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. Quantum materials, materials with properties that are governed by the laws of quantum mechanics, have proved to be highly promising for the development of ultra-efficient electronic devices, quantum processors, highly precise sensors and various other technologies. Reliably controlling these materials' quantum phases would be highly advantageous, as it would enable engineers to tailor and optimize their properties for specific applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-quantum-hall-stripes-2d-materials.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 12 Jun 2026 07:00:03 EDT news700304463 Florida State University physicists are part of a team that has discovered unusual superconducting states in parts of graphene, with the potential to drive unexpected quantum technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-uncovers-electronic-properties-quantum-material.html Superconductivity Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:00:02 EDT news700148352 Nuclear physicists used a little magic in their latest experiment conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, and the result has revealed surprising new information about the behavior of protons and neutrons inside the atom's nucleus. Specifically, the research revealed another requirement that determines how protons and neutrons pair up. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-quantum-shell-reveals-proton-neutron.html General Physics Thu, 04 Jun 2026 10:20:09 EDT news699781262 The planar Hall effect is a tabletop diagnostic tool for special quantum properties useful in basic research and technological applications. Or so it was thought, because careful calculation by Kobe University researchers clarifies the conditions under which this effect may also appear in classical materials. This makes the diagnostic more meaningful and enables more purposeful design. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-math-discriminates-exotic-classical-materials.html Condensed Matter Mon, 01 Jun 2026 11:00:07 EDT news699263693 Topological phases are unusual states of matter that give rise to properties protected by a material's overall structure (i.e., "topology"), as opposed to microscopic details. These phases are of great interest for the development of quantum technologies, as they can yield desirable electronic properties that are robust against defects and disturbances. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-topological-states-emerge-quantum-hall.html Superconductivity Fri, 29 May 2026 07:00:01 EDT news698933871 An unusual thermoelectric effect has been observed in the semiconductor tellurium by RIKEN physicists for the first time. This demonstration points to the potential of similar materials to be used in applications such as energy harvesting and advanced heat management. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-unusual-nonlinear-thermoelectric-effect-chiral.html Condensed Matter Thu, 21 May 2026 12:40:13 EDT news698581321 Imagine a laptop that never gets hot, a phone that holds its charge for days, or a computer memory chip designed to permanently retain data, even when the power goes out. This is the possibility sitting inside a remarkable family of materials that a team of researchers from the University of Ottawa and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has spent years trying to understand, and they just published a comprehensive roadmap of the field to date in the journal Newton. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-roadmap-paths-room-temperature-quantum.html Condensed Matter Sun, 17 May 2026 18:40:02 EDT news698071930 It was a head-spinning discovery. In 2018, researchers in Japan claimed to find concrete evidence of an elusive particle, a Majorana fermion, in a quantum spin liquid called ruthenium trichloride. Majoranas are highly sought-after by quantum materials scientists because when a pair are localized, or trapped, they can securely encode information and form a stable qubit—the building block of quantum computing. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-soundwaves-debate-elusive-quantum-particle.html Condensed Matter Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:40:02 EDT news696079861 The cosmological constant is the mathematical description of the energy that drives the ever-accelerating expansion of the cosmos. It's also the source of one of the most enduring and confounding problems in modern physics. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-mathematical-universe-cosmological-constant-problem.html General Physics Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:40:01 EDT news695907962 Researchers at the Würzburg site of the Cluster of Excellence ctd.qmat have succeeded in transferring the topological quantum Hall and spin Hall effects to a hybrid light-matter system by harnessing targeted material design. The team led by Professor Sebastian Klembt generated this optical quantum phenomenon by using polaritons—hybrid light-matter particles. This advance paves the way for optical information processing. The results have been published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-physicists-optical-phenomenon-quantum-hall.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 27 Mar 2026 13:00:04 EDT news693831255 Many current wireless communication, imaging and sensing technologies rely on components that convert oscillating electric and magnetic fields (i.e., electromagnetic waves) into electrical signals. Some of the most used components are so-called p-n diodes, semiconducting devices that combine two types of materials with distinct electrical properties. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-hall-rectenna-ghz-frequency-range.html Condensed Matter Sun, 22 Mar 2026 11:00:01 EDT news692975982 Superconductivity is a quantum state of matter characterized by an electrical resistance of zero and the expulsion of magnetic fields at low temperatures below a critical point. Superconductors, materials in which this state occurs, have proved to be highly advantageous for the development of various technologies, including medical imaging devices, particle accelerators and quantum computers. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-superconducting-dome-hints-high-temperature.html Condensed Matter Sat, 07 Mar 2026 12:10:01 EST news691940206 In many quantum materials—materials with unusual electrical and magnetic properties driven by quantum mechanical effects—electrons can organize themselves into Landau levels. Landau levels are essentially quantized energy states that form when charged particles move in a magnetic field. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-energy-loss-triggers-quantum-thermal.html General Physics Thu, 26 Feb 2026 10:40:06 EST news691236242 A new study has revealed how tiny imperfections and vibrations inside a promising quantum material could be used to control an unusual quantum effect, opening new possibilities for smaller, faster, and more efficient energy-harvesting devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-quantum-effect-power-generation-battery.html Condensed Matter Tue, 24 Feb 2026 19:10:05 EST news691174801 In physics, the classical "Hall effect," discovered in the late 19th century, describes how a transverse voltage is generated when an electric current is exposed to a perpendicular magnetic field. Simply put, the magnetic field causes the electrons, which are negatively charged, to drift sideways, creating a negative charge on one edge of the conducting strip and a positive charge on the opposite side. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-physicists-drift-quantized.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 24 Feb 2026 16:00:02 EST news691168855 In some quantum materials, which are materials governed by quantum mechanical effects, interactions between charged particles (i.e., electrons) can prompt the creation of quasiparticles called anyons, which carry only a fraction of an electron's charge (i.e., fractional charge) and fractional quantum statistics. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-probe-fractional-chern-insulator.html Condensed Matter Mon, 16 Feb 2026 07:40:01 EST news690201373 Two or more graphene layers that are stacked with a small twist angle in relation to each other form a so-called moiré lattice. This characteristic pattern influences the movement of electrons inside materials, which can give rise to strongly correlated states, such as superconductivity. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-strong-superconductivity-supermoir-lattice.html Condensed Matter Sun, 15 Feb 2026 13:00:03 EST news689952122 A team of US researchers has unveiled a device that can conduct electricity along its fractionally charged edges without losing energy to heat. Described in Nature Physics, the work, led by Xiaodong Xu at the University of Washington, marks the first demonstration of a "dissipationless fractional Chern insulator," a long-sought state of matter with promising implications for future quantum technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-current-loss-newly-fractional-quantum.html Condensed Matter Tue, 10 Feb 2026 11:30:01 EST news689942183 An international team of researchers has developed a breakthrough method for producing MXenes—an important family of two-dimensional materials—with unprecedented purity and control. The new "gas–liquid–solid" process enables the synthesis of pure MXenes with uniformly distributed halogen atoms on the surface and a precisely tunable surface composition. The method dramatically boosts their electrical conductivity and opens the door to high-performance electronics, sensors, and energy technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-ultra-mxenes-higher.html Nanophysics Mon, 09 Feb 2026 14:40:02 EST news689867558 A new framework for understanding the nonmonotonic temperature dependence and sign reversal of the chirality-related anomalous Hall effect in highly conductive metals has been developed by scientists at Science Tokyo. This framework provides a clear picture of the unusual temperature dependence of chirality-driven transport phenomena, forming a foundation for the rational design of next-generation spintronic devices and magnetic quantum materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-unusual-chirality-driven-anomalous-hall.html Condensed Matter Fri, 16 Jan 2026 07:49:43 EST news687772141 At TU Wien, researchers have discovered a state in a quantum material that had previously been considered impossible. The definition of topological states should be generalized. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-state-quantum-material.html Condensed Matter Wed, 14 Jan 2026 09:50:01 EST news687606442 A collaboration between Stuart Parkin's group at the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics in Halle (Saale) and Claudia Felser's group at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden has realized a fundamentally new way to control quantum particles in solids. Writing in Nature, the researchers report the experimental demonstration of a chiral fermionic valve—a device that spatially separates quantum particles of opposite chirality using quantum geometry alone, without magnetic fields or magnetic materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-valve-quantum-chiral-fermions-geometry.html Condensed Matter Mon, 12 Jan 2026 14:51:17 EST news687451861 In the future, quantum computers are anticipated to solve problems once thought unsolvable, from predicting the course of chemical reactions to producing highly reliable weather forecasts. For now, however, they remain extremely sensitive to environmental disturbances and prone to information loss. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-evidence-particle-previous-quantum-states.html Condensed Matter Wed, 07 Jan 2026 13:11:27 EST news687013861 Step inside the strange world of a superfluid, a liquid that can flow endlessly without friction, defying the common-sense rules we experience every day, where water pours, syrup sticks and coffee swirls and slows under the effect of viscosity. In these extraordinary fluids, motion often organizes itself into quantized vortices: tiny, long-lived whirlpools that act as the fundamental building blocks of superfluid flow. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-journey-center-quantized-vortex-microscopic.html Soft Matter Tue, 23 Dec 2025 14:30:31 EST news685722601 Scientists at Ames National Laboratory, in collaboration with Indranil Das's group at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (India), have found a surprising electronic feature in transitional metal-based compounds that could pave the way for a new class of spintronic materials for computing and memory technologies. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-rare-hall-effect-reveals-pathways.html Condensed Matter Tue, 23 Dec 2025 08:48:38 EST news685702081 In the past year, two separate experiments in two different materials captured the same confounding scenario: the coexistence of superconductivity and magnetism. Scientists had assumed that these two quantum states are mutually exclusive; the presence of one should inherently destroy the other. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-anyons-root-quantum.html Condensed Matter Mon, 22 Dec 2025 13:26:27 EST news685632361 The knots in your shoelaces are familiar, but can you imagine knots made from light, water, or from the structured fluids that make LCD screens shine? https://phys.org/news/2025-12-scientists-stable-switchable-vortex-liquid.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 15 Dec 2025 16:00:04 EST news685036206 Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors are thin materials (i.e., one-atom thick) with advantageous electronic properties. These materials have proved to be promising for the development of thinner, highly performing electronics, such as fitness trackers and portable devices. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-growth-strategy-enables-coherent-quantum.html Nanophysics Fri, 12 Dec 2025 09:20:08 EST news684598481 Deep in the heart of the matter, some numbers don't add up. For example, while protons and neutrons are made of quarks, nature's fundamental building blocks bound together by gluons, their masses are much larger than the individual quarks from which they are formed. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-universe-visible-mass-generated-explore.html General Physics Tue, 18 Nov 2025 11:50:01 EST news682688554 Physicists at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg have discovered a striking new form of quantum behavior. In star-shaped Kagome crystals—named after a traditional Japanese bamboo-basket woven pattern—electrons that usually act like a noisy crowd suddenly synchronize, forming a collective "song" that evolves with the crystal's shape. The study, published in Nature, reveals that geometry itself can tune quantum coherence, opening new possibilities to develop materials where form defines function. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-electrons-synchronize-kagome-crystals-revealing.html Condensed Matter Thu, 30 Oct 2025 10:35:03 EDT news681039301