https://phys.org/physics-news/materials/ en-us The latest news on Physics, Materials, Science and Technology When we think about a diamond, we often think about a material whose value comes from its perfection. In my research, however, I am interested in something almost opposite: the tiny imperfections inside diamonds. These atomic-scale defects can give diamonds new optical and electronic properties, and some of them can serve as quantum systems. The challenge is learning how to control these defects without disturbing the others. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ultraviolet-laser-pulses-diamond-defects.html Condensed Matter Sat, 10 Oct 2026 17:20:01 EDT news710677572 Most of us recognize basic phases of matter and their properties: solids maintain their shape, liquids flow freely with constant volume, and gases expand to fill their container. Quantum phases, on the other hand, are much harder to categorize, overturning traditional notions of what a phase even is and forcing physicists to rethink their definitions. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-stability-distinguish-quantum-phases-older.html Condensed Matter Sat, 10 Oct 2026 13:00:02 EDT news710683734 University of Glasgow researchers are part of an international collaboration that could lead to a new generation of quantum sensors. The team, which included researchers from the University of Tokyo, University of Glasgow, University of Sheffield and Kobe University, has for the first time used light to read out the magnetic spin of electrons trapped inside a porous crystalline material known as a metal-organic framework (MOF). https://phys.org/news/2026-10-electron-porous-crystals-path-quantum.html Condensed Matter Fri, 09 Oct 2026 10:40:09 EDT news710757625 Many fascinating phases in quantum materials emerge when electrons, atoms and other microscopic components begin to act collectively. But these phases do not necessarily appear out of nowhere when a material crosses a transition temperature. Before long-range order develops, microscopic fluctuations can already be present. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ultrafast-core-spectroscopy-reveals-elusive.html Condensed Matter Fri, 09 Oct 2026 10:14:28 EDT news705922856 Quantum technologies are considered key technologies of the future. However, research in this field requires not only scientific expertise but sometimes also highly specialized laboratory conditions. Bose–Einstein condensates are a remarkable example, in which atoms move in lockstep, making quantum-mechanical effects visible not only at the level of individual atoms but also on a macroscopic scale. The first Bose–Einstein condensates were observed in ultracold atomic gases at temperatures close to absolute zero. The cooling required to achieve this was technically demanding, costly and restricted to specialized laboratories. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-layered-semiconductor-magnetic-emitted-quantum.html Condensed Matter Thu, 08 Oct 2026 16:00:11 EDT news710679481 In some materials, physical properties don't emerge from their individual particles, but from the collective behavior of their quantum spins. Now, researchers led by Pengcheng Dai at Rice University in the U.S. have discovered that in one compound containing the rare-earth element ytterbium, these spins can behave much like the molecules in a liquid crystal: favoring a certain direction without lining up to create magnetism on larger scales. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-liquid-crystal-magnetism-puzzling-properties.html Condensed Matter Thu, 08 Oct 2026 15:20:15 EDT news710594274 Superconductors, materials that can carry electric current with an electrical resistance of zero, have proved to be promising for the development of various technologies, including medical devices, particle accelerators and quantum computers. Studying these materials could help researchers uncover new physical states that could be useful for specific applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-electronic-stripes-linked-unusual-vortex.html Condensed Matter Thu, 08 Oct 2026 08:00:11 EDT news710410734 Two studies on critical topology have recently been published in the journal Nature. These studies were led by the teams of Prof. Baile Zhang at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and Prof. Jianhua Jiang at the University of Science and Technology of China, respectively. Prof. Xue-Jia Yu from the School of Physics at the Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo (EIT), served as a co-corresponding author on both papers and provided key theoretical guidance in the related experimental collaborations. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-acoustic-topology-persist-gapless-critical.html Condensed Matter Wed, 07 Oct 2026 16:40:20 EDT news710599631 Unconventional superconductors can host unusual electronic states, but understanding what drives their superconductivity becomes difficult when different forms of order coexist. The kagome metal CsV3Sb5 has become a particularly debated example. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-quantum-material-superconducting-states-conflicting.html Condensed Matter Wed, 07 Oct 2026 13:00:09 EDT news710593381 A University of Texas at Dallas scientist and her colleagues have discovered an unusual atomic pattern in a uranium-based material that gives it a rare combination of magnetic properties, a finding that could open new pathways for designing advanced electronic and computer memory devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-uranium-compound-1960s-reveals-hidden.html Condensed Matter Wed, 07 Oct 2026 11:00:35 EDT news710524081 Four decades after the 1986 nuclear disaster, researchers at Leibniz University Hannover and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) examined six tiny, highly radioactive fragments that were released from the destroyed reactor in Ukraine in the wake of the incident. Analyses show that these "hot particles" are far more stable than had previously been assumed. The findings could allow for more precise assessments of the health risks posed by such radioactive particles. The paper is published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-chernobyl-particles-reveal-unexpectedly-stable.html General Physics Tue, 06 Oct 2026 18:20:05 EDT news710509501 A research team led by the University of Osaka has directly observed, for the first time, an unusual heavy-fermion state forming at the boundary between a one-atom-thick material and a metal. Such states are closely linked to exotic quantum phenomena, including unconventional superconductivity, and the finding opens new possibilities for designing quantum materials through their interfaces. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-heavy-fermions-emerge-atomic-layer.html Condensed Matter Tue, 06 Oct 2026 11:00:24 EDT news710498582 The bulk photovoltaic effect (BPVE), a photoelectric effect that generates photocurrent without a p–n junction, can persist even when a material's average crystal structure remains centrosymmetric, a study from Institute of Science Tokyo has found. Researchers demonstrated this in CuCrP2S6, a van der Waals material that transitions from a noncentrosymmetric to a centrosymmetric average structure. The finding challenges the conventional view of BPVE and suggests a new strategy for enhancing photoelectric conversion. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-atomic-motion-solar-cells-conventional.html Condensed Matter Mon, 05 Oct 2026 16:20:16 EDT news710425741 When light travels through a strongly scattering material, such as biological tissue or other disordered opaque media, it follows many different paths and produces a seemingly random speckle pattern. Wavefront shaping makes it possible to control this complex interference and focus light through such materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-giant-fluctuations-focused-reveal-hidden.html Condensed Matter Sun, 04 Oct 2026 08:00:01 EDT news710002088 Quantum technologies rely on qubits, units of information that can exist in combinations of the states 0 and 1 instead of being limited to one or the other like conventional bits. Qubits can become entangled, which means their states become linked in ways that cannot be explained by considering each qubit separately. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-parallel-gate-entangles-diamond-qubits.html Condensed Matter Thu, 01 Oct 2026 08:40:16 EDT news709820817 Researchers at Tohoku University, in collaboration with the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) and the University of Tokyo, have taken an important step toward semiconductor quantum computing using zinc oxide (ZnO). https://phys.org/news/2026-09-zinc-oxide-quantum-dots-enable.html Condensed Matter Wed, 30 Sep 2026 13:20:11 EDT news709981741 Most magnets have two poles: north and south, or positive and negative, in a familiar arrangement called a "dipole." But researchers are increasingly uncovering more complex forms of magnetism. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-physicists-octupolar-magnetism-implications-quantum.html Condensed Matter Wed, 30 Sep 2026 10:40:25 EDT news709975981 In materials chemistry, identifying common parameters that can organize magnetic ground states across complex intermetallic compounds remains a central challenge. Researchers have long used chemically tunable parameters to control magnetic properties. One is valence-electron concentration, commonly discussed as the electron-per-atom (e/a) ratio. The e/a ratio has been widely used to classify magnetic ground states in metallic systems such as Heusler alloys and approximant crystals. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-crystal-spacing-magnetic-states-complex.html Condensed Matter Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:02 EDT news709895521 Scientists have confirmed the existence of a predicted room temperature superconductor, while explaining the microscopic mechanism that distinguishes it from a similar one discovered several years ago. The work, published in the journal Physical Review B, offers "a theoretical blueprint for the future design of superior superconductor hydrides" the physicists write. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-scandium-electrons-room-temperature-superconductivity.html Condensed Matter Tue, 29 Sep 2026 11:30:05 EDT news709897818 To build the ultrafast computers of the future, scientists are looking beyond the electrical charge of electrons to another property: their spin. While conventional hardware relies on the movement of charge to process data, tapping into this intrinsic quantum property could enable researchers to reinvent how information travels through a circuit. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-experimental-evidence-altermagnetism-layered-material.html Condensed Matter Mon, 28 Sep 2026 18:10:01 EDT news709834861 In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, researchers have shown that magnetic order can survive weak quantum fluctuations in disordered magnets that lack an energy gap. The work establishes robust ferromagnetism in the two-dimensional random-bond quantum Ising model, confirming a longstanding conjecture in quantum statistical mechanics. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-magnetic-survives-weak-quantum-fluctuations.html Condensed Matter Mon, 28 Sep 2026 09:20:01 EDT news709547682 A Husker research team's latest research could open the door to broader use of a class of materials whose electrical properties may someday power next-generation electronics, high-density energy storage, improved computer memory and new strategies for cooling. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-discovery-rare-switchable-electrical-property.html Condensed Matter Fri, 25 Sep 2026 13:00:01 EDT news709550161 Behind every secure online transaction or encrypted message lies a string of completely unpredictable numbers. A team of physicists has now proposed a theoretical way around a long-standing roadblock, opening the door to next-generation security chips that protect everyday data without slowing performance. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-physicists-material-blueprint-generation-microchip.html General Physics Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:10:01 EDT news709479661 Researchers at the Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), a center within Japan's National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), discovered that atomic-scale steps can guide superconducting vortices in an ultrathin superconductor. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-atom-high-rails-superconducting-vortices.html Condensed Matter Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:00:01 EDT news709464377 Twistronics has become a new alchemy of materials. By choosing atomically thin layers, stacking them and changing their relative angle, researchers can create electronic behavior absent from the original ingredients. Twisted graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides have already yielded superconductivity and fractional Chern insulators, states with fractionally charged excitations. One of physics' most active frontiers now has a moonshot ambition: to design entirely new forms of quantum matter. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-quantum-possibilities-atomically-thin-materials.html Condensed Matter Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:00:06 EDT news709397881 Creating a perfect crystal sounds straightforward: Arrange identical building blocks into a repeating, orderly structure. At the microscopic scale, though, even subtle biases in how particles interact can push them in preferred directions, making it harder to form uniform crystalline materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-secret-crystal-precisely-calibrated-extra.html Condensed Matter Tue, 22 Sep 2026 19:20:05 EDT news709315621 A team led by University at Buffalo physicists has found a mathematical solution that shows how a frustrated quantum magnet can transition from ultraslow behavior to ultrafast, highly entangled behavior resembling that of a black hole. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-physicists-math-ultraslow-quantum-magnetism.html Condensed Matter Tue, 22 Sep 2026 18:00:03 EDT news709314001 The electronic properties of materials are typically determined by their structure under normal, undisturbed conditions, when they are in a state known as equilibrium. Intense light beams, however, can temporarily reshape a material's electronic band structure (i.e., the range of energy states available to electrons), potentially giving rise to new electronic behaviors. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-electrons-graphene-transient-topological-state.html Condensed Matter Sat, 19 Sep 2026 15:20:01 EDT news708945827 Molecular gases are a new form of artificial quantum matter. However, when these molecules collide, they are often lost extremely rapidly. Researchers from Radboud University and Columbia University have been able to suppress this collisional loss, paving the way for strongly interacting quantum matter. This new artificial quantum matter allows researchers to study quantum behavior relevant to electrons in real materials. Their results are published in Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-extremely-stable-quantum-gas-lens.html Condensed Matter Fri, 18 Sep 2026 12:20:01 EDT news708945122 Multiferroics are materials that simultaneously exhibit two or more ferroic orders—stable arrangements of physical properties that can be switched using an external stimulus. These materials could be highly advantageous for the development of various technologies, including non-volatile, low-power memory devices, spintronic devices, miniaturized electronics, neuromorphic hardware, sensors and magnetoelectric devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-stacked-2d-materials-reveal-room.html Condensed Matter Fri, 18 Sep 2026 09:20:02 EDT news708775129