https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A new study published in Nature Physics reports the first direct experimental evidence of a Floquet topological state, a novel light-induced phase of matter that, until now, has existed only on paper and in simulations. Topological insulators can conduct electricity along their surface while remaining insulating throughout their bulk. Physicists have spent years developing Floquet engineering, a technique that uses intense, rapidly oscillating light fields to temporarily reshape a material's electronic structure. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-physicists-capture-evidence-floquet-topological.html Condensed Matter Mon, 27 Jul 2026 08:00:01 EDT news704113591 A team of scientists led by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has identified a rare, switchable quantum property in a new type of nickel sulfide material. The discovery could have applications in high-speed transistors, adaptive sensors and other devices that require a material's electronic structure to be controlled on the fly. The research is published in the journal Matter. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-dont-material-transition-quantum-states.html Condensed Matter Wed, 25 Mar 2026 11:00:04 EDT news693650162 The candidate pool for engineered materials that can help enable tomorrow's cutting-edge optical technologies—such as lasers, detectors and imaging devices—is much deeper than previously believed. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-pathways-previously-thought-optical-topological.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 24 Jun 2025 15:55:04 EDT news669999301 Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are characterized by high porosity and structural versatility. They have enormous potential, for example, for applications in electronics. However, their low electrical conductivity has so far greatly restricted their adoption. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-metal-frameworks-metallic-pave-paths.html Nanophysics Tue, 24 Jun 2025 15:49:04 EDT news669998942 Topological insulators (TIs) are among the hottest topics in condensed matter physics today. They're a bit strange: Their surfaces conduct electricity, yet their interiors do not, instead acting as insulators. Physicists consider TIs the materials of the future because they host fascinating new quantum phases of matter and have promising technological applications in electronics and quantum computing. Scientists are just now beginning to uncover connections between TIs and magnetism that could unlock new uses for these exotic materials. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-illuminating-asymmetric-gap-topological-antiferromagnet.html Condensed Matter Tue, 21 Jan 2025 16:47:15 EST news656700425 A new study, published in a recent issue of Nature Physics, sheds light on the long-anticipated emergence of quasiparticles, akin to the famous Dirac particles obeying the relativistic Dirac equation. These quasiparticles, known as Dirac spinons, were theorized to exist within a novel quantum state called a quantum spin liquid state. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-spectral-evidence-dirac-spinons-kagome.html Condensed Matter Mon, 13 May 2024 09:29:03 EDT news634811341 Starting with the emergence of quantum mechanics, the world of physics has been divided between classical and quantum physics. Classical physics deals with the motions of objects we typically see every day in the macroscopic world, while quantum physics explains the exotic behaviors of elementary particles in the microscopic world. https://phys.org/news/2023-01-scientists-quasiparticles-classical.html General Physics Thu, 26 Jan 2023 13:09:08 EST news593960941 Researchers have used direct chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth of wafer-scale, high-quality graphene on dielectrics for versatile applications. However, graphene synthesized this way has shown a polycrystalline film with uncontrolled defects, a low carrier mobility, and high street resistance; therefore, researchers aim to introduce new methods to develop wafer-scale graphene. In a new report now published in Science Advances, Zhaolong Chen and an international research team in nanochemistry, intelligent materials and physics, in China, U.K. and Singapore, described the direct growth of highly oriented monolayer graphene on films of sapphire wafers. They achieved the growth strategy by designing an electromagnetic induction CVD at elevated temperature. The graphene film developed in this way showed a markedly improved carrier mobility and reduced sheet resistance. https://phys.org/news/2021-12-wafer-scale-highly-graphene-sapphire.html Nanomaterials Wed, 01 Dec 2021 09:30:01 EST news557571066 A University of Wollongong-led team across three FLEET nodes has combined two traditional semiconductor doping methods to achieve new efficiencies in the topological insulator bismuth-selenide (Bi2Se3). https://phys.org/news/2021-11-combine-semiconductor-doping-methods-efficiencies.html Condensed Matter Fri, 12 Nov 2021 09:39:41 EST news555932377 Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have observed novel helical magnetic ordering in the topological compound EuIn2As2 which supports exotic electrical conduction tunable by a magnetic field. The discovery has significant implications for basic research into functional topological properties and may one day find use in a number of advanced technology applications. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-scientists-complex-tunable-magnetism-tied.html General Physics Mon, 22 Mar 2021 09:07:51 EDT news535622868 Electrons in a solid occupy distinct energy bands separated by gaps. Energy band gaps are an electronic "no man's land," an energy range where no electrons are allowed. Now, scientists studying a compound containing iron, tellurium, and selenium have found that an energy band gap opens at a point where two allowed energy bands intersect on the material's surface. They observed this unexpected electronic behavior when they cooled the material and probed its electronic structure with laser light. Their findings, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could have implications for future quantum information science and electronics. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-magnetism-topology-superconductor-surface.html Superconductivity Wed, 17 Mar 2021 10:08:09 EDT news535194485 Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology shed light on the relationship between the magnetic properties of topological insulators and their electronic band structure. Their experimental results offer new insights into recent debates regarding the evolution of the band structure with temperature in these materials, which exhibit unusual quantum phenomena and are envisioned to be crucial in next-generation electronics, spintronics, and quantum computers. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-bridging-gap-magnetic-electronic-properties.html General Physics Thu, 24 Sep 2020 12:50:01 EDT news520170208 An Australian-led study uses a scanning-tunneling microscope "trick" to map electronic structure in Na3Bi, seeking an answer to that material's extremely high electron mobility. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-unexpectedly-fast-electrons-na3bi.html Quantum Physics Mon, 17 Aug 2020 09:05:35 EDT news516873932 It sounds like pure sorcery: using diamonds to observe invisible power swirling and flowing through carefully crafted channels. But these diamonds are a reality. JQI Fellow Ronald Walsworth and Quantum Technology Center (QTC) Postdoctoral Associate Mark Ku, along with colleagues from several other institutions, including Professor Amir Yacoby and Postdoctoral Fellow Tony Zhou at Harvard, have developed a way to use diamonds to see the elusive details of electrical currents. https://phys.org/news/2020-07-diamonds-hidden-currents-graphene.html Nanophysics Wed, 22 Jul 2020 11:00:09 EDT news514617639 Nontrivial band topology can combine with magnetic order in a magnetic topological insulator to produce exotic states of matter such as quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) insulators and axion insulators. An aim of condensed matter physics is to find new materials with useful properties and apply quantum mechanics to study them. The field has allowed physicists to better understand the uses of magnets for hard disk data storage, computer displays and other technologies. The recent discovery of topological insulators have attracted broad interest and researchers predict that the interplay between ferromagnetism and the topological insulator state can realize a range of exotic quantum magnetic phenomena of interest in fundamental physics and device applications. https://phys.org/news/2020-02-quantum-anomalous-hall-effect-intrinsic.html Quantum Physics Thu, 13 Feb 2020 09:30:02 EST news500800253 In a new report on Science Advances, Chen Fang and Liang Fu from the Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics in China, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences and the Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S. Detailed the discovery of new types of quantum anomalies in two-dimensional systems with time-reversal symmetry (T) (conservation of entropy) and discrete rotation symmetry; where a shape retains the same structure after rotation by a partial turn and order. They then physically realized anomalous states on the surface of new classes of topological crystalline insulators (TCIs) normal to the rotation axis and supporting a helical mode. The presence of helical modes allowed them to form a new quantum device from a topological crystalline insulator known as a helical nanorod with quantized longitudinal conductance. https://phys.org/news/2020-01-classes-topological-crystalline-insulators-surface.html Condensed Matter Tue, 14 Jan 2020 09:30:02 EST news498126605 The search for better materials for computers and other electronic devices has focused on a group of materials known as "topological insulators" that have a special property of conducting electricity on the edge of their surfaces like traffic lanes on a highway. This can increase energy efficiency and reduce heat output. https://phys.org/news/2019-08-uncover-hidden-topological-insulator-states.html General Physics Wed, 07 Aug 2019 08:07:15 EDT news484384028 Topological insulators are one of the most exciting discoveries of the 21st century. They can be simply described as materials that conduct electricity on their surface or edge, but are insulating in their interior bulk. Their conductive properties are based on spin, a quantum mechanical property, and this suppresses the normal scattering of electrons off impurities in the material, or other electrons, and the amount of energy that is consequently lost to heat. In contrast to superconductors, topological insulators can work at room temperature, offering the potential for our current electronics to be replaced with quantum computers and 'spintronic' devices that would be smaller, faster, more powerful and more energy efficient. Topological insulators are classified as 'strong' or 'weak', and experimental confirmations of the strong topological insulator (STI) rapidly followed theoretical predictions. However, the weak topological insulator (WTI) was harder to verify experimentally, as the topological state emerges on particular side surfaces, which are typically undetectable in real 3-D crystals. In research recently published in Nature, a team of researchers from Japan used synchrotron techniques to provide experimental evidence for the WTI state in a bismuth iodide crystal. https://phys.org/news/2019-04-weak-topological-insulator-bismuth-iodide.html Condensed Matter Thu, 18 Apr 2019 10:06:27 EDT news474800782 At the turn of the 20th century, scientists discovered that atoms were composed of smaller particles. They found that inside each atom, negatively charged electrons orbit a nucleus made of positively charged protons and neutral particles called neutrons. This discovery led to research into atomic nuclei and subatomic particles. https://phys.org/news/2019-04-big-tiny-particles.html General Physics Fri, 05 Apr 2019 09:06:36 EDT news473673422 A simple sheet of graphene has noteworthy properties due to a quantum phenomenon in its electron structure called Dirac cones. The system becomes even more interesting if it comprises two superimposed graphene sheets, and one is very slightly turned in its own plane so that the holes in the two carbon lattices no longer completely coincide. For specific angles of twist, the bilayer graphene system displays exotic properties such as superconductivity. https://phys.org/news/2018-11-artificial-magnetic-field-exotic-behavior.html Nanophysics Fri, 30 Nov 2018 08:03:40 EST news462787414 The research focus on 2-D materials has intensified with its potential to modulate light for superior performance and realize applications that can enhance existing technologies. Graphene, the best known 2-D material, derived from 3-D graphite, constitutes a monolayer of carbon atoms arranged in a 2-D hexagonal lattice, exhibiting strong ultra-wideband light-matter interactions, able to operate at an extremely broad spectral range, suited for next-generation photonics and optoelectronic devices. The unique electronic properties of graphene originate from Dirac cones, features in electronic band structures that host charge carriers of zero effective mass, so-called massless Dirac fermions that occur in 2-D materials. Materials scientists are currently at a stage of experimental infancy to realize many interesting properties of the nonlinear optical responses of graphene, to aid its promise to disrupt existing technology and facilitate wide-ranging applications. https://phys.org/news/2018-08-electrically-tunable-third-order-nonlinear-optical.html Nanophysics Wed, 01 Aug 2018 09:30:03 EDT news452330749 A research team led by Pham Nam Hai at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) has developed the world's best-performing pure spin current source made of bismuth-antimony (BiSb) alloys, which they report as the best candidate for the first industrial application of topological insulators. The achievement represents a big step forward in the development of spin-orbit torque magnetoresistive random-access memory (SOT-MRAM) devices with the potential to replace existing memory technologies. https://phys.org/news/2018-08-bisb-potential-topological-insulators-ultra-low-power.html Condensed Matter Wed, 01 Aug 2018 05:51:40 EDT news452321490 The basic quanta of light (photon) and sound (phonon) are bosonic particles that largely obey similar rules and are in general very good analogs of one another. Physicists have explored this analogy in recent experimental investigations of a phonon laser to provide insights into a long-debated issue of how a laser—or more specifically, its line width—is affected when operated at an exceptional point (EP). Exceptional points are singularities in the energy functions of a physical system at which two light modes coalesce (combine into one mode) to produce unusual effects. Until recently, the concept mainly existed only in theory, but received renewed attention with experimental demonstrations in optical systems such as lasers and photonic structures. The experimental studies involved systems with parity-time symmetry for balanced gain and loss of material, to ensure robust light intensity, immune to backscatter. While closed and lossless physical systems are described by Hermitian operators in quantum physics, systems with open boundaries that exhibit exceptional points (EPs) are non-Hermitian. https://phys.org/news/2018-07-phonon-laser-exceptional.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 20 Jul 2018 10:20:01 EDT news451294755 An international team of scientists has discovered a new, exotic form of insulating material with a metallic surface that could enable more efficient electronics or even quantum computing. The researchers developed a new method for analyzing existing chemical compounds that relies on the mathematical properties like symmetry that govern the repeating patterns seen in everyday wallpaper. https://phys.org/news/2018-07-physics-treasure-hidden-wallpaper-pattern.html General Physics Fri, 20 Jul 2018 03:22:41 EDT news451275724 A team of researchers from Japan, the U.S. and China, has identified a topological superconducting phase for possible use in an iron-based material in quantum computers. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team outlines their study of the phase, which, they claim, shows promise as a means for solving the decoherence problem in quantum computers. https://phys.org/news/2018-03-topological-superconductor-phase-decoherence-problem.html Quantum Physics Fri, 09 Mar 2018 09:56:52 EST news439811798 Research led by the Universities of St Andrews and Tokyo reveals a new understanding on how to create topological electronic states in solids which could fuel the development of improved materials for fast and energy-efficient electronic devices. The findings could lead to new types of computer chips that could be much more powerful than those found in today's computers and smart phones. https://phys.org/news/2017-11-revolutionise-future-electronic-devices.html General Physics Tue, 28 Nov 2017 03:16:21 EST news431061369 Theoretical physicists have found Weyl fermions to exhibit paradoxical behavior in contradiction to a 30-year-old fundamental theory of electromagnetism. The discovery has possible applications in spintronics. The study has been published in Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2017-05-weyl-fermions-paradoxical-behavior.html General Physics Tue, 23 May 2017 06:37:32 EDT news414740244 Though they're touted as ideal for electronics, two-dimensional materials like graphene may be too flat and hard to stretch to serve in flexible, wearable devices. "Wavy" borophene might be better, according to Rice University scientists. https://phys.org/news/2016-10-d-boron-flexible-electronics.html Nanomaterials Tue, 04 Oct 2016 12:33:23 EDT news394803192 In 2013, MIT physicists showed for the first time that shining powerful mid-infrared laser light on solid bismuth selenide produces Floquet-Bloch states, which are characterized by replicas of electronic energy states inside a solid with gaps opening up at crossing points of replica states. The same external light also interacts with free electron states immediately outside the solid producing a competing state, called the Volkov state, which is gapless. https://phys.org/news/2016-01-pure-quantum-mechanical-mixture-electrons-photons.html General Physics Tue, 05 Jan 2016 06:07:02 EST news371196041 The Dirac cone, named after British physicist Paul Dirac, started as a concept in particle and high-energy physics and has recently became important in research in condensed matter physics and material science. It has since been found to describe aspects of graphene, a two dimensional form of carbon, suggesting the possibility of applications across various fields. https://phys.org/news/2015-09-physicists-exotic-states-kinds-sensors.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 09 Sep 2015 13:02:25 EDT news361022530