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 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 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 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 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 In a new publication in Nature Materials, an international team of researchers has developed groundbreaking artificial chains of the iconic "olympicene" molecules to realize the antiferromagnetic (AF) spin-½ Heisenberg model, a flagship quantum spin model that has been the cornerstone of quantum magnetism, since the seminal work of Bethe, for almost a century now. This study makes nanographenes (NGs) an ideal platform for realizing and studying highly entangled quantum spin systems, with potential applications in insulator-based AF spintronics. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-olympicene-molecular-chains-quantum-spintronics.html Condensed Matter Fri, 14 Mar 2025 11:23:03 EDT news661170181 Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice, is known for its exceptional properties: incredible strength (about 200 times stronger than steel), light weight, flexibility, and excellent conduction of electricity and heat. These properties have made graphene increasingly important in applications across various fields, including electronics, energy storage, medical technology, and, most recently, quantum computing. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-graphene-stacking-discovery-herald-era.html Nanophysics Tue, 10 Dec 2024 16:01:16 EST news653068874 Moiré superlattices are materials consisting of two layers stacked on top of each other with either a small rotational misalignment or a lattice mismatch between them. The Kondo lattice model, on the other hand, describes systems in which conduction electrons interact with localized magnetic impurities, which changes the systems' electrical and magnetic properties. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-physicists-emergence-ferromagnetism-onset-kondo.html Condensed Matter Thu, 17 Oct 2024 06:40:01 EDT news648127967 Unconventional superconducting states are states of superconductivity rooted in physical processes that do not conform with the conventional theory of superconductivity, namely Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer (BCS) theory. These states are characterized by close interactions between magnetism and superconductivity. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-spontaneous-emergence-1d-superconducting-stripes.html Superconductivity Mon, 08 Apr 2024 09:39:39 EDT news631787972 A new magnetic material developed by RIKEN physicists could boost computer memory storage by enabling higher memory density and faster memory writing speeds. Their research has been published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-electron-effect-boost-memory.html Condensed Matter Tue, 26 Mar 2024 10:35:03 EDT news630668102 Lectures continue to dominate university teaching, but especially when it comes to big introductory courses, more group work and alternative assignments, such as making podcasts, can have a positive effect. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-podcasts-compulsory-student.html Social Sciences Wed, 10 Jan 2024 16:17:26 EST news624125842 Quantum computing could revolutionize our world. For specific and crucial tasks, it promises to be exponentially faster than the zero-or-one binary technology that underlies today's machines, from supercomputers in laboratories to smartphones in our pockets. But developing quantum computers hinges on building a stable network of qubits—or quantum bits—to store information, access it and perform computations. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-quantum-magnetic.html Quantum Physics Tue, 27 Jun 2023 15:42:55 EDT news607099370 Ferromagnets are materials that become magnetized and remain so while they are exposed to an external magnetic field. In these materials, electric currents typically induce a so-called transverse Hall voltage (i.e., a voltage resulting from the deflection of electrons), which is proportional to their internal magnetization. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-spontaneous-topological-hall-effect-driven.html Condensed Matter Wed, 17 May 2023 10:30:02 EDT news603536963 Researchers at Harvard University, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Arizona State University, and other institutes in the United States have recently observed an antiferromagnetic metal phase in electron-doped NdNiO3 a material known to be a non-collinear antiferromagnet (i.e., exhibiting an onset of antiferromagnetic ordering that is concomitant with a transition into an insulating state). https://phys.org/news/2023-02-unveils-antiferromagnetic-metal-phase-electron-doped.html Condensed Matter Thu, 23 Feb 2023 10:10:06 EST news596368309 Excitons are quasiparticles that are formed in insulators or semiconductors when an electron is promoted to a higher energy band, leaving a positively charged hole behind. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-evidence-excitonic-insulators-moir-superlattices.html General Physics Wed, 07 Sep 2022 10:30:01 EDT news581765281 An advance in the use of antiferromagnetic materials in memory storage devices has been made by an international team of physicists. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-scientists-unravel-hall-effect-mystery.html Quantum Physics Thu, 18 Aug 2022 11:24:03 EDT news580040641 Using a network of vibrating nano-strings controlled with light, researchers from AMOLF have made sound waves move in a specific irreversible direction and attenuated or amplified the waves in a controlled manner for the first time. This gives rise to a lasing effect for sound. To their surprise, they discovered new mechanisms, so-called "geometric phases," with which they can manipulate and transmit sound in systems where that was thought to be impossible. "This opens the way to new types of (meta)materials with properties that we do not yet know from existing materials," says group leader Ewold Verhagen who, together with shared first authors Javier del Pino and Jesse Slim, publishes the surprising results on June 2 in Nature. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-discovery-mechanisms.html General Physics Wed, 01 Jun 2022 11:00:06 EDT news573206505 A hallmark of so-called topological quantum states is that they are protected against local perturbations. ETH physicists now demonstrate that in the paradigmatic case of the integer quantum Hall effect, vacuum fluctuations can cause a breakdown of topological protection. https://phys.org/news/2022-03-vacuum-fluctuations-topological.html Quantum Physics Fri, 04 Mar 2022 12:48:17 EST news565620494 The kagome pattern, a network of corner-sharing triangles, is well known amongst traditional Japanese basket weavers—and condensed matter physicists. The unusual geometry of metal atoms in the kagome lattice and resulting electron behavior makes it a playground for probing weird and wonderful quantum phenomena that form the basis of next-generation device research. https://phys.org/news/2022-02-insight-unconventional-superconductivity.html Superconductivity Wed, 09 Feb 2022 11:08:54 EST news563627329 The world we experience is governed by classical physics. How we move, where we are, and how fast we're going are all determined by the classical assumption that we can only exist in one place at any one moment in time. https://phys.org/news/2022-01-physicists-ultracold-atoms-crystal-quantum.html Quantum Physics Wed, 05 Jan 2022 12:29:55 EST news560608190 When can we say that a certain property of a system is robust? Intuitively, robustness implies that, even under the effect of external perturbations on the system, no matter how strong or random, said property remains unchanged. In mathematics, properties of an object that are robust against deformations are called topological. For example, the letters s, S, and L can be transformed into each other by stretching or bending their shape. The same holds true for letters o, O, and D. However, it is impossible to turn an S into an O without a discontinuous operation, such as cutting the O apart or sticking the two ends of the S together. Therefore, we say that the letters s, S and L have the same topology—as do the letters o, O and D—whereas the two groups of letters have different topologies. But how does topology relate to biology? https://phys.org/news/2021-07-exploring-topology-biology.html General Physics Fri, 23 Jul 2021 10:22:49 EDT news546254565 An international team led by researchers at Princeton University has uncovered a new pattern of ordering of electric charge in a novel superconducting material. https://phys.org/news/2021-06-team-unexpected-quantum-behavior-kagome.html Condensed Matter Fri, 18 Jun 2021 13:43:11 EDT news543242585 The electronic structure of metallic materials determines the behavior of electron transport. Magnetic Weyl semimetals have a unique topological electronic structure—the electron's motion is dynamically linked to its spin. These Weyl semimetals have come to be the most exciting quantum materials that allow for dissipationless transport, low power operation, and exotic topological fields that can accelerate the motion of the electrons in new directions. The compounds Co3Sn2S2 and Co2MnGa, recently discovered by the Felser group, have shown some of the most prominent effects due to a set of two topological bands. https://phys.org/news/2021-06-harmonious-electronic-quantum-materials.html Quantum Physics Tue, 01 Jun 2021 14:56:38 EDT news541778195 Identical twins might seem 'indistinguishable,' but in the quantum world the word takes on a new level of meaning. While identical twins share many traits, the universe treats two indistinguishable quantum particles as intrinsically interchangeable. This opens the door for indistinguishable particles to interact in unique ways—such as in quantum interference—that are needed for quantum computers. https://phys.org/news/2021-05-tunable-twin-particles.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 11 May 2021 11:34:16 EDT news539951651 Electric current is deflected by a magnetic field—in conducting materials, this leads to the so-called Hall effect. This effect is often used to measure magnetic fields. A surprising discovery has now been made at TU Wien, in collaboration with scientists from the Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland), McMater University (Canada), and Rice University (U.S.): an exotic metal made of cerium, bismuth and palladium was examined and a giant Hall effect was found to be produced by the material, in the total absence of any magnetic field. The reason for this unexpected result lies in the unusual properties of the electrons: They behave as if magnetic monopoles were present in the material. These discoveries have now been published in the scientific magazine PNAS. https://phys.org/news/2021-02-magnetic-effect-magnet.html Quantum Physics Mon, 22 Feb 2021 09:36:05 EST news533208962 Electrons in materials have a property known as 'spin," which is responsible for a variety of properties, the most well-known of which is magnetism. Permanent magnets, like the ones used for refrigerator doors, have all the spins in their electrons aligned in the same direction. Scientists refer to this behavior as ferromagnetism, and the research field of trying to manipulate spin as spintronics. https://phys.org/news/2021-02-magnetic-graphene.html Nanophysics Fri, 05 Feb 2021 09:40:20 EST news531740411 Compared with the chiral spin textures in ferromagnets, their antiferromagnetic counterparts can be manipulated by spin currents with a more direct approach due to the absence of the skyrmion Hall effect, and much lower power consumption, as well. So far, most research has focused on isolated excitation in perpendicular antiferromagnetic spin systems, for example, skyrmion solitons. Meanwhile, the characteristics and the related physics of its in-plane analog, the bimeron, remain elusive. https://phys.org/news/2020-11-in-plane-antiferromagnets-host-rich-class.html General Physics Fri, 13 Nov 2020 08:28:27 EST news524478505 Sometimes combinations of different things produce effects that no one expects, such as when completely new properties appear that the two combined parts do not have on their own. Dr. Libor Šmejkal from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) found such an unexpected property: He combined antiferromagnetic substances with non-magnetic atoms and found that, contrary to the current doctrine, a Hall current occurs—which is not the case with either antiferromagnetic or non-magnetic substances individually. https://phys.org/news/2020-11-antiferromagnets-suitable-dissipationless-nanoelectronics-contrary.html General Physics Mon, 09 Nov 2020 13:09:12 EST news524149748 Over the past few years, a growing number of researchers worldwide has been conducting studies investigating the properties and features of so-called twisted van der Waals (vdW) materials. This unique class of materials could be an ideal platform to examine correlated phases that occur as a result of strong interactions between electrons. https://phys.org/news/2020-10-spontaneous-symmetry-bilayer-graphene.html Nanomaterials Thu, 15 Oct 2020 05:38:06 EDT news521959074 Composite fermions are exotic quasi-particles found in interacting 2-D fermion systems at relatively large perpendicular magnetic fields. These quasi-particles, which are composed of an electron and two magnetic flux quanta, have often been used to describe a physical phenomenon known as the fractional quantum Hall effect. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-bloch-ferromagnetism-composite-fermions.html General Physics Fri, 18 Sep 2020 09:34:00 EDT news519633771