{"title":"Nonlinear synchronization through vector subharmonic entrainment.","authors":"Dmitrii Stoliarov, Sergey Sergeyev, Hani Kbashi, Fan Wu, Qianqian Huang, Chengbo Mou","doi":"10.1038/s42005-026-02509-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42005-026-02509-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Synchronization is a universal phenomenon underpinning various natural processes and finds direct application in control engineering and photonics. Among several synchronization mechanisms, subharmonic entrainment (SHE) is a nonlinear synchronization phenomenon where an oscillator locks to an external drive with a fraction of the oscillator's frequency. While its mechanism is well understood for scalar couplings and finds application in the stabilization of ultrafast laser pulses, the potential of SHE with vectorial coupling is still unexplored. In this work, we demonstrate vector SHE (VSHE) using a passively mode-locked fiber laser as a testbed. We unveil the mechanism of vector SHE, in which weak external signals can entrain internal laser dynamics through vector coupling. Vector SHE presents in the form of synchronization between the subharmonic of mode-locking-driven oscillations and continuous wave (CW) signal with an evolving state of polarization. This CW signal, driven by the internal dynamics of the injected signal, causes VSHE with the frequencies' ratios of multiples of ten, resulting in a partially mode locking regime operation. Our findings offer new control techniques over mode-locking and additional dimension such as polarization states.</p>","PeriodicalId":10540,"journal":{"name":"Communications Physics","volume":"9 1","pages":"71"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12923357/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147270132","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}
Communications PhysicsPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-04-15DOI: 10.1038/s42005-026-02631-6
Kris V Parag, Mauricio Santillana, Anne Cori, Uri Obolski
{"title":"The <i>R</i> = 1 threshold can misclassify epidemic stability.","authors":"Kris V Parag, Mauricio Santillana, Anne Cori, Uri Obolski","doi":"10.1038/s42005-026-02631-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42005-026-02631-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The effective reproduction number, <i>R</i>, is a predominant statistic for tracking infectious disease spread and informing health policies. An estimated <i>R</i> = <i>1</i> is universally interpreted as a stability threshold distinguishing epidemic growth (<i>R</i> > <i>1</i>) from control (<i>R</i> < <i>1</i>). We demonstrate that this interpretation frequently fails because <i>R</i> typically averages over groups with heterogeneous characteristics. We find that <i>R</i> = <i>1</i> conceals valuable early-warning signals of resurgence and misclassifies complex dynamics as noise, generating false positive stability thresholds that diminish predictive and policymaking value. We further illustrate that a popular alternative transmissibility definition (using next-generation matrices) overcorrects this issue, producing false negative stability signals by amplifying stochastic variation. We address these limitations by adapting a recently developed statistic, <i>E</i>, derived from <i>R</i> using experimental design theory. We show that <i>E</i> tightly constrains the set of scenarios consistent with stability, while remaining robust to noise and establish <i>E</i> = <i>1</i> as a more practical and meaningful real-time threshold.</p>","PeriodicalId":10540,"journal":{"name":"Communications Physics","volume":"9 1","pages":"185"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13201159/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148041480","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}
Communications PhysicsPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-02-26DOI: 10.1038/s42005-026-02553-3
O Gerguri, D Das, V Sazgari, H X Liu, C Mielke Iii, P Král, S S Islam, J N Graham, V Grinenko, R Sarkar, T Shiroka, D Gawryluk, J-X Yin, J Chang, R Thomale, H H Klauss, R Khasanov, Y G Shi, H Luetkens, Z Guguchia
{"title":"Distinct uniaxial stress and pressure fingerprint of superconductivity in the 3D kagome lattice compound CeRu<sub>2</sub>.","authors":"O Gerguri, D Das, V Sazgari, H X Liu, C Mielke Iii, P Král, S S Islam, J N Graham, V Grinenko, R Sarkar, T Shiroka, D Gawryluk, J-X Yin, J Chang, R Thomale, H H Klauss, R Khasanov, Y G Shi, H Luetkens, Z Guguchia","doi":"10.1038/s42005-026-02553-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42005-026-02553-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The exploration of tunable superconductivity in strongly correlated electron systems is a central pursuit in condensed matter physics, with implications for both fundamental understanding and potential applications. The Laves phase CeRu<sub>2</sub>, a pyrochlore compound, exhibits a three-dimensional (3D) kagome lattice type geometry giving rise to flat bands and degenerate Dirac points, where band structure features intertwine with strong multi-orbital interaction effects deriving from its correlated electronic structure. Here, we combine muon spin rotation (<i>μ</i>SR), uniaxial in-plane stress, and hydrostatic pressure to probe the superconducting state of CeRu<sub>2</sub>. Uniaxial stress up to 0.22 GPa induces a dome-shaped evolution of the critical temperature <i>T</i> <sub>c</sub>, with an initial plateau, successively followed by enhancement and suppression without any structural phase transition. Stress is further found to drive a crossover from anisotropic to isotropic <i>s</i>-wave pairing. In contrast, hydrostatic pressure up to 1.9 GPa leaves <i>T</i> <sub>c</sub> largely unchanged but alters the superfluid density from exponential to linear behavior at low temperatures, indicative of nodal superconductivity under hydrostatic pressure. These findings identify CeRu<sub>2</sub> as a prime platform for multifold tuning of superconductivity in a 3D correlated material.</p>","PeriodicalId":10540,"journal":{"name":"Communications Physics","volume":"9 1","pages":"122"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13061613/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147671077","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}
Communications PhysicsPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-06-25DOI: 10.1038/s42005-026-02711-7
Ridwan Olabiyi, Han Hu, Ashif Iquebal
{"title":"Discovering Governing Physics in the Presence of Uncertainty.","authors":"Ridwan Olabiyi, Han Hu, Ashif Iquebal","doi":"10.1038/s42005-026-02711-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42005-026-02711-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In the study of complex dynamical systems, accurately modeling the underlying physics is crucial for predicting system behavior. Yet real-world systems exhibit pronounced input variability and are observed through noisy, limited data that confound traditional methods assuming fixed-coefficient models. In this work, we theorize that accounting for system variability together with measurement noise is the key to consistently discover the governing equations underlying dynamical systems. We introduce a stochastic inverse physics-discovery (SIP) framework that treats unknown coefficients as random variables and infers their posterior distributions by minimizing the Kullback-Leibler divergence between the push-forward of posterior samples and the empirical data distribution. Tests on ten scenarios spanning predator-prey dynamics, chaotic attractors, oscillatory systems, ecological records, and liquid infiltration demonstrate that SIP consistently outperforms seven methods across three paradigms, reducing coefficient error by about 80% and achieving perfect structural identification in seven of ten cases.</p>","PeriodicalId":10540,"journal":{"name":"Communications Physics","volume":"9 1","pages":"328"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13668665/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149215140","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}
Communications PhysicsPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-04-13DOI: 10.1038/s42005-026-02604-9
Omid Nourmofidi, Hannes Hübener, E K U Gross, Angel Rubio
{"title":"Linking critical temperature with electron localization for cavity-enhanced superconductivity.","authors":"Omid Nourmofidi, Hannes Hübener, E K U Gross, Angel Rubio","doi":"10.1038/s42005-026-02604-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42005-026-02604-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Predicting superconducting properties from first principles-especially in non-equilibrium conditions-is computationally intensive. Here, we propose a more efficient approach by using the electron localization function (ELF) as a proxy for estimating the superconducting critical temperature <i>T</i> <sub>C</sub>. Through first-principles calculations, we investigate how coupling conventional superconductors to an optical cavity-without external driving-modifies their phonon properties and electron-phonon interactions via vacuum fluctuations alone. We focus on three representative materials: lead (Pb), niobium (Nb), and magnesium diboride (MgB<sub>2</sub>). Our methodology combines Density Functional Theory (DFT), Density Functional Perturbation Theory (DFPT), Quantum Electrodynamical Density Functional Theory (QEDFT), and Wannier-based electron-phonon coupling to solve the Eliashberg equations for <i>T</i> <sub>C</sub>. For the materials studied here, our results indicate that the ELF captures some trends in the superconducting behavior under light-matter coupling, suggesting it may serve as a low-cost descriptor to guide the screening or design of superconductors in equilibrium and cavity-modified regimes.</p>","PeriodicalId":10540,"journal":{"name":"Communications Physics","volume":"9 1","pages":"134"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13086573/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147721929","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}
Communications PhysicsPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-03-11DOI: 10.1038/s42005-026-02565-z
Vladyslav M Kuchkin, Andreas Haller, Andreas Michels, Thomas L Schmidt, Nikolai S Kiselev
{"title":"Regularized micromagnetic theory for Bloch points.","authors":"Vladyslav M Kuchkin, Andreas Haller, Andreas Michels, Thomas L Schmidt, Nikolai S Kiselev","doi":"10.1038/s42005-026-02565-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42005-026-02565-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Magnetic singularities known as Bloch points (BPs) present a fundamental challenge for micromagnetic theory, which is based on the assumption of a fixed magnetization vector length. Due to the divergence of the effective field at a BP, classical micromagnetics fails to adequately describe BP dynamics. To address this issue, we propose a regularized micromagnetic model in which the magnetization vector can vary in length but not exceed a threshold value. More specifically, the magnetization is treated as an order parameter constrained to an <math> <msup><mrow><mi>S</mi></mrow> <mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow> </msup> </math> -sphere. This constraint respects fundamental properties of local spin expectation values in quantum systems. We derive the corresponding regularized Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation and the analog of the Thiele equation describing the steady motion of spin textures under various external stimuli. We demonstrate the applicability of our theory by modeling the dynamics of several magnetic textures containing BPs, including domain walls in nanowires, chiral bobbers, and magnetic dipolar strings. The presented results extend micromagnetic theory by incorporating a regularized description of BP dynamics.</p>","PeriodicalId":10540,"journal":{"name":"Communications Physics","volume":"9 1","pages":"147"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13111154/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147764827","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}
Communications PhysicsPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-02-04DOI: 10.1038/s42005-025-02471-w
Jayaprasath Elumalai, Mohammed Salih, Martyn Fice, Adam Brown, Lianhe Li, Edmund H Linfield, Alexander Valavanis, Alwyn J Seeds, Alexander Giles Davies, Joshua R Freeman
{"title":"Free-space optical communications at 4 Gbit/s data rate with a terahertz laser.","authors":"Jayaprasath Elumalai, Mohammed Salih, Martyn Fice, Adam Brown, Lianhe Li, Edmund H Linfield, Alexander Valavanis, Alwyn J Seeds, Alexander Giles Davies, Joshua R Freeman","doi":"10.1038/s42005-025-02471-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42005-025-02471-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Terahertz-frequency (THz) carrier waves in free-space optical (FSO) communications offer the potential for > 1 Tbit/s data rates and stable latency. They offer wider bandwidths than available in the microwave region, together with reduced scattering and relaxed pointing requirements compared with visible and near-infrared regions. However, 1-10 THz FSO communications systems have thus far been limited to data rates several orders of magnitude lower than those of infrared systems. This work describes an experimental demonstration of multi-gigabit-per-second FSO communication using a THz quantum cascade laser (QCL), opening a new frontier for next-generation wireless communications. The FSO communication system consists of a 2.4 THz QCL source as the transmitter and a room-temperature Schottky barrier diode detector as the receiver. By directly modulating the terahertz QCL, we achieved non-return-to-zero on-off keying (NRZ-OOK) with a transmission rate of up to 4 Gbit/s. We evaluated the performance of the communication link by analyzing the bit error rate (BER) of the demodulated signal at the receiver while examining its relation to received optical power, QCL modulation power, and various bias points. Our work establishes the foundation for high-speed optical wireless communication based on terahertz QCL technology systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":10540,"journal":{"name":"Communications Physics","volume":"9 1","pages":"33"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12915521/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146225439","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}
Communications PhysicsPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-04-27DOI: 10.1038/s42005-026-02639-y
Mirko Gallo, Filippo Occhioni, Riccardo Daniele, Carlo Massimo Casciola
{"title":"Hydrodynamical pathways in the phase change of real fluids.","authors":"Mirko Gallo, Filippo Occhioni, Riccardo Daniele, Carlo Massimo Casciola","doi":"10.1038/s42005-026-02639-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42005-026-02639-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Identifying the incipient conditions of liquid-vapour transformation, the number of bubbles formed, their spatiotemporal scales, and the role of inertia remains a major challenge, reflecting how elusive the early stages of phase change are. Here, we present a theoretical framework that combines large deviation theory, multiphase fluctuating hydrodynamics and real fluid thermodynamics to compute the most probable nucleation pathways in metastable liquids. We identify the optimal trajectories connecting metastable and stable states and determine the full spatiotemporal structure of the nucleation process. Our results reveal that nucleation is not solely governed by thermodynamic forces, but is also shaped by hydrodynamic phenomena such as wave propagation and inertial effects. The approach predicts boiling thresholds for water, nitrogen, and helium, in agreement with experiments. It provides a unified, predictive description of phase-change kinetics linking microscopic fluctuations to macroscopic hydrodynamic observables, opening routes to prediction and control of phase change.</p>","PeriodicalId":10540,"journal":{"name":"Communications Physics","volume":"9 1","pages":"220"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13323055/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148374489","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}
Communications PhysicsPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-06-18DOI: 10.1038/s42005-026-02726-0
Omer Tayfuroglu, Marco Krummenacher, Jonas A Finkler, Hannes Huber, Stefan Goedecker
{"title":"Quantifying entropic stabilization of the structurally tolerant ionic phase of lithium alanate.","authors":"Omer Tayfuroglu, Marco Krummenacher, Jonas A Finkler, Hannes Huber, Stefan Goedecker","doi":"10.1038/s42005-026-02726-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42005-026-02726-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In materials simulations, formation energies can provide valuable information about the stability of different crystal polymorphs. However, at finite temperatures, it is often essential to go beyond simple energetics and include free energies in the analysis, as many crystal phases are stabilized by entropic contributions. Therefore, solid-solid phase transitions at finite temperatures are common. Traditionally, free energies of crystalline solids are computed through an analysis of the phonon band structure, which is calculated within the harmonic approximation considering only the crystalline unit cell and its periodic replications. Configurational contributions to the free energy are typically only taken into account for systems such as high-entropy alloys, where the multiplicity can be calculated analytically. We present a numerical approach for calculating configurational entropy that is applicable to essentially any system. By a combination of machine-learned interatomic potentials and efficient structure search methods, we are able to obtain a huge number of inherent structures and study their influence on the free energy of the system. To obtain these structures, it is necessary to generate large periodic cells that can represent not only the perfect crystalline structure but also a very large number of defective structures. Reliable estimates of phase transition temperatures can only be obtained if the configurational density of states is well converged with respect to this cell size. We illustrate this effect for lithium alanate, where the configurational entropy contribution of the structurally tolerant ionic phase reduces the transition temperature to the polymeric phase by 150 K.</p>","PeriodicalId":10540,"journal":{"name":"Communications Physics","volume":"9 1","pages":"315"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13638467/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149105242","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}
Communications PhysicsPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-01-07DOI: 10.1038/s42005-025-02418-1
Emmanouil T Kokkinakis, Ioannis Komis, Konstantinos G Makris
{"title":"Self-trapping and skin solitons in two-dimensional non-Hermitian lattices.","authors":"Emmanouil T Kokkinakis, Ioannis Komis, Konstantinos G Makris","doi":"10.1038/s42005-025-02418-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42005-025-02418-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Two-dimensional non-Hermitian photonic lattices with asymmetric couplings offer rich possibilities for controlling wave localization, through the emergence of the non-Hermitian skin effect at lattice corners or sides. Yet, how optical nonlinearity modifies these boundary-localization characteristics remains largely unexplored. Here we show that in a two-dimensional Hatano-Nelson lattice with Kerr nonlinearity, the interplay between self-trapping and directional propagation leads to position-dependent amplitude thresholds. Single-site excitations having above a critical amplitude become confined to their initial position, with lower thresholds near the position where the linear eigenmodes are localized and higher thresholds within the lattice's bulk. Additionally, we study the differences of this dynamical interplay, for wider initial excitations, between the focusing and defocusing Kerr-nonlinearity regimes. Lastly, we identify skin soliton solutions in a variety of two-dimensional lattice geometries featuring coupling asymmetry. This work paves the way for future investigations regarding transport and soliton formation in higher-dimensional nonlinear non-Hermitian lattices.</p>","PeriodicalId":10540,"journal":{"name":"Communications Physics","volume":"9 1","pages":"22"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12819148/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146028519","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}