality helps malaria parasites reach their target","authors":"Georgios Pavlou, Isabelle Tardieux","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03142-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03142-x","url":null,"abstract":"Malaria parasites rapidly glide through host tissues in right-handed spirals. A tilted architecture and asymmetric forces power this chiral motion and help them to transition between different environments.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 1","pages":"6-7"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145984094","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 : 2025-12-15DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03107-0
Darian Hall, Jung-Shen Benny Tai, Louis H. Kauffman, Ivan I. Smalyukh
Vortex knots have been seen decaying in many physical systems. Here we describe topologically protected vortex knots, which remain stable and undergo fusion and fission and conserve a topological invariant. The host medium, a chiral nematic liquid crystal, exhibits intrinsic chirality of molecular alignment, whereas cores of the vortex lines are structurally achiral regions in which a molecular twist cannot be defined. We can reversibly switch between fusion and fission of these vortex knots by applying electric pulses. This reveals the physical embodiments of concepts in knot theory, such as connected sums of knots and band surgeries. Our findings demonstrate the interplay of chirality effects at hierarchical levels from constituent molecules to the host medium and the energetically stable chiral vortex knots. This emergent physical behaviour may enable applications in electro-optics and photonics in which such fusion and fission processes of vortex knots can be used for controlling light. Topologically protected vortex knots are shown to undergo fusion and fission, with electric pulses acting as a switch between the two processes. This might enable applications in electro-optics and photonics.
{"title":"Fusion and fission of particle-like chiral nematic vortex knots","authors":"Darian Hall, Jung-Shen Benny Tai, Louis H. Kauffman, Ivan I. Smalyukh","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03107-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03107-0","url":null,"abstract":"Vortex knots have been seen decaying in many physical systems. Here we describe topologically protected vortex knots, which remain stable and undergo fusion and fission and conserve a topological invariant. The host medium, a chiral nematic liquid crystal, exhibits intrinsic chirality of molecular alignment, whereas cores of the vortex lines are structurally achiral regions in which a molecular twist cannot be defined. We can reversibly switch between fusion and fission of these vortex knots by applying electric pulses. This reveals the physical embodiments of concepts in knot theory, such as connected sums of knots and band surgeries. Our findings demonstrate the interplay of chirality effects at hierarchical levels from constituent molecules to the host medium and the energetically stable chiral vortex knots. This emergent physical behaviour may enable applications in electro-optics and photonics in which such fusion and fission processes of vortex knots can be used for controlling light. Topologically protected vortex knots are shown to undergo fusion and fission, with electric pulses acting as a switch between the two processes. This might enable applications in electro-optics and photonics.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 1","pages":"103-111"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-025-03107-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145759430","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 : 2025-12-12DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03106-1
M. Bassi, E. A. Rodríguez-Mena, B. Brun, S. Zihlmann, T. Nguyen, V. Champain, J. C. Abadillo-Uriel, B. Bertrand, H. Niebojewski, R. Maurand, Y.-M. Niquet, X. Jehl, S. De Franceschi, V. Schmitt
Hole spins in silicon or germanium quantum dots have emerged as a capable platform for scalable solid-state quantum processors. In addition to benefiting from well-established manufacturing technologies, the large spin–orbit coupling of hole spin qubits enables fast control mediated by an electric field. Unfortunately, this coupling typically makes hole spin qubits susceptible to charge noise, which usually limits qubit coherence. Here we experimentally establish the existence of so-called sweet lines in the parameter space of field orientation where the qubit becomes insensitive to charge noise. We do this by varying the direction of a magnetic field applied to a silicon metal–oxide–semiconductor hole qubit. We also find that the observed sweet lines contain the points of maximal driving efficiency, in agreement with recent theoretical predictions. Furthermore, we show that moderate adjustments in gate voltages can substantially shift the sweet lines. This tunability allows several qubits to be simultaneously made insensitive to electrical noise, making it possible to design scalable qubit architectures that feature all-electrical spin control of many qubits. Hole spin semiconductor qubits suffer from charge noise, but now it has been demonstrated that placing them in an appropriately oriented magnetic field can suppress this noise and improve qubit performance.
{"title":"Optimal operation of hole spin qubits","authors":"M. Bassi, E. A. Rodríguez-Mena, B. Brun, S. Zihlmann, T. Nguyen, V. Champain, J. C. Abadillo-Uriel, B. Bertrand, H. Niebojewski, R. Maurand, Y.-M. Niquet, X. Jehl, S. De Franceschi, V. Schmitt","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03106-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03106-1","url":null,"abstract":"Hole spins in silicon or germanium quantum dots have emerged as a capable platform for scalable solid-state quantum processors. In addition to benefiting from well-established manufacturing technologies, the large spin–orbit coupling of hole spin qubits enables fast control mediated by an electric field. Unfortunately, this coupling typically makes hole spin qubits susceptible to charge noise, which usually limits qubit coherence. Here we experimentally establish the existence of so-called sweet lines in the parameter space of field orientation where the qubit becomes insensitive to charge noise. We do this by varying the direction of a magnetic field applied to a silicon metal–oxide–semiconductor hole qubit. We also find that the observed sweet lines contain the points of maximal driving efficiency, in agreement with recent theoretical predictions. Furthermore, we show that moderate adjustments in gate voltages can substantially shift the sweet lines. This tunability allows several qubits to be simultaneously made insensitive to electrical noise, making it possible to design scalable qubit architectures that feature all-electrical spin control of many qubits. Hole spin semiconductor qubits suffer from charge noise, but now it has been demonstrated that placing them in an appropriately oriented magnetic field can suppress this noise and improve qubit performance.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 1","pages":"75-80"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145746791","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 : 2025-12-11DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03118-x
An electrical method is shown to reliably introduce nonreciprocal behaviour across a Josephson junction made of high-temperature cuprate superconductors, which then, under microwave irradiation, forms a ‘quantum superconducting diode’. The device is magnetic-field-free, works at a temperature of 77 K with a diode efficiency of 100%, and, owing to Shapiro steps that quantize the output voltage, has robust noise-filtering.
{"title":"A super-conducting diode with ultimate efficiency and noise resilience at 77 K","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03118-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03118-x","url":null,"abstract":"An electrical method is shown to reliably introduce nonreciprocal behaviour across a Josephson junction made of high-temperature cuprate superconductors, which then, under microwave irradiation, forms a ‘quantum superconducting diode’. The device is magnetic-field-free, works at a temperature of 77 K with a diode efficiency of 100%, and, owing to Shapiro steps that quantize the output voltage, has robust noise-filtering.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 1","pages":"13-14"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145984099","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}
Parity–time symmetry has revolutionized wave and energy transport control in non-Hermitian systems, yet has so far been mostly explored in static phases, where a system’s behaviour is locked into a fixed-symmetric or broken-symmetry phase. The vast potential of time-domain dynamics has remained largely untapped. Here we introduce the concept of temporal anti-parity–time symmetry, a principle that allows the transport dynamics of a system to be actively shaped in real time. Rather than designing static phases, we influence the timing of non-Hermitian phase transitions, making the system’s temporal evolution itself a programmable degree of freedom. Through the dynamic control of material properties and convective flow, we dictate the exact moments these transitions occur, thereby controlling the entire transport history of the system. This temporal control achieves highly tunable field localization and realizes counterintuitive thermal transport, enabling temperature profiles to move forwards with convection, backwards against it or remain trapped at arbitrary locations. Our findings extend non-Hermitian physics into the time domain and establish a framework for on-demand wave and energy transport. Applying concepts from non-Hermitian physics to diffusive systems enables the static control of heat transport. Now, this notion is expanded to dynamic control, including a demonstration of programmed thermal transport in a metamaterial.
{"title":"Temporal anti-parity–time symmetry in diffusive transport","authors":"Peng Jin, Chengmeng Wang, Yuhong Zhou, Shuihua Yang, Fubao Yang, Jinrong Liu, Ya Sun, Pengfei Zhuang, Yiyang Zhang, Liujun Xu, Yi Zhou, Ghim Wei Ho, Cheng-Wei Qiu, Jiping Huang","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03129-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03129-8","url":null,"abstract":"Parity–time symmetry has revolutionized wave and energy transport control in non-Hermitian systems, yet has so far been mostly explored in static phases, where a system’s behaviour is locked into a fixed-symmetric or broken-symmetry phase. The vast potential of time-domain dynamics has remained largely untapped. Here we introduce the concept of temporal anti-parity–time symmetry, a principle that allows the transport dynamics of a system to be actively shaped in real time. Rather than designing static phases, we influence the timing of non-Hermitian phase transitions, making the system’s temporal evolution itself a programmable degree of freedom. Through the dynamic control of material properties and convective flow, we dictate the exact moments these transitions occur, thereby controlling the entire transport history of the system. This temporal control achieves highly tunable field localization and realizes counterintuitive thermal transport, enabling temperature profiles to move forwards with convection, backwards against it or remain trapped at arbitrary locations. Our findings extend non-Hermitian physics into the time domain and establish a framework for on-demand wave and energy transport. Applying concepts from non-Hermitian physics to diffusive systems enables the static control of heat transport. Now, this notion is expanded to dynamic control, including a demonstration of programmed thermal transport in a metamaterial.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"22 2","pages":"195-201"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145711548","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 : 2025-12-10DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03147-6
Social connections can unlock opportunities that are advantageous to careers in physics. However, this resource is unevenly distributed, and its benefits can’t always overcome the negative effects of societal stereotypes and biases.
{"title":"Level the slopes","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03147-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03147-6","url":null,"abstract":"Social connections can unlock opportunities that are advantageous to careers in physics. However, this resource is unevenly distributed, and its benefits can’t always overcome the negative effects of societal stereotypes and biases.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 12","pages":"1863-1863"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-025-03147-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145719859","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 : 2025-12-10DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03114-1
Weihua Li, Hongwei Zheng, Aaron Clauset
Elite women in physics wait longer than men for recognition. Once elected to the US National Academy of Sciences, however, their prominence surges — evidence that their work was undervalued all along.
物理学领域的精英女性比男性等待认可的时间更长。然而，一旦入选美国国家科学院（National Academy of Sciences），他们的声望就会飙升——这证明他们的工作一直被低估了。
{"title":"The undervaluing of elite women in physics","authors":"Weihua Li, Hongwei Zheng, Aaron Clauset","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03114-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-03114-1","url":null,"abstract":"Elite women in physics wait longer than men for recognition. Once elected to the US National Academy of Sciences, however, their prominence surges — evidence that their work was undervalued all along.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 12","pages":"1864-1867"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145719860","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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