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. Artificial intelligence is transforming how information is generated, processed and stored, but its rapid expansion is also driving unprecedented demand for computing power and electricity. Developing hardware that can process information more efficiently is therefore becoming one of the major technological challenges of the AI era. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-room-temperature-skyrmion-based-synapses.html Nanophysics Mon, 14 Sep 2026 19:20:01 EDT news708620821 Carnegie Mellon University scientists have uncovered a new phenomenon that challenges a longstanding assumption about how electronic materials respond to magnetic fields. The discovery broadens the fundamental understanding of the Hall effect, a principle widely used to measure the magnetic and electronic properties of materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-physicists-hall-effect.html Condensed Matter Mon, 31 Aug 2026 09:20:07 EDT news707385286 Time-reversal symmetry is an exotic behavior found in systems whose internal physics looks different when running forward versus backward in time. For some time, physicists have searched for this behavior in systems with almost no overall magnetization. Such phases are highly prized for spintronics, where information is carried using the quantum spins of electrons. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-strain-flips-hall-altermagnetic-manganese.html Condensed Matter Sun, 16 Aug 2026 12:00:04 EDT news705839192 One of Europe's highest distinctions in condensed matter physics has been awarded for a discovery that is reshaping our understanding of magnetism: The 2026 Europhysics Prize of the European Physical Society (EPS) Condensed Matter Division goes to Professor Jairo Sinova of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Dr. Libor Šmejkal and Professor Tomas Jungwirth for their discovery of altermagnetism—a previously unknown fundamental class of magnetism. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-prize-honors-discovery-altermagnetism-fundamental.html Condensed Matter Fri, 24 Jul 2026 23:00:01 EDT news704119959 Researchers at the University of Würzburg have succeeded in detecting exceptionally robust electrical transport in a topological insulator. This could lead to new metrological applications. The work is published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-simple-circuit-topological-insulators-closer.html Condensed Matter Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:10:01 EDT news704041081 By combining approaches from two rapidly growing fields of quantum physics, researchers at Penn State and Saint Louis University have demonstrated that a novel specialized material can naturally enable a new way to study unusual physical phenomena known as non-Hermitian dynamics. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-material-path-unusual-electronic.html Condensed Matter Thu, 09 Jul 2026 14:10:03 EDT news702822021 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 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 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 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 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 Graphene, which is comprised of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, is a widely used material known for its advantageous electrical and mechanical properties. When graphene is stacked in a so-called rhombohedral (i.e., ABC) pattern, new electronic features are known to emerge, including a tunable band structure and a non-trivial topology. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-ultrasensitive-sensor-magnetization-textures-rhombohedral.html Nanophysics Thu, 16 Oct 2025 06:30:02 EDT news679662970 Researchers from Japan have discovered a unique Hall effect resulting from deflection of electrons due to "in-plane magnetization" of ferromagnetic oxide films (SrRuO3). Arising from the spontaneous coupling of spin-orbit magnetization within SrRuO3 films, the effect overturns the century-old assumption that only out-of-plane magnetization can trigger the Hall effect. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-ultrathin-ferromagnetic-oxide-reveal-hidden.html Condensed Matter Wed, 17 Sep 2025 09:54:31 EDT news677321666 Magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG) is a material created by stacking two sheets of graphene onto each other, with a small twist angle of about 1.1°. At this "magic angle," electrons move very slowly, which can lead to the emergence of highly correlated electron states. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-hofstadter-butterfly-bilayer-graphene-reveals.html Condensed Matter Mon, 08 Sep 2025 11:20:07 EDT news676548681 A team of scientists has revealed how a single quantum device can accurately measure the three fundamental units of electricity—the ampere (unit of electrical current), the volt (unit of electrical potential) and the ohm (unit of electrical resistance). This is a significant breakthrough because until now, no single instrument could measure all three primary electrical units in one practical system. It means that making electrical measurements could be more precise and reduce the potential for human error. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-quantum-device-amperes-volts-ohms.html Condensed Matter Wed, 20 Aug 2025 08:30:02 EDT news674828894 A research team from the University of Wollongong's (UOW) Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials (ISEM) has addressed a 40-year-old quantum puzzle, unlocking a new pathway to creating next-generation electronic devices that operate without losing energy or wasting electricity. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-entropy-avenue-robust-quantum-anomalous.html Condensed Matter Mon, 30 Jun 2025 15:50:02 EDT news670517319 In a new study, researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities discovered surprising magnetic behavior in one of the thinnest metallic oxide materials ever made. This could pave the way for the next generation of faster and smarter spintronic and quantum computing devices. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-ultra-thin-metallic-oxide-reveals.html Condensed Matter Mon, 16 Jun 2025 12:37:35 EDT news669296252 He Qinglin's group at the Center for Quantum Materials Science, School of Physics, has reported the first observation of non-reciprocal Coulomb drag in Chern insulators. This breakthrough opens new pathways for exploring Coulomb interactions in magnetic topological systems and enhances our understanding of quantum states in such materials. The work was published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-reciprocal-coulomb-chern-insulators.html Condensed Matter Mon, 28 Apr 2025 14:50:42 EDT news665070636 There are a seemingly endless number of quantum states that describe quantum matter and the strange phenomena that emerge when large numbers of electrons interact. For decades, many of these states have been theoretical: mathematical and computational predictions potentially hiding among real-life materials—a zoo, as many scientists are coming to refer to it, with new "species" just waiting to be discovered and described. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-quantum-zoo-scientists-dozen-species.html Quantum Physics Mon, 21 Apr 2025 13:26:04 EDT news664460761 When an electric current passes through some materials, it generates a voltage perpendicular to the direction in which the current is flowing and of an applied magnetic field. This physical phenomenon, known as the anomalous Hall effect, has been linked to the intrinsic properties of some materials. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-mathematical-modulates-anomalous-hall-angle.html Condensed Matter Mon, 21 Apr 2025 11:09:21 EDT news664452556 Traditionally, magnetic materials have been divided into two main categories: ferromagnets and antiferromagnets. Over the past few years, however, physicists have uncovered the existence of altermagnets, a new type of magnetic material that exhibits features of both antiferromagnets and ferromagnets. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-layered-room-temperature-altermagnet-advanced.html Condensed Matter Fri, 18 Apr 2025 07:50:01 EDT news664105640 Scholars at the School of Engineering of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have unveiled an innovation that brings artificial intelligence (AI) closer to quantum computing—both physically and technologically. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-meters-closer-miles-faster-cryogenic.html Condensed Matter Mon, 24 Mar 2025 15:03:25 EDT news662047400 Superconductivity, which entails an electrical resistance of zero at very low temperatures, is a highly desirable and thus widely studied quantum phenomenon. Typically, this state is known to arise following the formation of bound electron pairs known as Cooper pairs, yet identifying the factors contributing to its emergence in quantum materials has so far proved more challenging. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-physicists-uncover-superconducting-regimes-kagome.html Condensed Matter Thu, 13 Mar 2025 06:30:01 EDT news660905885 Electronic devices rely on materials whose electrical properties change with temperature, making them less stable in extreme conditions. A discovery by McGill University researchers that challenges conventional wisdom in physics suggests that bismuth, a metal, could serve as the foundation for highly stable electronic components. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-ultra-thin-bismuth-unexpected-green.html Condensed Matter Mon, 10 Mar 2025 12:29:03 EDT news660828541 MIT physicists report the unexpected discovery of electrons forming crystalline structures in a material only billionths of a meter thick. The work adds to a gold mine of discoveries originating from the material, which the same team discovered only about three years ago. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-physicists-unexpected-crystals-electrons-ultrathin.html Condensed Matter Wed, 26 Feb 2025 17:16:04 EST news659812561