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. Physicists have long suspected that a peculiar quantum state lurks inside a class of materials known as kagome metals, but proving its existence has been elusive. Now, a team led by Yeongkwan Kim at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has performed experiments on a kagome metal that provide the strongest evidence yet for this exotic state. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-broken-reversal-symmetry-phase-kagome.html Superconductivity Mon, 22 Jun 2026 13:40:10 EDT news701352617 A newly developed method allows researchers to dynamically switch chirality—a particular lack of mirror symmetry—to generate spin currents in semiconductors, researchers from Science Tokyo report. Their approach relies on the reversible insertion and removal of small chiral molecules from the interlayer gaps of a layered, nonchiral semiconductor material using electrochemistry. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-reversible-chirality-mos-generates-currents.html Condensed Matter Wed, 17 Jun 2026 12:40:05 EDT news700909861 Physicists have long been drawn to the nonlinear Hall effect: a subtle variant of the classical Hall effect, in which an electric voltage appears perpendicular to a current flowing through a material. Unlike its classical counterpart, the nonlinear version can arise even without breaking time-reversal symmetry, and its magnitude is tied to deep geometric properties of electron wave functions. So far, however, the behavior of the effect when a magnetic field is applied has remained poorly understood. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-quantum-hall-effect-gains-graphene.html Condensed Matter Wed, 17 Jun 2026 09:40:01 EDT news700903892 Raman optical activity, long thought to require chiral molecules or magnetic order, has been demonstrated in an achiral, nonmagnetic crystal by researchers at the Institute of Science Tokyo. The effect arises through ferroaxial order, a coordinated rotation of atoms within the lattice, and is detected using circularly polarized Raman spectroscopy. The findings show that optically inactive materials can also display chirality-like optical responses and expand the scope of optical techniques for discovering new materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-achiral-crystal-reveals-raman-optical.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 08 Jun 2026 13:20:04 EDT news700138441 In recent years, atomically thin materials—crystals only a few atoms thick—have attracted growing attention because they can exhibit physical properties that do not appear in conventional bulk materials. Among them, atomically thin magnetic materials are particularly intriguing, as they can host unconventional magnetic states and offer new possibilities for spin-based electronic technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-bilayer-antiferromagnet-reveals-photocurrent-flips.html Condensed Matter Mon, 18 May 2026 05:00:35 EDT news698069701 An international team of researchers, including scientists from HZDR and Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, for the first time directly observed how angular momentum is transferred and conserved within a crystal lattice. Using intense terahertz laser pulses, the researchers were able to selectively control these processes, which unveiled a surprising effect: During the angular momentum transfer, the direction of rotation reverses—caused by the rotational symmetry of the material. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-atoms-vibrate-circular-paths-unexpected.html Condensed Matter Tue, 12 May 2026 10:00:04 EDT news697795861 A research team led by Prof. Hao Ning of the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Anhui University and the University of Science and Technology of China, has identified two distinct types of unusual low-energy quasiparticle states in the kagome superconductor CsV3Sb5 using single-atom impurities as local "quantum probes" combined with scanning tunneling spectroscopy. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-exotic-quasiparticle-states-kagome-superconductor.html Superconductivity Wed, 29 Apr 2026 13:00:03 EDT news696681301 For years, Rutgers physicist David Shih solved Rubik's Cubes with his children, twisting the colorful squares until the scrambled puzzle returned to order. He didn't expect the toy to connect to his research, but recently he realized the logic behind the puzzle was exactly what he needed to solve a problem involving particle physics. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ai-rubik-cube-solver-particle.html General Physics Wed, 08 Apr 2026 15:20:04 EDT news694871223 In dryland ecosystems, increased environmental stress often triggers a change from a uniform vegetation cover to patchy vegetation patterns. Some theoretical studies suggest that this spatial self-organization of vegetation helps ecosystems delay and avoid desertification. Using a new theoretical framework, scientists from the Center for Advanced Systems Understanding (CASUS) at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf demonstrate that this is not the case in general. They argue that such vegetation patterns can, by contrast, be a sign of reduced resilience. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-vegetation-patterns-ecosystem-resilience-relationship.html Plants & Animals Wed, 01 Apr 2026 15:20:06 EDT news694261496 A team of researchers led by the University of Pittsburgh demonstrated a programmable superconducting diode at the LaAlO3/KTaO3 (LAO/KTO) interface, an advance that holds potential to enhance/help usher in the future of next-generation electronics and quantum circuits. The work, published in the journal Nano Letters, and featured on the journal's cover, was led by first author Muqing Yu, a graduate student in the lab of Jeremy Levy, Distinguished Professor of Condensed Matter Physics. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-programmable-superconducting-diode.html Nanophysics Thu, 26 Mar 2026 14:20:01 EDT news693744961 Two microscopic grains collide and produce a tiny spark. This phenomenon may have provided the energy to kick off life on Earth. But if these solid particles have the same composition, what factor causes the charge to flow in a given direction? In a study published in Nature, physicists from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) identify the key factor as environmental carbon-based molecules that adhere to the materials' surface. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-colliding-creation-carbon-coated-grains.html Astrobiology Wed, 18 Mar 2026 12:00:15 EDT news692980261 Electron movement and structures described in quantum physics allow researchers to better understand how and why materials like superconductors behave as they do. Rice University researchers Jianwei Huang and Ming Yi have developed a new capability, magnetoARPES, building on angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) that allows researchers to study quantum behaviors they have been unable to resolve using ARPES alone. The work has been published in Nature Physics. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-quantum-behavior-action-magnetoarpes-reveals.html Superconductivity Wed, 11 Mar 2026 06:00:03 EDT news692367301 In physics, the mesoscale lies between the microscopic and the macroscopic. It is not just the domain of tiny living creatures like small larvae, shrimp, and jellyfish, but also where physics equations become extreme. While the macroscopic realm is governed by inertia and the microscopic by viscosity, the mesoscale is both and neither, requiring a new set of physics to describe it. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-mesoscale-swimmers-pave-drug-delivery.html General Physics Sun, 08 Mar 2026 16:00:01 EDT news691772107 Light is an unusually rich carrier of information. Its direction of travel, wavelength, and polarization can all be used to encode signals or images. Yet controlling these properties independently remains difficult, especially when light can enter a device from either side. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-mbius-surface.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 04 Mar 2026 10:00:06 EST news691838582 The best candidate for next-generation magnetic devices—technology that can power, store, sense or transport information—may be, counterintuitively, antiferromagnets. Today, the most widely used magnetic materials are ferromagnets, which exhibit permanent magnetization and therefore strongly attract each other. Their opposite, called antiferromagnetic materials, exhibit no net magnetization at all. Despite a net zero magnetic field, they offer appealing properties that would solve the challenges of current magnetic technologies, like stray magnetic field generation or slow operation. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-liquid-crystal-phase-antiferromagnets-electrically.html Condensed Matter Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:20:01 EST news691760161 Why do some melodies feel instantly right, balanced, memorable and satisfying, even if you have never heard them before? New research from the University of Waterloo suggests that more than creativity is at play. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-secret-math-catchy-melodies.html Mathematics Thu, 19 Feb 2026 05:36:20 EST news690701761 The element cobalt is considered a typical ferromagnet with no further secrets. However, an international team led by HZB researcher Dr. Jaime Sánchez-Barriga has now uncovered complex topological features in its electronic structure. Spin-resolved measurements of the band structure (spin-ARPES) at BESSY II revealed entangled energy bands that cross each other along extended paths in specific crystallographic directions, even at room temperature. As a result, cobalt can be considered as a highly tunable and unexpectedly rich topological platform, opening new perspectives for exploiting magnetic topological states in future information technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-familiar-magnet-stranger-cobalt-topological.html Condensed Matter Wed, 11 Feb 2026 16:39:41 EST news690050341 How are superconductivity and magnetism connected? A puzzling relation between magnetism and superconductivity in a quantum material has lingered for decades—now, a study from TU Wien offers a surprising new explanation. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-superconductivity-exposes-altermagnetism-symmetries.html Condensed Matter Tue, 03 Feb 2026 09:13:39 EST news689332382 Wormholes are often imagined as tunnels through space or time—shortcuts across the universe. But this image rests on a misunderstanding of work by physicists Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-wormholes-weve-reveal-deeper-universe.html General Physics Thu, 15 Jan 2026 15:40:41 EST news687714002 The movement of waves, patterns that carry sound, light or heat, through materials has been widely studied by physicists, as it has implications for the development of numerous modern technologies. In several materials, the movement of waves depends on a physical property known as parity-time (PT) symmetry, which combines mirror-like spatial symmetry with a symmetry in a system's behavior when time runs forward and backwards. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-temporal-anti-paritytime-symmetry-energy.html General Physics Thu, 15 Jan 2026 08:00:01 EST news687615286 Antiferromagnetic (AF) materials are made up of atoms or molecules with atomic spins that align in antiparallel directions of their neighbors. The magnetism of each individual atom or molecule is canceled out by the one next to it to produce zero net magnetization. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-antiferromagnetic-metal-diode-behavior-external.html Condensed Matter Wed, 07 Jan 2026 11:20:01 EST news687006065 Materials react differently to electric and magnetic fields, and these reactions are known as electromagnetic responses. In many solid materials, unusual electromagnetic responses have been known to only emerge when specific symmetries are broken. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-subtle-materials-prompts-electromagnetic-behavior.html Condensed Matter Wed, 17 Dec 2025 08:30:01 EST news685108304 University of British Columbia (UBC) scientists have demonstrated a reversible way to switch the topological state of a quantum material using mechanisms compatible with modern electronic devices. Published in Nature Materials, the study offers a new route toward more energy efficient electronics based on topologically protected currents rather than conventional charge flow. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-demand-electronic-topology-crystal.html Condensed Matter Mon, 01 Dec 2025 15:25:26 EST news683825101 A collaborative European research team led by physicists from Slovak Academy of Sciences has theorized a new approach to control spin currents in graphene by coupling it to a ferroelectric In2Se3 monolayer. Using first-principles and tight-binding simulations, the researcher showed that the ferroelectric switching of In2Se3 can reverse the direction of the spin current in graphene acting as an electrical spin switch. This discovery offers a novel pathway toward energy-efficient, nonvolatile, and magnet-free spintronic devices, marking a key step toward the fabrication of next-generation spin-based logic and memory systems to control spin textures. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-electrical-currents-graphene-ferroelectric.html Condensed Matter Fri, 14 Nov 2025 13:50:05 EST news682348466 Over the past few years, engineers and material scientists have been trying to devise new optical systems in which light particles (i.e., photons) can move freely and in useful ways, irrespective of defects and imperfections. Topological phases, unique states of matter that are not defined by local properties, but by non-local and global features, can enable the robust movement of photons despite material defects. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-floquet-chern-insulators-based-nonlinear.html Nanophysics Thu, 02 Oct 2025 06:30:02 EDT news678368479 Quantum metals are metals where quantum effects—behaviors that normally only matter at atomic scales—become powerful enough to control the metal's macroscopic electrical properties. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-physicists-mystery-loop-current-kagome.html Condensed Matter Tue, 30 Sep 2025 13:00:02 EDT news678455531 The discovery of "hidden orders," organization patterns in materials that cannot be detected using conventional measurement tools, can yield valuable insight, which can in turn support the design of new materials with advantageous properties and characteristics. The hidden orders that condensed matter physicists hope to uncover lie within so-called charge density waves (CDWs). https://phys.org/news/2025-09-rare-earth-tritellurides-reveal-hidden.html Condensed Matter Mon, 22 Sep 2025 06:30:01 EDT news677159756 Electrons in a magnetic field can display striking behaviors, from the formation of discrete energy levels to the quantum Hall effect. These discoveries have shaped our understanding of quantum materials and topological phases of matter. Light, however, is made of neutral particles and does not naturally respond to magnetic fields in the same way. This has limited the ability of researchers to reproduce such effects in optical systems, particularly at the high frequencies used in modern communications. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-synthetic-magnetic-fields-chip-faster.html Condensed Matter Fri, 12 Sep 2025 11:45:03 EDT news676896301 In a new study published in Nature Physics, scientists have achieved the first experimental observation of phonon angular momentum in chiral crystals. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-scientists-phonon-angular-momentum-chiral.html Condensed Matter Thu, 14 Aug 2025 11:00:09 EDT news674383921 Sliding ferroelectrics are a type of two-dimensional (2D) material realized by stacking nonpolar monolayers (atom-thick layers that lack an electric dipole). When these individual layers are stacked, they produce ferroelectric materials with an intrinsic polarization (i.e., in which positive and negative charges are spontaneously separated), which can be switched using an external electric field that is perpendicular to them. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-domain-walls-polarization-ferroelectrics.html Nanophysics Mon, 11 Aug 2025 13:10:01 EDT news674133369