Nature PhysicsPub Date : 2025-07-09DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-02973-y
Jiantao Ma, Jiawei Yang, Shunfa Liu, Bo Chen, Xueshi Li, Changkun Song, Guixin Qiu, Kai Zou, Xiaolong Hu, Feng Li, Ying Yu, Jin Liu
{"title":"Nanophotonic quantum skyrmions enabled by semiconductor cavity quantum electrodynamics","authors":"Jiantao Ma, Jiawei Yang, Shunfa Liu, Bo Chen, Xueshi Li, Changkun Song, Guixin Qiu, Kai Zou, Xiaolong Hu, Feng Li, Ying Yu, Jin Liu","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-02973-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-02973-y","url":null,"abstract":"Skyrmions are topologically stable quasiparticles that have been investigated in contexts including particle physics, quantum field theory, acoustics and condensed-matter physics. Quantum optical skyrmions with local topological textures are expected to reshape the landscape of quantum photonic technology, although their experimental implementation has not yet been demonstrated. Here we present experimental realizations of nanophotonic quantum skyrmions using a semiconductor cavity quantum electrodynamics system. By manipulating the photonic spin–orbit coupling in a Gaussian microcavity, we obtained a confined optical mode whose polarizations feature skyrmionic topologies. With pronounced cavity quantum electrodynamics effects, we generated and detected single-photon skyrmions from a solid-state quantum emitter deterministically coupled to the Gaussian microcavity. The polarity associated with single-photon skyrmions can be swapped by flipping the polarization of the quantum emitter through the Zeeman effect. We also investigated the topological protection of quantum optical skyrmions under different perturbations. Our work opens an unexplored aspect of quantum light–matter interactions in the nanoscale and might advance resilient photonic quantum technology with high-dimensional qubits and high-capacity quantum memories. Quantum optical skyrmions are promising for quantum photonic applications but have not been experimentally realized. Now nanophotonic quantum skyrmions are generated using a semiconductor quantum dot–Gaussian microcavity quantum electrodynamics system.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 9","pages":"1462-1468"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144586398","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}
Nature PhysicsPub Date : 2025-07-02DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-02960-3
Bikash Ghosh, Maria Labendik, Liliia Musina, Vladimir Umansky, Moty Heiblum, David F. Mross
{"title":"Anyonic braiding in a chiral Mach–Zehnder interferometer","authors":"Bikash Ghosh, Maria Labendik, Liliia Musina, Vladimir Umansky, Moty Heiblum, David F. Mross","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-02960-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-02960-3","url":null,"abstract":"Fractional quantum statistics are the defining characteristic of anyons. Measuring the phase generated by an exchange of anyons is challenging, as standard interferometry set-ups—such as the Fabry–Pérot interferometer—suffer from charging effects that obscure the interference signal. Here we present the observation of anyonic interference and exchange phases in an optical-like Mach–Zehnder interferometer based on co-propagating interface modes. By avoiding backscattering and deleterious charging effects, this set-up enables pristine and robust Aharonov–Bohm interference without any phase slips. At various fractional filling factors, the observed flux periodicities agree with the fundamental fractionally charged excitations that correspond to Jain states and depend only on the bulk topological order. To probe the anyonic statistics, we used a small, charged top gate in the interferometer bulk to induce localized quasiparticles without modifying the Aharonov–Bohm phase. The added quasiparticles introduce periodic phase slips. The sign and magnitude of the observed phase slips align with the expected value at filling 1/3, but their direction shows systematic deviations at fillings 2/5 and 3/7. Control over added individual quasiparticles in this design is essential for measuring the coveted non-abelian statistics in the future. An interferometer design allows systematic investigation of the anyonic statistics of bulk fractional quantum Hall states.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 9","pages":"1392-1397"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144533765","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}
Nature PhysicsPub Date : 2025-06-27DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-02946-1
A. Vukics, P. Domokos
{"title":"Atoms revolt against tweezer-imposed order","authors":"A. Vukics, P. Domokos","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-02946-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-02946-1","url":null,"abstract":"The combination of optical tweezer arrays with high-finesse cavities opens the door to the study of mesoscopic finite-size effects in the critical dynamics and optomechanical response of atomic ensembles.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 7","pages":"1038-1039"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144500764","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}
Nature PhysicsPub Date : 2025-06-27DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-02938-1
Alberto de la Torre, Qiaochu Wang, Yasamin Masoumi, Benjamin Campbell, Jake V. Riffle, Dushyanthini Balasundaram, Patrick M. Vora, Jacob P. C. Ruff, Gregory A. Fiete, Shawna M. Hollen, Kemp W. Plumb
{"title":"Dynamic phase transition in 1T-TaS2 via a thermal quench","authors":"Alberto de la Torre, Qiaochu Wang, Yasamin Masoumi, Benjamin Campbell, Jake V. Riffle, Dushyanthini Balasundaram, Patrick M. Vora, Jacob P. C. Ruff, Gregory A. Fiete, Shawna M. Hollen, Kemp W. Plumb","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-02938-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-02938-1","url":null,"abstract":"Ultrafast light–matter interaction has emerged as a mechanism to control the macroscopic properties of quantum materials. However, technological applications of photoinduced phases are limited by their ultrashort lifetimes and the low temperatures required for their stabilization. One such phase is the hidden metallic charge density wave state in 1T-TaS2, whose origin and stability above cryogenic temperatures remain the subject of debate. Here, we demonstrate that this phase can be stabilized at thermal equilibrium by accessing a mixed charge density wave order regime through thermal quenching. Using X-ray high-dynamic-range reciprocal space mapping and scanning tunnelling spectroscopy, we reveal the coexistence of commensurate charge density wave and hidden metallic charge density wave domains up to 210 K. Our findings show that each order parameter breaks basal plane mirror symmetry with different chiral orientations and induces out-of-plane unit cell tripling in the hidden phase. Despite metallic domain walls and a finite density of states, the bulk resistance remains insulating due to charge density wave stacking disorder. Our results establish the hidden state as a thermally stable phase and introduce an alternative mechanism for switchable metallic behaviour in thin flakes of 1T-TaS2 and similar materials with competing phases. The photoinduced hidden metallic state in 1T-TaS2 has so far been stabilized only at cryogenic temperatures. Now it is shown that accessing an additional mixed-phase long-lived metastable state can stabilize the hidden phase at higher temperatures.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 8","pages":"1267-1274"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144500765","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}
Nature PhysicsPub Date : 2025-06-26DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-02936-3
Atsushi Takahagi, Takamasa Hirai, Abdulkareem Alasli, Sang J. Park, Hosei Nagano, Ken-ichi Uchida
{"title":"Observation of the transverse Thomson effect","authors":"Atsushi Takahagi, Takamasa Hirai, Abdulkareem Alasli, Sang J. Park, Hosei Nagano, Ken-ichi Uchida","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-02936-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-02936-3","url":null,"abstract":"The Thomson effect refers to volumetric heating or cooling in a conductor when a charge current and a temperature gradient are applied in the same direction. Similarly, it is expected that a conductor will be heated or cooled when a charge current, a temperature gradient and a magnetic field are applied in orthogonal directions. This phenomenon, referred to as the transverse Thomson effect, has not been experimentally observed. Here we report the observation of this effect in a semimetallic Bi88Sb12 alloy with thermoelectric imaging. We can switch between heating or cooling by changing the direction of the magnetic field. Our experiments and analyses reveal the essential difference between the conventional and transverse Thomson effects. Whereas the former depends sorely on the temperature derivative of the Seebeck coefficient, the latter depends on the temperature derivative and the magnitude of the Nernst coefficient. The observation of the transverse Thomson effect provides a new concept for active thermal management technologies. When a charge current, a temperature gradient and a magnetic field are applied orthogonally to each other, a conductor is expected to heat or cool. This so-called transverse Thomson effect has now been observed for a bismuth–antimony alloy.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 8","pages":"1283-1289"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144488468","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}
Nature PhysicsPub Date : 2025-06-26DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-02956-z
Andrew T. Pierce, Yonglong Xie, Jeong Min Park, Zhuozhen Cai, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, Amir Yacoby
{"title":"Tunable interplay between light and heavy electrons in twisted trilayer graphene","authors":"Andrew T. Pierce, Yonglong Xie, Jeong Min Park, Zhuozhen Cai, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, Amir Yacoby","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-02956-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-02956-z","url":null,"abstract":"In systems with multiple energy bands, the interplay between electrons with different effective masses drives correlated phenomena that do not occur in single-band systems. Magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene is a tunable platform for exploring such effects, hosting both heavy electrons in its flat bands and delocalized light Dirac electrons in dispersive bands. Superconductivity in this system spans a wider range of phase space than moiré materials without dispersive bands, suggesting that interband interactions influence the stabilization of correlated phases. Here we investigate the interplay between the light and heavy electrons in magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene by performing local compressibility measurements with a scanning single-electron-transistor microscope. We establish that weak incompressibility features near several integer moiré band fillings host a finite population of light Dirac electrons at the Fermi level, despite a gap opening in the flat band sector. At higher magnetic field near charge neutrality, we find a phase transition sequence that is robust over nearly 10 μm but exhibits complex spatial dependence. Calculations establish that the Dirac sector can be viewed as flavour analogous to the spin and valley degrees of freedom. Graphene multilayers can host heavy electrons in flat bands alongside light electrons in Dirac cones. Local probes now reveal that a finite Dirac electron population persists at the Fermi level while correlated states form in the flat bands.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 8","pages":"1237-1242"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144488469","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}
Nature PhysicsPub Date : 2025-06-26DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-02935-4
Alexander Floroni, Noël Yeh Martín, Thomas Matreux, Laura I. Weise, Sheref S. Mansy, Hannes Mutschler, Christof B. Mast, Dieter Braun
{"title":"Membraneless protocell confined by a heat flow","authors":"Alexander Floroni, Noël Yeh Martín, Thomas Matreux, Laura I. Weise, Sheref S. Mansy, Hannes Mutschler, Christof B. Mast, Dieter Braun","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-02935-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-02935-4","url":null,"abstract":"In living cells, a complex mixture of biomolecules is assembled within and across membranes. This non-equilibrium state is maintained by sophisticated protein machinery, which imports food molecules, removes waste products and orchestrates cell division. However, it remains unclear how this complex cellular machinery emerged and evolved. Here we show how the molecular contents of a cell can be coupled in a coordinated way to non-equilibrium heat flow. A temperature difference across a water-filled pore assembled the core components of a modern cell, which could then activate the gene expression. The mechanism arose from the interplay of convection and thermophoresis, both driven by the same heat source. The cellular machinery of protein synthesis from DNA via RNA was triggered as a direct result of the concentration of cell components. The same non-equilibrium setting continued to attract food molecules from an adjacent fluid stream, keeping the cellular molecules in a confined pocket protected against diffusion. Our results show how a simple non-equilibrium physical process can assemble the many different molecules of a cell and trigger its basic functions. The framework provides a membrane-free environment to bridge the long evolutionary times from an RNA world to a protein-based cell-like proto-metabolism. It is unclear how cell compartmentalization emerged in prebiotic conditions. Now it is shown that a temperature gradient in a confined space can bring the core components of a cell together.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 8","pages":"1303-1310"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-025-02935-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144488467","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}
Nature PhysicsPub Date : 2025-06-24DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-02941-6
Jayne Thompson
{"title":"Quantum neural networks can be normal","authors":"Jayne Thompson","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-02941-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-02941-6","url":null,"abstract":"As many classical neural networks get larger, they can be described as Gaussian processes, the generalization of the normal distribution to infinite dimensions. A similar connection has now been proven for quantum neural networks.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 7","pages":"1042-1043"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144370459","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}
Nature PhysicsPub Date : 2025-06-20DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-02947-0
Fan Liu, Bo Gao, Liran Lei, Shuainan Liu, Hui Li, Ming Guo
{"title":"Intercellular flow dominates the poroelasticity of multicellular tissues","authors":"Fan Liu, Bo Gao, Liran Lei, Shuainan Liu, Hui Li, Ming Guo","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-02947-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41567-025-02947-0","url":null,"abstract":"The mechanical characteristics of cells and extracellular matrices—such as elasticity, surface tension and viscosity—can influence diseases such as fibrosis and tumour metastasis. Multicellular tissues have traditionally been modelled as viscoelastic materials, which overlooked the abundance of intercellular space and intercellular flow within the structure. Although intercellular flow can substantially impact development and disease progression, its role in the mechanical behaviour of tissues remains unclear. Here we show that fluid transport via the intercellular space determines the immediate mechanical response of tissues upon deformation. We directly measure the mechanical response of multicellular tissues by applying parallel plate compression via a tailored micro-mechanics platform. We find that both cultured three-dimensional cell spheroids and native mouse pancreatic islets exhibit apparent poroelastic behaviour over a timescale of up to a minute. These findings highlight the fundamental role of interstitial fluid transport in the mechanics of multicellular systems and could help identify potential physical regulators of development and diseases, as well as strategies for engineering multicellular living systems. Tissues are usually modelled as viscoelastic materials. Now it is shown that intercellular fluid flow, rather than viscoelastic behaviour, dominates the immediate mechanical response of tissues.","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 8","pages":"1311-1318"},"PeriodicalIF":18.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144329003","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}