Finding the right twist in nanophysics

Novel, ultrathin nanomaterials exhibit remarkable properties. If you stack individual atomically thin layers of crystals in a vertical assembly, for example, fascinating physical effects can occur. For instance, bilayers ...

Quantum chemistry: Molecules caught tunneling

Tunneling reactions in chemistry are difficult to predict. The quantum mechanically exact description of chemical reactions with more than three particles is difficult, with more than four particles it is almost impossible. ...

Twisting up atoms through space and time

One of the most exciting applications of quantum computers will be to direct their gaze inwards, at the very quantum rules that make them tick. Quantum computers can be used to simulate quantum physics itself, and perhaps ...

Emergent behavior observed in self-interacting light

Particles of light—photons—that are forced to interact with each other through specially structured glass demonstrate behavior evocative of the "fractional quantum Hall effect," a phenomenon that garnered the 1998 Nobel ...

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