https://phys.org/physics-news/materials/ en-us The latest news on Physics, Materials, Science and Technology Superconductivity is a state of matter characterized by an electrical resistance of zero, typically at very low temperatures. Past studies have found that in various materials, this unique state is accompanied by unusual electron arrangements. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-link-metallicity-superconductivity-uncovered-trilayer.html Condensed Matter Sat, 18 Apr 2026 11:00:04 EDT news695304845 Also known as magnetoelectronics, spintronics rely on electron spin rather than electron charge, as found in traditional electronics. Although spintronics is still an emerging field, spintronic technologies are already found in hard disk drives and giant magnetoresistance sensors used in industrial and automotive applications. Once the right foundational materials are discovered and verified, including economical materials for altermagnets, spintronics could advance technologies from wireless communication to quantum computing. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-altermagnetism-abundant-mineral.html Condensed Matter Thu, 16 Apr 2026 17:50:01 EDT news695574901 For the first time, scientists have directly imaged the quantum process underlying superconductivity, a phenomenon in which paired electrons cause electric current to flow without resistance at sufficiently low temperatures. The results weren't quite what they expected. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-scientists-capture-superconductivity-pairs-revealing.html Condensed Matter Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:50:01 EDT news695487661 Researchers from the Department of Energy's Quantum Science Center (QSC) headquartered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have achieved a significant milestone by demonstrating the first digital quantum simulations of how spin currents change over time in a 1-D model of a quantum spin material. The results, now published in Physical Review Letters, establish a new, programmable way to use quantum computers to study the transport of spin—a fundamental quantum variable—in materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-simulations-reveal-1d-materials.html Condensed Matter Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:20:01 EDT news695486850 Beginning in the 1950s, silicon transformed the electronics industry by enabling smaller and faster devices that could be reliably manufactured at scale. More than six decades later, silicon-based semiconductors remain at the heart of many modern technologies, including so-called "classical" computers. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-silicon-compatible-path-scalable-quantum.html Condensed Matter Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:30:01 EDT news695401681 A key factor for the performance of sensors is the speed at which the system returns to its initial state after a disturbance or measurement, similar to the taring of a balance. In the quantum sensor under investigation, this corresponds to the transition of electrons from an energetically excited state to the ground state. However, the electrons remain in a kind of metastable intermediate state for a short time. A team of physicists from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) has now directly measured this waiting time in a two-dimensional material: It lasts exactly 24 billionths of a second. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-sensors-precision-boost-2d.html Condensed Matter Mon, 13 Apr 2026 18:20:04 EDT news695312222 A new study by scientists in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) shows that when a pressure disturbance moves across an ultrasoft elastic material, such as a gel or a biological tissue, it generates a V-shaped wake that's strikingly similar to the waves that travel behind a boat. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ship-soft-tissues-exploring-fluid.html Condensed Matter Mon, 13 Apr 2026 18:00:01 EDT news695312041 Researchers have discovered evidence that superconductivity can be controlled by influencing the surrounding environment, a finding that may lead to more efficient electronics down the road, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Physics. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-tiny-synthetic-diamond-superconductivity-route.html Condensed Matter Mon, 13 Apr 2026 15:40:05 EDT news695304421 A Majorana fermion is a particle that would be identical to its antiparticle. Such an object has not yet been found. However, certain solid materials exhibit analogous behavior as if Majorana fermions were present through collective excitations of the system called quasiparticles. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-poor-majoranas-quantum-probes.html Condensed Matter Sat, 11 Apr 2026 08:00:04 EDT news695029562 In a new Nature Physics publication, University of Amsterdam researchers introduce human-made materials that spring to life. These 'metamaterials' don't just learn to change shape, but can autonomously adapt their shape-changing strategy, perform reflex actions and move around like living systems do. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-metamaterial-chains-hinge.html General Physics Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:20:05 EDT news694780502 The electrons that power our society flow left and right through the circuitry in our electronics, back and forth along the transmission lines that make up our power grid, and up and down to light up every floor of every building. But the electrons in newly discovered "moiré crystals" move in much stranger ways. They can move left and right, back and forth, or up and down in our three-dimensional world, but these electrons also act as if they can teleport in and out of a mysterious fourth dimension of space that is perpendicular to our perceivable reality. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-electrons-moir-crystals-explore-higher.html Condensed Matter Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:00:03 EDT news694685941 Quantum states are notoriously fragile, and can be destroyed simply through interactions, measurements, and exposure to their surrounding environments. In a new theoretical study published in Physical Review X, Rohan Mittal and colleagues at the University of Cologne have discovered a new way to protect quantum behavior on large scales within systems driven far from equilibrium. Their results could have promising implications for the design of more robust quantum devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-coherence-large-scales-realistic.html Condensed Matter Fri, 03 Apr 2026 08:20:01 EDT news694340197 A team of researchers has identified atomic distortions that may be linked with high-temperature superconductivity in a promising class of nickel-based materials, offering new insight into how next-generation superconductors might be designed. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-atomic-distortions-reveal-clues-superconductivity.html Condensed Matter Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:00:04 EDT news694354637 Superconductivity—the ability of a material to conduct electricity without any energy loss to heat—enables highly efficient, ultra-fast electronics essential for advanced technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, particle accelerators and, potentially, quantum computers. New research has now revealed that iron telluride (FeTe), a compound composed of the chemical elements iron and tellurium and long thought to be an ordinary magnetic metal, is in fact a superconductor. The researchers found that hidden excess iron atoms induce the material's magnetism, and removing these atoms allows electricity to flow with zero resistance. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-superconductivity-material-thought-magnetic.html Condensed Matter Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:40:01 EDT news694263182 The direction in which the electromagnetic field of circularly polarized light rotates can be easily reversed by applying a voltage, RIKEN researchers have demonstrated. This could enable a new generation of optical devices based on circularly polarized light. The work is published in two papers in the journal Advanced Materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-helical-liquid-crystals-flip-chirality.html Condensed Matter Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:10:01 EDT news694273141 In the air people breathe, the water on Earth, the stars in the sky and more, atoms are the building blocks that make up the universe. Understanding the structure of the atomic nucleus is crucial for research with implications for astrophysics and in applications such as medical imaging and data storage. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-quantum-magnetism-flip-atomic-nucleus.html Condensed Matter Tue, 31 Mar 2026 13:40:03 EDT news694183008 Monash University researchers have captured the exact atomic movements that write data to next-generation memory devices, which could pave the way for smaller, faster and more energy-efficient electronics. Published in Nature Communications, the study was led by Dr. Kousuke Ooe, a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) postdoctoral fellow in the School of Physics and Astronomy at Monash University who is first author of the paper, in collaboration with Australian Laureate Professor Joanne Etheridge and researchers from the Japan Fine Ceramics Center, Kyoto University, and the University of Osaka. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-scientists-capture-atoms-motion-generation.html Condensed Matter Tue, 31 Mar 2026 12:00:02 EDT news694169171 Studying and designing novel materials is a central application of quantum mechanics. Chemists, materials scientists, and physicists focus on subtle interactions in quantum materials and to uncover them they rely on sophisticated computational and experimental techniques. Computer simulations that connect microscopic quantum interactions to measurable material properties complement experimental data to connect structure to function—but classical computers can struggle to simulate those properties. Fortunately, scientists today have a new tool in their toolbox: quantum computers. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-quantum-accurately-simulates-real-magnetic.html Condensed Matter Thu, 26 Mar 2026 17:20:02 EDT news693760656 Phonons are the quantum units of mechanical vibration. They describe how motion propagates through a solid at the smallest possible scales, in much the same way that electrons describe electric currents. Because phonons can be exceptionally stable and sensitive, they are used in quantum science and technology. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-quantum-vibrations-nonlinear-enable-phonon.html Condensed Matter Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:40:02 EDT news693662402 For decades, it has been widely believed that electrons move most efficiently in materials that are clean and highly ordered. Much like water flowing more easily through a smooth pipe, conventional wisdom has held that electrical transport improves as a material's internal structure becomes more perfectly arranged. However, a recent study shows that the opposite can also be true. A research team at POSTECH in South Korea has discovered that engineered disorder can actually enhance electron transport. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-disorder-mechanism-amplifies-transverse-electron.html General Physics Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:00:06 EDT news693661981 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 You may not be able to hear it, but all solid materials make a sound. In fact, atoms—bound in lattices of chemical bonds—are never silent nor still: Under the placid surface of each and every object in our surroundings, a low hum hovers or a high-energy squeak titters. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-boron-arsenide-semiconductor-quantum-vibrations.html Condensed Matter Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:20:01 EDT news693572222 Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with an electrical resistance of zero. Superconductivity is generally observed when materials are cooled down to extremely low temperatures. In some cases, however, like in so-called high-temperature superconductors, this property emerges at higher temperatures. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-spinel-crystal-unusual-pressure-superconductivity.html Condensed Matter Tue, 24 Mar 2026 08:00:07 EDT news693479340 Gallium nitride, a semiconductor that can operate at high voltages, temperatures, and frequencies, has enabled technologies from LED lighting to high-power electronics. Now Cornell researchers have observed a quantum property of the material for the first time, an advance that could expand its technological reach. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-quantum-oscillations-gallium-nitride-holes.html Condensed Matter Mon, 23 Mar 2026 17:40:01 EDT news693489602 A research team has discovered a new way to control tiny magnetic properties inside materials using electric current, which could possibly pave the way for new types of computing technologies. The work is based on spintronics, a field that uses not only the electric charge of electrons but also their "spin," a quantum property that can be thought of as a tiny magnet. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-electric-current-stabilizes-unstable.html Condensed Matter Mon, 23 Mar 2026 10:00:02 EDT news693476461 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 Researchers have proposed that a newly identified class of magnetic materials could extend the zero-resistance currents of superconductors to electron spins. Publishing their calculations in Physical Review X, Kyle Monkman and colleagues at the University of British Columbia propose how "altermagnets" could enable persistent spin currents to flow without dissipation. If confirmed experimentally, the effect could provide a powerful new platform for spintronics, where information is encoded in spin rather than electric charge. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-superconducting-altermagnets-energy-loss.html Condensed Matter Sat, 21 Mar 2026 12:00:02 EDT news693045824 For more than a century, condensed matter physics has grappled with one of its greatest unsolved challenges: how to build superconductors that operate at room temperature and transmit electricity with no loss. Now, in a paper published in Nature, a team of Harvard physicists has reported new insights into why one promising superconductor has yielded mysteriously uneven results. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-window-superconductivity-reimagining-classic-tool.html Condensed Matter Fri, 20 Mar 2026 19:00:01 EDT news693228425 Skyrmions, in which electron spins inside a magnet are arranged like vortices, are a key structure in next-generation spintronics technology. KAIST researchers have shown that skyrmions can form using only the fundamental physical interactions within magnets, without requiring special physical conditions. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-exotic-physics-formation-mechanism-skyrmions.html General Physics Thu, 19 Mar 2026 13:00:03 EDT news693138181 Glass appears to be a solid, but in theory it sometimes behaves more like an extremely slow liquid. Physicists in Utrecht now show that glass-like structures can also exist in equilibrium, which is something many theories say should be impossible. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-glass-solid-super-liquid-physicists.html Condensed Matter Wed, 18 Mar 2026 18:00:03 EDT news693065221