CMP Journal 2025-09-04
Statistics
Nature Materials: 1
Nature Physics: 1
Science: 18
Physical Review Letters: 18
arXiv: 68
Nature Materials
Space-time crystals from particle-like topological solitons
Original Paper | Liquid crystals | 2025-09-03 20:00 EDT
Hanqing Zhao, Ivan I. Smalyukh
Time crystals are unexpected states of matter that spontaneously break time-translation symmetry either in a discrete or continuous manner. However, spatially mesoscale space-time crystals that break both space and time symmetries have not been reported. Here we report a continuous space-time crystal in a nematic liquid crystal driven by ambient-power, constant-intensity unstructured light. Our numerically constructed four-dimensional configurations exhibit good agreement with these experimental findings. Although meeting the established criteria to identify time-crystalline order, both experiments and computer simulations reveal a space-time crystallization phase formed by particle-like topological solitons. The robustness against temporal perturbations and spatiotemporal dislocations shows the stability and rigidity of the studied space-time crystals, which relates to their locally topological nature and many-body interactions between emergent spontaneously twisted, particle-like solitonic building blocks. Their potential technological utility includes optical devices, photonic space-time crystal generators, telecommunications and anti-counterfeiting designs, among others.
Liquid crystals, Topological defects
Nature Physics
Tau accelerates tubulin exchange in the microtubule lattice
Original Paper | Biological physics | 2025-09-03 20:00 EDT
Subham Biswas, Rahul Grover, Cordula Reuther, Chetan S. Poojari, Reza Shaebani, Shweta Nandakumar, Mona Grünewald, Amir Zablotsky, Jochen S. Hub, Stefan Diez, Karin John, Laura Schaedel
Microtubules are cytoskeletal filaments characterized by dynamic instability at their tips and a dynamic lattice that undergoes continuous tubulin loss and incorporation. Tau, a neuronal microtubule-associated protein, is well known for its role in stabilizing microtubule tips and promoting microtubule bundling. Here we demonstrate that tau also modulates microtubule lattice dynamics. Although tau lacks enzymatic activity, it significantly accelerates tubulin exchange within the lattice, particularly at topological defect sites. Our findings indicate that tau enhances lattice anisotropy by stabilizing longitudinal tubulin-tubulin interactions while destabilizing lateral ones, thereby enhancing the mobility and annihilation of lattice defects. These results challenge the traditional view of tau as merely a passive stabilizer, revealing its active role in dynamically remodelling the microtubule lattice structure.
Biological physics, Intrinsically disordered proteins, Nanoscale biophysics
Science
Reversible compromise of physiological resilience by accumulation of heteroplasmic mtDNA mutations
Research Article | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Huihui Huang, Yi Wang, Zsuzsanna K. Zsengeller, Joshua M. Gorham, Vamsidhara Vemireddy, Amanda J. Clark, Hui Pan, Jonathan M. Dreyfuss, Vasantha Jotwani, Michael G. Shlipak, Mark J. Sarnak, Chirag R. Parikh, Heather Thiessen-Philbrook, Ronit Katz, Sushrut S. Waikar, Nicole J. Lake, Monkol Lek, Wen Shi, Daniela Puiu, Yun Soo Hong, Jonathan G. Seidman, Dan E. Arking, Samir M. Parikh
Somatically acquired mitochondrial DNA mutations accumulate with age, but the mechanisms and consequences are poorly understood. Here we show that transient injuries induce a burst of persistent mtDNA mutations that impair resilience to future injuries. mtDNA mutations suppressed energy-intensive nucleotide metabolism. Repletion of adenosine, but not other nucleotides, restored ATP generation, which required a nuclear-encoded purine biosynthetic enzyme, adenylate kinase 4 (AK4). Analysis of 369,912 UK Biobank participants revealed a graded association between mutation burden and chronic kidney disease severity as well as an independent increase in the risk of future acute kidney injury events (p < 10-7). Heteroplasmic mtDNA mutations may therefore reflect the cumulative effect of acute injuries to metabolically active cells, impairing major functions in a fashion amenable to nuclear-controlled purine biosynthesis.
Estrogen-regulated renal progenitors determine pregnancy adaptation and preeclampsia
Research Article | Nephrology | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Carolina Conte, Maria Lucia Angelotti, Benedetta Mazzinghi, Maria Elena Melica, Giulia Antonelli, Giulia Carangelo, Samuela Landini, Valentina Raglianti, Fiammetta Ravaglia, Luigi Cirillo, Camilla Fantini, Tommaso Dafichi, Martin Klaus, Ersilia Lucenteforte, Alice Molli, Letizia De Chiara, Anna Julie Peired, Elena Lazzeri, Hans-Joachim Anders, Laura Lasagni, Paola Romagnani
The global burden of kidney disease displays marked sexual dimorphism. Lineage tracing and single-cell RNA-sequencing revealed that starting from puberty, estrogen signaling in female mice supports self-renewal and differentiation of renal progenitors to increase filtration capacity, reducing sensitivity to glomerular injury compared with that of males. This phenomenon accelerated as female kidneys adapted to the workload of pregnancy. Deletion of estrogen receptor α in renal progenitors disrupted this adaptation, leading to preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction, and increased maternal risk of hypertension and chronic kidney disease. Offspring from affected mothers had fewer nephrons, resulting in early-life hypertension and greater susceptibility to kidney disease. These results highlight the fundamental role of kidney fitness and renal progenitors for pregnancy and preeclampsia and as a determinant of sexual dimorphism in kidney disease.
Resistin-like molecule γ attacks cardiomyocyte membranes and promotes ventricular tachycardia
Research Article | Cardiology | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Nina Kumowski, Steffen Pabel, Jana Grune, Noor Momin, Van K. Ninh, Laura Stengel, Kyle I. Mentkowski, Yoshiko Iwamoto, Yi Zheng, I-Hsiu Lee, Jessica Matthias, Jan O. Wirth, Fadi E. Pulous, Hana Seung, Alexandre Paccalet, Charlotte G. Muse, Kenneth K. Y. Ting, Paul Delgado, Andrew J. M. Lewis, Vaishali Kaushal, Antonia Kreso, Dennis Brown, Sikander Hayat, Rafael Kramann, Filip K. Swirski, Kamila Naxerova, Daniel C. Propheter, Lora V. Hooper, Michael A. Moskowitz, Kevin R. King, Nadia Rosenthal, Maarten Hulsmans, Matthias Nahrendorf
Ventricular tachycardia disrupts the heart’s coordinated pump function, leading to sudden cardiac death. Neutrophils, which are recruited in high numbers to the ischemic myocardium, promote these arrhythmias. Comparing neutrophils with macrophages, we found that resistin-like molecule γ (Retnlg or RELMγ) was the most differentially expressed gene in mouse infarcts. RELMγ is part of a pore-forming protein family that defends the host against bacteria by perforating their membranes. In mice with acute infarcts, leukocyte-specific Retnlg deletion reduced ventricular tachycardia. RELMγ elicited membrane defects that allowed cell exclusion dyes to enter the cardiomyocyte interior and also caused delayed afterdepolarizations and later cardiomyocyte death, both of which are strong arrhythmogenic triggers. Human resistin likewise attacked membranes of liposomes and mammalian cells. We describe how misdirected innate immune defense produces membrane leaks and ventricular arrhythmia.
Photochemical H2 dissociation for nearly quantitative CO2 reduction to ethylene
Research Article | Photocatalysis | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Ping Jin, Pu Guo, Nengchao Luo, Hui Zhang, Chenwei Ni, Ruotian Chen, Wei Liu, Rengui Li, Jianping Xiao, Guoxiong Wang, Fuxiang Zhang, Paolo Fornasiero, Feng Wang
Producing olefins by carbon dioxide (CO2) hydrogenation is a long-standing goal. The usual products are multicarbon mixtures because the critical step of heterolytic hydrogen (H2) dissociation at high temperatures complicates selectivity control. In this study, we report that irradiating gold-titanium dioxide at 365 nanometers induces heterolytic H2 dissociation at ambient temperature. This process likely relies on interfacial electric dipoles from photogenerated electrons and holes situated on the metallic gold nanoparticles and interfacial gold-oxygen-titanium scaffolds. The heterolytic H2 dissociation is further promoted by light-induced coating of gold nanoparticles with a titanium oxide layer. The resulting nucleophilic hydrogen species reduce CO2 to ethane in >99% yield under light irradiation in a flow apparatus. Furthermore, cascading with a subsequent photocatalytic ethane dehydrogenation generates ethylene in >99% yield over 1500 hours of irradiation.
Epithelial tension controls intestinal cell extrusion
Research Article | Cell biology | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Daniel Krueger, Willem Kasper Spoelstra, Dirk Jan Mastebroek, Rutger N. U. Kok, Shanie Wu, Mike Nikolaev, Marie Bannier-Hélaouët, Nikolche Gjorevski, Matthias Lutolf, Johan van Es, Jeroen van Zon, Sander J. Tans, Hans Clevers
Cell extrusion is essential for homeostatic self-renewal of the intestinal epithelium. Extrusion is thought to be triggered by crowding-induced compression of cells at the intestinal villus tip. In this study, we found instead that a local “tug-of-war” competition between contractile cells regulated extrusion in the intestinal epithelium. We combined quantitative live microscopy, optogenetic induction of tissue tension, genetic perturbation of myosin II activity, and local disruption of the basal cortex in mouse intestines and intestinal organoids. These approaches revealed that a dynamic actomyosin network generates tension throughout the intestinal villi, including the villus tip region. Mechanically weak cells unable to maintain this tension underwent extrusion. Thus, epithelial barrier integrity depends on intercellular mechanics.
Evolution of thumbnails across Rodentia
Research Article | Evolution | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Rafaela V. Missagia, Anderson Feijó, Lauren Johnson, Maximilian L. Allen, Bruce D. Patterson, Paulina D. Jenkins, Gordon M. G. Shepherd
The unguis (hoof, claw, or nail) of the first digit (D1, also known as the thumb or pollex) of the tetrapod hand exhibits numerous functional adaptations, but its macroevolutionary association with ecological diversity is unknown. Across Rodentia, we find that most extant genera and ancestral lineages bear D1 nails. Exceptions follow structure-function associations that arose independently multiple times, specifically, the gain of D1 claws with subterranean habits and the loss of D1 ungues with oral-only feeding behavior. We hypothesize that early acquisition of D1 nails and manually dexterous food handling was crucial for rodents to adaptively leverage cranial specializations for efficient gnawing and thereby exploit hard seeds and nuts, a niche that they dominated after the extinction of multituberculates. Our study recasts ideas about rodent evolution and uncovers a previously unrecognized contributor to their successful radiation.
Lewy body dementia promotion by air pollutants
Research Article | Neurodegeneration | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Xiaodi Zhang, Haiqing Liu, Xiao Wu, Longgang Jia, Kundlik Gadhave, Lena Wang, Kevin Zhang, Hanyu Li, Rong Chen, Ramhari Kumbhar, Ning Wang, Chantelle E. Terrillion, Bong Gu Kang, Bin Bai, Minhan Park, Ma. Cristine Faye Denna, Shu Zhang, Wenqiang Zheng, Denghui Ye, Xiaoli Rong, Liu Yang, Lili Niu, Han Seok Ko, Weiyi Peng, Lingtao Jin, Mingyao Ying, Liana S. Rosenthal, David W. Nauen, Alex Pantelyat, Mahima Kaur, Kezia Irene, Liuhua Shi, Rahel Feleke, Sonia García-Ruiz, Mina Ryten, Valina L. Dawson, Francesca Dominici, Rodney J. Weber, Xuan Zhang, Pengfei Liu, Ted M. Dawson, Shizhong Han, Xiaobo Mao
Evidence links air pollution to dementia, yet its role in Lewy body dementia (LBD) remains unclear. In this work, we showed in a cohort of 56.5 million individuals across the United States that fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure raises LBD risk. Mechanistically, we found that PM2.5 exposure led to brain atrophy in wild-type mice, an effect not seen in α-synuclein (αSyn)-deficient mice. PM2.5 exposure generated a highly pathogenic αSyn strain, PM2.5-induced preformed fibril (PM-PFF), with enhanced proteinase K resistance and neurotoxicity, resembling αSyn LBD strains. PM2.5 samples from China, the United States, and Europe consistently induced proteinase-resistant αSyn strains and in vivo pathology. Transcriptomic analyses revealed shared responses between PM2.5-exposed mice and LBD patients, underscoring PM2.5‘s role in LBD and stressing the need for interventions to reduce air pollution and its associated neurological disease burden.
Divergent FOXA1 mutations drive prostate tumorigenesis and therapy-resistant cellular plasticity
Research Article | Cancer | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Sanjana Eyunni, Rahul Mannan, Yuping Zhang, Eleanor Young, Qiuyang Zhang, Jie Luo, Matthew Pang, Somnath Mahapatra, Jean Ching-Yi Tien, James M. George, Mustapha Jaber, Hamzah Hakkani, Sandra E. Carson, Abigail J. Todd, Noshad Hosseini, Mahnoor Gondal, Ryan J. Rebernick, Xuhong Cao, Fengyun Su, Rui Wang, Rohit Mehra, Jing Li, Marcin Cieslik, Arul M. Chinnaiyan, Abhijit Parolia
FOXA1 is altered in 10 to 40% of prostate cancers, yet its oncogenic mechanisms remain uncharacterized in vivo. We developed knock-in mouse models representing distinct classes of FOXA1 mutations. Histopathological and multiomic analyses of prostate tissues and organoids revealed that Class 1 mutations, in conjunction with p53 inactivation, drive androgen-dependent adenocarcinomas through coactivation of mTORC1/2 and oncogenic AR signaling stemming from chimeric AR-half enhancers. By contrast, Class 2 mutations induce intraluminal plasticity by reprogramming differentiated luminal cells into a progenitor-like state through activation of KLF5 and AP-1 neo-enhancer circuitries, which enables enhanced survival and proliferation even under castrate androgen levels. Our findings establish FOXA1 as a multifaceted oncogene, with distinct mutational classes divergently evolving to drive prostate tumorigenesis or therapy-resistant progression.
Cumulative impacts to global marine ecosystems projected to more than double by midcentury
Research Article | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Benjamin S. Halpern, Melanie Frazier, Casey C. O’Hara, O. Alejandra Vargas-Fonseca, Amanda T. Lombard
Pressures from human activities are expected to increase significantly, impacting marine ecosystems globally. To plan for a sustainable future, we need to forecast distributions of cumulative impacts from multiple pressures. Here we mapped (10km resolution) future cumulative impacts of ten climate, land-based, fishing and other pressures on twenty marine habitats under two climate scenarios at midcentury (~2050). We found cumulative impacts are projected to increase 2.2 to 2.6 times globally, with coastal habitats facing higher impacts but offshore regions facing faster increases, especially in equatorial regions. Furthermore, many countries dependent on marine resources will have large increases in impacts. Incorporating these results into strategic policy and management will support more sustainable use and protection of marine ecosystems and the services provided to people.
Order-to-disorder transition due to entropy in layered and 2D carbides
Research Article | Layered materials | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Brian C. Wyatt, Yinan Yang, Paweł P. Michałowski, Tetiana Parker, Yamilée Morency, Francesca Urban, Givi Kadagishvili, Manushree Tanwar, Sixbert P. Muhoza, Srinivasa Kartik Nemani, Annabelle Bedford, Hui Fang, Zachary D. Hood, Junwoo Jang, Krutarth Kamath, Bethany G. Wright, Rebecca Disko, Anupma Thakur, Sanguk Han, Neil Ghosh, Xianfan Xu, Zahra Fakhraai, Yury Gogotsi, Aleksandra Vojvodic, De-en Jiang, Babak Anasori
In compositionally complex materials, there is controversy on the effect of enthalpy versus entropy on the structure and short-range ordering in so-called high-entropy materials. To help address this controversy, we synthesized and probed 40 M4AlC3 layered carbide phases containing two to nine metals and found that short-range ordering from enthalpy was present until the entropy increased enough to achieve complete disordering of the transition metals in their atomic planes. We transformed all of these layered carbide phases into two-dimensional (2D) sheets and showed the effects of the order versus disorder on their surface properties and electronic behavior. This study suggests the key effect that the competition between enthalpy and entropy has on short-range order in multicompositional materials.
Cooperative actions of interneuron families support the hippocampal spatial code
Research Article | Neuroscience | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Manuel Valero, Pablo Abad-Perez, Andrea Gallardo, Marta Picco, Raquel García-Hernandez, Jorge Brotons, Anel Martínez-Félix, Robert Machold, Bernardo Rudy, György Buzsáki
Identifying the computational roles of different neuron families is crucial for understanding neural networks. Most neural diversity is embodied in various types of γ-aminobutyric acid-mediated (GABAergic) interneurons, grouped into four major families. We collected datasets of opto-tagged neurons from all four families, along with excitatory neurons, from both the neocortex and hippocampus. The physiological features of these neurons were used to train a machine learning classifier, which subsequently inferred specific interneuron families in large-scale recordings. This combined approach enabled the reconstruction of synaptic connectivity motifs across interneuron family members. We further showed that these motifs differentially control the place field features of pyramidal neurons. Our findings attribute a prominent role to interneurons in the formation of a flexible cognitive map.
Very-long-range dynamic triggering of mud volcano unrest and silent magnitude-6 fault slip
Research Article | Seismology | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Zaur Bayramov, Renier Viltres, Cécile Doubre, Alessia Maggi, Romain Jolivet, Luis Rivera
Seismic waves from large earthquakes are known to trigger slip on distant faults, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Using interferometric synthetic aperture radar and local geodetic and seismic data, we show that the 1000-kilometer-distant, February 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes in southeastern Türkiye triggered deformation and/or eruption at 56 mud volcanoes and centimeter-scale aseismic slip on seven faults over tens of kilometers within the fluid-rich Kura Basin in the West Caspian region. This transient deformation event, with an equivalent moment magnitude of 6.1, was coupled with local inflation below major hydrocarbon fields. We postulate that seismic waves led to a change in pore pressure at depth, which in turn triggered aseismic slip along several crustal faults crossing the basin and its surroundings.
Improving cosmological reach of a gravitational wave observatory using Deep Loop Shaping
Research Article | Astrophysics | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Jonas Buchli, Brendan Tracey, Tomislav Andric, Christopher Wipf, Yu Him Justin Chiu, Matthias Lochbrunner, Craig Donner, Rana X. Adhikari, Jan Harms, Iain Barr, Roland Hafner, Andrea Huber, Abbas Abdolmaleki, Charlie Beattie, Joseph Betzwieser, Serkan Cabi, Jonas Degrave, Yuzhu Dong, Leslie Fritz, Anchal Gupta, Oliver Groth, Sandy Huang, Tamara Norman, Hannah Openshaw, Jameson Rollins, Greg Thornton, George van den Driessche, Markus Wulfmeier, Pushmeet Kohli, Martin Riedmiller, The LIGO Instrument Team‡
Improved low-frequency sensitivity of gravitational wave observatories would unlock study of intermediate-mass black hole mergers and binary black hole eccentricity and provide early warnings for multimessenger observations of binary neutron star mergers. Today’s mirror stabilization control injects harmful noise, constituting a major obstacle to sensitivity improvements. We eliminated this noise through Deep Loop Shaping, a reinforcement learning method using frequency domain rewards. We proved our methodology on the LIGO Livingston Observatory (LLO). Our controller reduced control noise in the 10- to 30-hertz band by over 30x and up to 100x in subbands, surpassing the design goal motivated by the quantum limit. These results highlight the potential of Deep Loop Shaping to improve current and future gravitational wave observatories and, more broadly, instrumentation and control systems.
Rapid, low-temperature nanodiamond formation by electron-beam activation of adamantane C-H bonds
Research Article | Nanomaterials | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Jiarui Fu, Takayuki Nakamuro, Eiichi Nakamura
Diamond and adamantane (Ad) share a Td-symmetric carbon skeleton, but converting Ad to diamond has been challenging because it requires selective carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bond cleavage and monomer assembly into a diamond lattice. Our approach differs from the conventional high-temperature, high-pressure diamond syntheses. We electron-irradiated Ad submicrocrystals at 80 to 200 kilo-electron volts and 100 to 296 kelvin in vacuum for tens of seconds. This process yielded defect-free nanodiamonds (NDs) of cubic crystal structure, accompanied by hydrogen gas evolution. Time-resolved transmission electron microscopy revealed the initial formation of Ad oligomers transforming into spherical NDs. A sizable kinetic isotope effect indicates that C-H cleavage was rate-determining, and other hydrocarbons tested failed to form NDs.
A clearer view of the current phase of unrest at Campi Flegrei caldera
Research Article | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Xing Tan, Anna Tramelli, Sergio Gammaldi, Gregory C. Beroza, William L. Ellsworth, Warner Marzocchi
We used a retrained machine learning workflow to enhance the performance of the seismic monitoring network at Campi Flegrei caldera (CFc) for improved tracking of the evolution of volcanic unrest. We analyzed the recent (1/21/22 - 03/20/25) continuous seismic data, which showed a sharp increase in seismicity at the highly populated CFc. Our analysis expanded the seismicity catalog from around 12,000 to over 54,000 earthquakes. The more complete picture of seismicity revealed a sharply defined caldera ring fault system (RFS) featuring a very narrow depth range of seismicity, clearly illuminated shallow faults in the northern part of the caldera and uncovered a source of very shallow hybrid earthquakes likely related to the hydrothermal system. To date, we have not observed any direct signature of upward migration of magma, nor have we observed seismic activity at depths below 3.7 km on or inside the RFS.
Electron accumulation across the perovskite layer enhances tandem solar cells with textured silicon
Research Article | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Oussama Er-raji, Christoph Messmer, Rakesh R. Pradhan, Oliver Fischer, Vladyslav Hnapovskyi, Sofiia Kosar, Marco Marengo, Mathias List, Jared Faisst, José P. Jurado, Oleksandr Matiash, Hannu P. Pasanen, Adi Prasetio, Badri Vishal, Shynggys Zhumagali, Anil R. Pininti, Yashika Gupta, Clemens Baretzky, Esma Ugur, Christopher E. Petoukhoff, Martin Bivour, Erkan Aydin, Randi Azmi, Jonas Schön, Florian Schindler, Martin C. Schubert, Udo Schwingenschlögl, Frédéric Laquai, Ahmed A. Said, Juliane Borchert, Patricia S. C. Schulze, Stefaan De Wolf, Stefan W. Glunz
Reducing charge carrier transport losses, improving selectivity, and minimizing non-radiative recombination are essential for enhancing the efficiency and stability of perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells. We used a hybrid two-step perovskite deposition method that is compatible with industry-standard textured silicon, incorporating a perovskite surface treatment based on 1,3-diaminopropane dihydroiodide. The interaction of this molecule with the perovskite surface increased the majority charge carrier concentration at the electron-selective contact, which reduced interfacial recombination. Simultaneously, this field-effect passivation increased the electron concentration across the entire intrinsic perovskite absorber, which increased conductivity and reduced transport losses. Combined, this yields high-performance, fully-textured perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells, achieving a 1-sun AM1.5G conversion efficiency of 33.1% with an open-circuit voltage of 2.01 volts, and an extended outdoor stability in the Red Sea Coast.
Systematic discovery and engineering of synthetic immune receptors in plants
Research Article | Plant pathology | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Bruno Pok Man Ngou, Michele Wyler, Marc W. Schmid, Takehiro Suzuki, Markus Albert, Naoshi Dohmae, Yasuhiro Kadota, Ken Shirasu
Plants deploy a diverse array of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), which perceive microbe-associated molecular patterns to activate immune responses. Leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase subgroup XII (LRR-RLK-XII) represents one of the largest PRR families owing to lineage-specific diversification. Through bioinformatics and synthetic biology approaches, we characterized LRR-RLK-XIIs from 285 plant species and identified a receptor, “SCORE,” that perceives cold shock protein (CSP) peptides. SCORE orthologs from multiple angiosperm lineages exhibit CSP recognition polymorphisms, indicating recurrent selection for pathogen recognition through substitutions at key amino acid residues. Through functional phylogenomics and protein structure predictions, we engineered SCORE variants capable of detecting multiple phytopathogen CSP peptides, thus revealing the diverse PRR recognition landscape in plants. Our strategy holds promise for engineering plant immune receptors, particularly for perennial crops.
Spin-selective transport through chiral ferromagnetic nanohelices
Research Article | Chiral materials | 2025-09-04 03:00 EDT
Yoo Sang Jeon, Eunjin Jeong, Sang Won Im, Min Jun Ko, Jin Seo Lee, Jun Hwan Moon, Min Hyeok Lee, Jeong Kyu Lee, Sung Jong Yoo, Ki Tae Nam, Young Keun Kim
Chiral crystals with well-defined handedness in atomic arrangements exhibit properties such as spin selectivity, asymmetric magnetoresistance, and skyrmions. Although similar geometry-induced phenomena in chiral organic molecule-based systems were observed, synthesizing uniform inorganic nanostructures with desired chirality using a scalable method remains challenging. We electrochemically synthesized chiral ferromagnetic cobalt-iron nanohelices from nanoparticles in anodized aluminum oxide templates. The spiral directions and the number of strands were regulated by incorporating chiral molecules and applying an appropriate potential. We demonstrate the observation of Faraday’s law of induction at the nanoscale and show how chiral nanohelices regulate the electron flow direction. The implications of our findings extend to the technological realm, with chirality- and ferromagnetism-based spin-tunable devices.
Physical Review Letters
Efficient Computation of Cumulant Evolution and Full Counting Statistics: Application to Infinite Temperature Quantum Spin Chains
Research article | Anomalous diffusion | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
Angelo Valli, Cătălin Paşcu Moca, Miklós Antal Werner, Márton Kormos, Žiga Krajnik, Tomaž Prosen, and Gergely Zaránd
We propose a numerical method to efficiently compute quantum generating functions for a wide class of observables in one-dimensional quantum systems at high temperature. We obtain high-accuracy estimates for the cumulants and reconstruct full counting statistics from the quantum generating functions. We demonstrate its potential on spin $S=1/2$ anisotropic Heisenberg chain, where we can reach timescales hitherto inaccessible to state-of-the-art classical and quantum simulations. Our results challenge the conjecture of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality for isotropic integrable quantum spin chains.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 100401 (2025)
Anomalous diffusion, Spin dynamics, 1-dimensional spin chains, Full counting statistics, Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation
Scalar Relics from the Hot Big Bang
Research article | Cosmology | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
David Cyncynates and Olivier Simon
In this Letter, we motivate the fact that couplings between a scalar field and the standard model with strengths ${10}^{- 6}({m}_{\phi }/\mathrm{eV}{)}^{- 1/4}$ relative to gravity yield the total measured cosmological dark matter abundance over a broad mass range of ${10}^{- 12}$ to ${10}^{14}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{eV}$. Remarkably, this result holds with minimal sensitivity to whether the scalar couples to electrons, photons, hadrons, or other particles at laboratory energy scales, thereby linking fifth force experiments to the search for dark matter.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 101003 (2025)
Cosmology, Dark matter direct detection, Interactions & forces, Particle dark matter, Particle production
Broadband Limits on Stochastic Length Fluctuations from a Pair of Table-Top Interferometers
Research article | Gravitational waves | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
Abhinav Patra, Lorenzo Aiello, Aldo Ejlli, William L. Griffiths, Alasdair L. James, Nikitha Kuntimaddi, Ohkyung Kwon, Eyal Schwartz, Henning Vahlbruch, Sander M. Vermeulen, Keiko Kokeyama, Katherine L. Dooley, and Hartmut Grote
The Quantum-Enhanced Space-Time (QUEST) experiment consists of a pair of colocated power recycled Michelson interferometers, each designed to have a broadband, shot-noise-limited displacement sensitivity of $2\times{}{10}^{- 19}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{m}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ from 1 to 200 MHz. Here, we present the first results of QUEST, with a search up to 80 MHz, that set new upper limits on correlated length fluctuations from 13 to 80 MHz, constituting the first broadband constraints for a stochastic gravitational wave background at these frequencies. In a coincident observing run of ${10}^{4}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{s}$, the averaging of the cross-correlation spectra between the two interferometer signals resulted in a strain sensitivity of $3\times{}{10}^{- 20}\text{ }\text{ }1/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$, making QUEST the most sensitive table-top interferometric system to date.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 101402 (2025)
Gravitational waves, Dark matter detectors, Gravitational wave detectors
String-Breaking Mechanism in a Lattice Schwinger Model Simulator
Research article | Bose gases | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
Ying Liu, Wei-Yong Zhang, Zi-Hang Zhu, Ming-Gen He, Zhen-Sheng Yuan, and Jian-Wei Pan
An optical-lattice experiment offers a platform for observing dynamics of particle-antiparticle pair creation in quantum field theories.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 101902 (2025)
Bose gases, Cold gases in optical lattices, Lattice gauge theory, Quantum simulation, Bose-Hubbard model
Effect of Incremental Hydration on Reverse Internal Conversion Vibrational Autodetachment of an Anion
Research article | Atomic & molecular clusters | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
E. Michi Burrow, Connor J. Clarke, and Jan R. R. Verlet
The recently discovered mechanism of reverse internal conversion vibrational autodetachment (RICVAD), by which an excess electron is emitted at specific energies from an isolated hot ground state anion, is mediated by the statistical population of a dipole-bound state. Here, we consider how this process is influenced by the presence of up to two water molecules. Using anion photoelectron imaging of the nitrobenzene radical anion, ${\mathrm{NB}}^{- }$, clustered to water molecules, we find that RICVAD remains active for ${\mathrm{NB}}^{- }{({\mathrm{H}}{2}\mathrm{O})}{1}$. However, we also find that an additional decay channel opens at higher photoexcitation energies, which arises from dissociation of the cluster upon accessing an electronic resonance of ${\mathrm{NB}}^{- }{({\mathrm{H}}{2}\mathrm{O})}{1}$, forming hot isolated ${\mathrm{NB}}^{- }$, which then undergoes RICVAD. ${\mathrm{NB}}^{- }{({\mathrm{H}}{2}\mathrm{O})}{2}$ also shows evidence of RICVAD, but its signatures are obscured by other low energy electron signal. Our work shows that the RICVAD mechanism remains possible in a complex environment and shows how resonance dynamics are influenced by hydration.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 103001 (2025)
Atomic & molecular clusters, Autoionization & Auger processes, Electron & positron scattering, Electronic excitation & ionization, Electronic structure of atoms & molecules, Molecular dissociation, Photodetachment, Photodissociation, Potential energy surfaces
Leveraging Resonant Frequencies of an Optical Cavity for Spectroscopic Measurement of Gas Temperature and Concentration
Research article | Temperature | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
Daniel Lisak, Vittorio D’Agostino, Szymon Wójtewicz, Agata Cygan, Marcin Gibas, Piotr Wcisło, Roman Ciuryło, and Katarzyna Bielska
We introduce a spectroscopic approach to primary gas thermometry, harnessing precise optical cavity resonance frequencies and ab initio molecular line intensity calculations. By utilizing CO (3-0) vibrational band lines and cavity mode dispersion spectroscopy, we achieve an uncertainty of 82 ppm (24 mK at 296 K) in line intensity ratio thermometry—over an order of magnitude lower than any previously reported spectroscopic thermometry at gas pressures above 1.2 kPa. This method extends high-precision spectroscopic thermometry across a pressure range an order of magnitude larger than prior techniques, enabling a fully optical, noncontact, and molecule-selective primary amount-of-substance measurement. We further demonstrate sub-permille uncertainty in gas concentration measurements across pressures from 50 Pa to 20 kPa, significantly enhancing the precision and versatility of spectroscopic gas metrology.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 103201 (2025)
Temperature, Molecules, Cavity resonators, Optical spectroscopy
Atomic Coherence of 2 Minutes and Instability of $1.5\times{}{10}^{- 18}$ at 1 s in a Wannier-Stark Lattice Clock
Research article | Atomic, optical & lattice clocks | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
Kyungtae Kim, Alexander Aeppli, William Warfield, Anjun Chu, Ana Maria Rey, and Jun Ye
We explore the limits of atomic coherence and measurement precision in a $^{87}\mathrm{Sr}$ optical lattice clock. We perform a detailed characterization of key effects, including lattice Raman scattering and atomic collisions in a shallow lattice configuration, determining a 174(28) s $^{3}{P}_{0}$ clock state lifetime. Investigation of atomic coherence across a range of lattice depths and atomic densities reveals decoherence mechanisms related to photon scattering and atomic interaction. At a reduced density, we observe a coherence time of 118(9) s, approaching the fundamental limit set by spontaneous emission. Guided by this coherence understanding, we demonstrate a clock instability for an atomic ensemble of $1.5\times{}{10}^{- 18}$ at 1 s in fractional frequency units. Our results are important for further advancing the state of the art of an optical lattice clock for fundamental physics applications.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 103601 (2025)
Atomic, optical & lattice clocks, Decoherence in quantum gases
Cavity QED Based on Strongly Localized Modes: Exponentially Enhancing Single-Atom Cooperativity
Research article | Cavity quantum electrodynamics | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
Qian Bin, Ying Wu, Jin-Hua Gao, Aixi Chen, Franco Nori, and Xin-You Lü
Large single-atom cooperativity in quantum systems is important for quantum information processing. Here, we propose to exponentially enhance the single-atom cooperativity parameter by exploiting the strongly localized effect of modes in cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) systems. By increasing the wing width of a cavity with special geometry symmetry, the interference property allows us to exponentially improve the quality factor $Q$ without altering the mode volume $V$ for cavities supporting subwavelength light modes. This effectively overcomes the trade-off between $Q$ and $V$ in conventional subwavelength Fabry-P'erot cavities. Consequently, we demonstrate the occurrence of ultralong vacuum Rabi oscillations and the generation of strong photon blockade by enhancing the single-atom cooperativity parameter. This Letter offers a promising approach for advancing coherent manipulation and holds significant potential for applications in establishing longer-distance quantum communication networks, enhancing the precision and stability of quantum sensors, and improving the efficiency of quantum algorithms.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 103602 (2025)
Cavity quantum electrodynamics, Light-matter interaction, Photon statistics
Tricritical Directed Percolation Controls the Laminar-Turbulent Transition in Pipes with Body Forces
Research article | Continuous phase transition | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
Guru K. Jayasingh and Nigel Goldenfeld
The laminar-turbulent transition in straight pipes is believed to occur through a continuous nonequilibrium phase transition in the directed percolation universality class. However, in curved pipes or in the presence of body forces it is possible to observe a discontinuous transition and other phenomenology which seem inconsistent with the emerging consensus. Here, we consider the perturbing effects of body forces and incorporate them into a minimal Landau theory of the transition. We calculate the phase diagram as a function of Reynolds number and body force strength, and show that above a threshold strength of the latter, there is a tricritical point which accounts for the observed discontinuity behavior, including spatially heterogeneous states. Our results are consistent with recent experiments in centrifugal pipes and direct numerical simulations of heated flows.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 104001 (2025)
Continuous phase transition, Directed percolation, Phase transitions, Renormalization group, Transition to turbulence, Turbulence, Classical fluids, Nonequilibrium lattice models, Scaling methods
Emergent Negative Thermal Expansion in Amorphous Fe-Y-Zr-B Alloys
Research article | Magnetic order | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
Ming Gao, Hankun Xu, Kun Lin, Andrea Sanson, Alessandro Venier, Alessandro Puri, Jochi Tseng, Guodong Li, Qian Zhang, Xuyu Dong, Yili Cao, Qiang Li, and Xianran Xing
Negative thermal expansion (NTE) is an unusual yet highly useful phenomenon that has been extensively studied in numerous crystals, including ceramics, alloys, and metal-organic frameworks. This Letter reports an unprecedented NTE in an amorphous ${\text{Fe}}{87.5}{\mathrm{Y}}{3}{\text{Zr}}{1.5}{\mathrm{B}}{8}$ alloy that lacks a periodic atomic arrangement. Such an NTE is significant for metallic materials and extends over a wide temperature range (${\alpha }{1}=- 6.9\times{}{10}^{- 6}\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{K}}^{- 1}$, 200–375 K). We demonstrate that this NTE is intrinsic to the amorphous nature of the alloy and is correlated with Fe moment. Extended x-ray absorption fine structure reveals a strong NTE for nearest neighboring Fe-Fe pairs. Further analysis using a x-ray pair distribution function indicates that the amorphous ${\mathrm{Fe}}{87.5}{\mathrm{Y}}{3}{\mathrm{Zr}}{1.5}{\mathrm{B}}{8}$ alloy, serving as a transition state, exhibits a tendency toward local ordered atomic arrangement. A complex interplay among local structure, magnetic interaction, and thermal relaxation results in volume contraction upon heating below ${T}{C}$. This Letter introduces amorphous alloys as a new family of materials with NTE functionality, offering interesting prospects for both scientific research and practical applications.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 106101 (2025)
Magnetic order, Thermal expansion, Metallic glasses, X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, X-ray pair-distribution function analysis
Dual Role for Heterogeneity in Dynamic Fracture
Research article | Fracture | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
Itamar Kolvin and Mokhtar Adda-Bedia
We approach the problem of heterogeneous dynamic fracture by considering spatiotemporal perturbations to planar crack fronts. Front propagation is governed by local energy balance between the elastic energy per unit area available to fracture $G$ and the dissipation in creating new surfaces. $G$ is known analytically as a perturbation series in the crack front fluctuation. For dissipation that monotonically increases with the crack speed, we derive an equation of motion for crack fronts that is second-order accurate. In the linear order, heterogeneity does not change the net speed of fracture. In the second order, nonlinear interactions of the front and the heterogeneous landscape populate an intermediate-scale fluctuation spectrum. We find that, when dissipation weakly grows with velocity, nonlinearities globally amplify dissipation and reduce the crack speed. Strong velocity dependence, however, mitigates toughening effects and may facilitate fracture.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 106201 (2025)
Fracture, Front propagation, Metamaterials
Intrinsic Dynamic Generation of Spin Polarization by Time-Varying Electric Field
Research article | Spin generation | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
Xukun Feng, Jin Cao, Zhi-Fan Zhang, Lay Kee Ang, Shen Lai, Hua Jiang, Cong Xiao, and Shengyuan A. Yang
Electric control of spin in insulators is desired for low-consumption and ultrafast spintronics, but the underlying mechanism remains largely unexplored. Here, we propose an intrinsic effect of dynamic spin generation driven by time-varying electric field. In the intraband response regime, it can be nicely formulated as a Berry curvature effect and leads to two phenomena that are forbidden in the dc limit: linear spin generation in nonmagnetic insulators and intrinsic N'eel spin-orbit torque in $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric antiferromagnetic insulators. These phenomena are driven by the time derivative of field rather than the field itself, and have a quantum origin in the first-order dynamic anomalous spin polarizability. Combined with first-principles calculations, we predict sizable effects driven by the terahertz field in nonmagnetic monolayer Bi and in antiferromagnetic even-layer ${\mathrm{MnBi}}{2}{\mathrm{Te}}{4}$, which can be detected in experiment.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 106301 (2025)
Spin generation, Spintronics, Transport phenomena, First-principles calculations
Nonreciprocity of Hydrodynamic Electron Transport in Noncentrosymmetric Conductors
Research article | Electrical conductivity | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
E. Kirkinis, L. Bonds, A. Levchenko, and A. V. Andreev
We show that the nonreciprocity of hydrodynamic electron transport in noncentrosymmetric conductors with broken time-reversal symmetry is significantly enhanced compared to the disorder-dominated regime. This enhancement is caused by the linear dependence of the viscosity of the electron liquid on the flow velocity, which is allowed in the absence of time-reversal symmetry and Galilean invariance. The resulting nonlinear flows break dynamical similarity, and, thus, in addition to the Reynolds number, they are characterized by a second dimensionless parameter, the nonreciprocity number. The latter is linear in velocity but independent of system size. We determine the nonlinear conductance of a Hall bar and show that the nonreciprocal correction to the current can be of comparable magnitude to its reciprocal counterpart.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 106302 (2025)
Electrical conductivity, Magnetotransport, Two-dimensional electron system, Hydrodynamics
Density Matrix Renormalization Group Algorithm for non-Hermitian Systems
Research article | Skin effect | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
Peigeng Zhong, Wei Pan, Haiqing Lin, Xiaoqun Wang, and Shijie Hu
A biorthonormal-block density-matrix renormalization group algorithm is proposed to accurately compute properties of large-scale non-Hermitian many-body systems, in which a renormalized-space partition of the non-Hermitian reduced density matrix is implemented to fulfill the prerequisite for the biorthonormality of the renormalization group (RG) transformation and to optimize the construction of saved Hilbert spaces. A redundancy in saved spaces of the reduced density matrix is exploited to reduce a condition number resulting from the nonunitarity of the left and right transformation matrices, in order to ensure the numerical stability of the RG procedure. The algorithm is successfully applied to an interacting fermionic Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model with nonreciprocal hoppings and staggered complex chemical potential, exhibiting novel many-body phenomena.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 106502 (2025)
Skin effect, 1-dimensional systems, Non-Hermitian systems, Strongly correlated systems, Density matrix renormalization group, Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model
Robust Charge Density Wave Correlations in Optimally Doped ${\mathrm{YBa}}{2}{\mathrm{Cu}}{3}{\mathrm{O}}_{\mathrm{y}}$
Research article | Charge density waves | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
Rui Zhou, Igor Vinograd, Hadrien Mayaffre, Juan Porras, Hun-Ho Kim, Toshinao Loew, Yiran Liu, Matthieu Le Tacon, Bernhard Keimer, and Marc-Henri Julien
Charge density wave (CDW) order is a key property of high-${T}{c}$ cuprates, but its boundaries in the phase diagram and potential connections to other phases remain controversial. We report nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements in the prototypical cuprate ${\mathrm{YBa}}{2}{\mathrm{Cu}}{3}{\mathrm{O}}{\mathrm{y}}$ demonstrating that short-range static CDW order remains robust at optimal doping ($p=0.165$), exhibiting a strength and temperature dependence in the normal state similar to those observed at $p\simeq 0.11$ in the underdoped regime. For an overdoped sample with $p=0.184$, we detect no static CDW down to $T={T}{c}$, though weak CDW order plausibly emerges below ${T}{c}$. More broadly, we argue that both quenched disorder and competition with superconductivity influence the apparent boundary of the CDW phase, likely causing an underestimation of its intrinsic extent in doping. These findings challenge the view that the CDW phase boundary lies below ${p}^{\ast}\simeq 0.19$, widely regarded as the critical doping where the pseudogap phase ends in ${\mathrm{YBa}}{2}{\mathrm{Cu}}{3}{\mathrm{O}}_{\mathrm{y}}$.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 106503 (2025)
Charge density waves, Cuprates, High-temperature superconductors, Nuclear magnetic resonance
Theory of Microphase Separation in Elastomers
Research article | Elasticity | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
Manu Mannattil, Haim Diamant, and David Andelman
Inspired by recent experiments, we present a phase-field model of microphase separation in an elastomer swollen with a solvent. The imbalance between the molecular scale of demixing and the mesoscopic scale beyond which elasticity operates produces effective long-range interactions, forming stable finite-sized domains. Our predictions concerning the dependence of the domain size and transition temperature on the stiffness of the elastomer are in good agreement with the experiments. Analytical phase diagrams, aided by numerical findings, capture the richness of the microphase morphologies, paving the way to create stable, patterned elastomers for various applications.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 108101 (2025)
Elasticity, Phase separation, Phase transitions, Elastomers, Polymer networks, Pattern formation, Phase-field modeling
Nonreciprocal Mixtures in Suspension: The Role of Hydrodynamic Interactions
Research article | Dynamical systems | 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
Giulia Pisegna, Navdeep Rana, Ramin Golestanian, and Suropriya Saha
The collective chasing dynamics of nonreciprocally coupled densities leads to stable traveling waves which can be mapped to a model for emergent flocking. In this Letter, we couple the nonreciprocal Cahn-Hilliard model to a fluid to minimally describe scalar active mixtures in a suspension, with the aim to explore the stability of the waves, i.e., the emergent flock in the presence of self-generated fluid flows. We show that the emergent polarity is linearly unstable to perturbations for a specific sign of the active stress recalling instabilities of orientational order in a fluid. Using numerical simulations, we find, however, that nonreciprocity stabilizes the waves against the linear instability in a large region of the phase space.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 108301 (2025)
Dynamical systems, Living matter & active matter, Direct numerical simulations
Erratum: Quantum State Smoothing for Linear Gaussian Systems [Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 190402 (2019)]
| 2025-09-03 06:00 EDT
Kiarn T. Laverick, Areeya Chantasri, and Howard M. Wiseman
Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 109901 (2025)
arXiv
Etching-free dual-lift-off for direct patterning of epitaxial oxide thin films
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Jiayi Qin, Josephine Si Yu See, Yanran Liu, Xueyan Wang, Wenhai Zhao, Yang He, Jianbo Ding, Yilin Wu, Shanhu Wang, Huiping Han, Afzal Khan, Shuya Liu, Sheng’an Yang, Hui Zhang, Jiangnan Li, Qingming Chen, Jiyang Xie, Ji Ma, Wanbiao Hu, Jianhong Yi, Liang Wu, X. Renshaw Wang
Although monocrystalline oxide films offer broad functional capabilities, their practical use is hampered by challenges in patterning. Traditional patterning relies on etching, which can be costly and prone to issues like film or substrate damage, under-etching, over-etching, and lateral etching. In this study, we introduce a dual-lift-off method for direct patterning of oxide films, circumventing the etching process and associated issues. Our method involves an initial lift-off of amorphous Sr$ _3$ Al$ _2$ O$ _6$ or Sr$ _4$ Al$ _2$ O$ _7$ ($ a$ SAO) through stripping the photoresist, followed by a subsequent lift-off of the functional oxide thin films by dissolving the $ a$ SAO layer. $ a$ SAO functions as a ``high-temperature photoresist”, making it compatible with the high-temperature growth of monocrystalline oxides. Using this method, patterned ferromagnetic La$ _{0.67}$ Sr$ _{0.33}$ MnO$ _{3}$ and ferroelectric BiFeO$ _3$ were fabricated, accurately mirroring the shape of the photoresist. Our study presents a straightforward, flexible, precise, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective method for patterning high-quality oxide thin films.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci), Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
Quantum anomalous Hall effect with high Chern number in two dimensional ferromagnets Ti2TeSO
New Submission | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Panjun Feng, Miao Gao, Xun-Wang Yan, Fengjie Ma
Two-dimensional Chern insulators have emerged as crucial platforms for the realization of the quantum anomalous Hall effect, and as such have attracted significant interest in spintronics and topological quantum physics due to their unique coexistence of spontaneous magnetization and nontrivial topological characteristics. Nonetheless, substantial challenges persist in such systems, encompassing spin entanglement and the possession of only one edge state (Chern number C=1), which significantly hinder their practical applications. Herein, we propose a novel two-dimensional ferromagnetic half-semi-Weyl-metal, monolayer Ti2TeSO, that exhibits exceptional electronic properties. Its majority spin channel possesses only a pair of symmetry-protected Weyl points at the Fermi level, while the states of minority one locate far away from the Fermi level. When spin-orbit coupling is included, a substantial band gap of ~ 92.8 meV is induced at the Weyl points. Remarkably, the emergence of dual dissipationless chiral edge channels and a quantized Hall conductivity plateau at 2e2/h collectively establish monolayer Ti2TeSO as a high-Chern-number insulator with C=2. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that valley polarization can be achieved and controlled through the application of strain and the manipulation of the direction of magnetization. The first-principles calculations, in conjunction with Monte Carlo simulations, yield a Curie temperature of 161 K for monolayer Ti2TeSO, thereby indicating the plausibility of coexistence of valley polarization and topological states at elevated temperatures. These findings could provide a foundation for the development of multi-channels dissipationless transport devices and nonvolatile multistate memory architectures.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall), Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
Semi-Dirac spin liquids and frustrated quantum magnetism on the trellis lattice
New Submission | Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Sourin Chatterjee, Atanu Maity, Janik Potten, Tobias Müller, Andreas Feuerpfeil, Ronny Thomale, Karlo Penc, Harald O. Jeschke, Rhine Samajdar, Yasir Iqbal
Geometrical frustration in quantum magnets provides a fertile setting for unconventional phases of matter, including quantum spin liquids (QSLs). The trellis lattice, with its complex site arrangements and edge-sharing triangular motifs, presents a promising platform for such physics. In this work, we undertake a comprehensive classification of all fully symmetric QSLs on the trellis lattice using the projective symmetry group approach within the Abrikosov fermion representation. We find 7 U(1) and 25 $ \mathbb{Z}{2}$ short-ranged $ \textit{Ansätze}$ , uncovering both gapped and Dirac QSLs as well as a novel semi-Dirac spin liquid, in which the spinon dispersion is linear along one momentum direction but quadratic along the orthogonal one. We demonstrate that such dispersions can occur only at high-symmetry points in the Brillouin zone with $ C{2v}$ little groups and analyze their characteristic correlation signatures. Moreover, by optimizing over all mean-field states, we map out a phase diagram – featuring six distinct phases – of the nearest-neighbor Heisenberg Hamiltonian on the trellis lattice. Going beyond mean field, we also assess equal-time and dynamical spin structure factors of these phases using density-matrix renormalization group and Keldysh pseudofermion functional renormalization group calculations. Finally, we identify four cuprate and vanadate compounds as promising experimental realizations and provide spectroscopic predictions, based on first-principles Hamiltonians, as a guide for future neutron-scattering studies on these materials.
Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el), Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall), Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci), Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
44 pages, 15 figures
Doping a spin-one Mott insulator: possible application to bilayer nickelate
New Submission | Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Hanbit Oh, Hui Yang, Ya-Hui Zhang
In this article, we review some recent theoretical developments on potential high-temperature superconductors and unconventional metallic states that can arise from doping a spin-one Mott insulator in the $ d^{8}$ valence. These studies are particularly relevant-though not limited-to the recently discovered bilayer nickelate superconductor La$ 3$ Ni$ 2$ O$ 7$ . We focus on a ferromagnetic (FM) Kondo lattice model with mobile electrons in the $ d{x^2-y^2}$ orbital coupled to the localized spin moments in $ d{z^2}$ orbital through a large Hund’s coupling $ J_H$ . In the large $ J_H$ limit, the model reduces to the type II t-J model with a mixture of spin-half singlon states and spin-one doublon states. We summarize DMRG results on the Luther-Emery liquid in one dimensional chain and two-leg ladder. Then we mainly focus on bilayer square lattice and show that a large inter-layer coupling $ J\perp$ of $ d_{z^2}$ orbital can induce strong inter-layer pairing of $ d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbital. In the strong $ J_\perp$ limit, a kinetic-energy driven high $ T_c$ superconductivity is demonstrated in an ideal model with only a single hopping term. Furthermore, the model predicts a symmetric pseudogap metal-dubbed `second Fermi liquid”-in the underdoped regime, yielding a phase diagram analogous to that of hole-doped cuprates. The bilayer Kondo model therefore, presents a promising platform for both realizing higher-Tc superconductors and exploring non-Fermi liquid physics. We also comment on the possible limitations of the current models for the bilayer nickelate material and point out some future directions.
Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el), Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
Review paper submitted to Focus Issue in New Journal of Physics (this https URL 17 pages, 10 figures
Robust superconductivity upon doping chiral spin liquid and Chern insulators in a Hubbard-Hofstadter model
New Submission | Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Clemens Kuhlenkamp, Stefan Divic, Michael P. Zaletel, Tomohiro Soejima, Ashvin Vishwanath
Demonstrating superconductivity in purely repulsive Hubbard models is a compelling goal which underscores the counter-intuitive ability of Coulomb interactions to mediate superconductivity. Here, we present numerical evidence for robust superconductivity in a triangular Hubbard-Hofstadter model at $ \pi/2$ flux per plaquette. Employing infinite density matrix renormalization group calculations on infinite cylinders of finite circumference, we observe superconducting ground states for a wide range of dopings, whose pair-correlations strengthen as the 2D limit is approached. At a density of one electron per site, Hubbard interactions have been reported to drive the insulating parent state of the superconductor from an integer quantum Hall (IQH) state to a chiral spin liquid (CSL). Our findings give credence to a recent proposal that proximity to the IQH-CSL transition serves to make chiral superconductivity energetically favorable on doping, and also correctly predicts the nature of the edge modes in the superconductor. On the CSL side, this suggests the superconductor can be thought of as arising from Laughlin’s `anyon superconductivity’ mechanism. Thus the Hubbard-Hofstadter model studied here offers a clean and experimentally accessible setup, potentially realizable in moiré heterostructures, for exploring the properties of anyonic matter at finite density and the interplay of topological order, quantum criticality and superconductivity.
Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el), Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall), Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas), Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
5+15 pages, 5+10 figures
Ultrafast anisotropic exciton transport in phosphorene
New Submission | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Kai-Wei Chang, Joshua J. P. Thompson, Bartomeu Monserrat
Phosphorene is a two-dimensional (2D) material exhibiting strong in-plane structural anisotropy. In this work, we investigate the influence of structural anisotropy on the optics, dynamics, and transport of excitons in phosphorene by combining microscopic many-body theory with first principles calculations. Our framework offers a complete and material specific description of the excitonic properties of phosphorene, including exciton states and exciton-phonon interactions, which allow us to quantitatively evaluate the optical absorption spectra, exciton relaxation, and exciton transport, revealing direction-dependent characteristics. Interestingly, we identify the critical role of long-range exchange interactions, which significantly enhance the anisotropy of exciton diffusion, particularly at low temperatures. Our work provides fundamental insights into exciton dynamics in an intrinsically anisotropic 2D material, offering guiding principles for the design of next-generation optoelectronic devices.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
In search of exotic pairing in the Hubbard model: many-body computation and quantum gas microscopy
New Submission | Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Chunhan Feng, Thomas Hartke, Yuan-Yao He, Botond Oreg, Carter Turnbaugh, Ningyuan Jia, Martin Zwierlein, Shiwei Zhang
Pair density waves and exotic superconductivity have long been of strong interest, and have attracted much recent attention. We present a joint theoretical and experimental exploration of possible signatures of fermion pairing with finite center-of-mass momentum, or the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) order. Experimentally a doped and spin-imbalanced attractive two-dimensional Hubbard model is realized with a cold atomic gas in an optical lattice, and quantum gas microscopy is used to probe its properties. Computationally we study the same model with state-of-the-art constrained-path (CP) auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo (AFQMC). Direct comparisons between experiment and computation on various short-range magnetic and charge correlations show excellent agreement. We then investigate these correlations, as well as pairing correlation functions, systematically to low temperatures with CP-AFQMC, and determine parameter regimes in density and magnetization where signatures of FFLO order may be observed. We show that the temperature at which precursors of such orders appear is already within reach of the current experiment. We discuss routes for direct experimental detection and measurements of such states.
Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas), Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
Competing Dirac masses in one dimension: Symmetry-enhanced pseudo-first-order transition and deconfined criticality
New Submission | Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Emergent symmetries and slow crossover phenomena are central themes in quantum criticality and manifest themselves in the pseudocritical scaling experienced in the context of deconfined criticality. Here we discover its conceptual counterpart, i.e., a symmetry-enhanced pseudo-first-order transition. It emerges from a one-dimensional realization of deconfined criticality between charge- and bond-ordered states driven by competing Holstein and Su-Schrieffer-Heeger electron-phonon couplings, for which quantum fluctuations and thereby the nature of the transition can be tuned systematically via the phonon frequency $ \omega_0$ . In the classical limit $ \omega_0 \to 0$ , a low-energy Dirac theory predicts a direct first-order transition with emergent U(1) symmetry. Using exact quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we provide strong evidence for symmetry enhancement and even finite-size scaling on intermediate length scales but in the thermodynamic limit it turns into a narrow intermediate phase where both order parameters are finite, as chiral U(1) symmetry is weakly broken on the lattice. Including quantum lattice fluctuations diminishes the width of the intermediate phase, gradually restores the U(1) symmetry, and eventually tunes the system to a deconfined quantum critical point.
Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el), Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech), High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
8 pages, 6 figures
Generative AI for Crystal Structures: A Review
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Pierre-Paul De Breuck, Hai-Chen Wang, Gian-Marco Rignanese, Silvana Botti, Miguel A. L. Marques
As in many other fields, the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence is reshaping materials discovery by offering new ways to propose crystal structures and, in some cases, even predict desired properties. This review provides a comprehensive survey of recent advancements in generative models specifically for inorganic crystalline materials. We begin by introducing the fundamentals of generative modeling and invertible material descriptors. We then propose a taxonomy based on architecture, representation, conditioning, and materials domain to categorize the diverse range of current generative AI models. We discuss data sources and address challenges related to performance metrics, emphasizing the need for standardized benchmarks. Specific examples and applications of novel generated structures are presented. Finally, we examine current limitations and future directions in this rapidly evolving field, highlighting its potential to accelerate the discovery of new inorganic materials.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
23 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables
Topological Chiral Superconductivity in the Triangular-Lattice Hofstadter-Hubbard Model
New Submission | Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Feng Chen, Wen O. Wang, Jia-Xin Zhang, Leon Balents, D. N. Sheng
Moiré materials provide exciting platforms for studying the interplay of strong electronic correlation and large magnetic flux effects. We study the lightly doped Hofstadter-Hubbard model on a triangular lattice through large-scale density matrix renormalization group and determinantal quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We find strong evidence for a robust chiral superconducting (SC) phase with dominant power-law pairing correlations and a quantized spin Chern number. The SC phase emerges at very weak interaction and grows stronger at intermediate interaction strengths (U ) for a wide range of hole doping. We also discuss the possible distinct nature of the normal state in different U regimes. Our work provides theoretical insights into the emergence of topological superconductivity from doping topological Chern bands or magnetic flux induced chiral spin liquid states of Moiré materials.
Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el), Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
Quantum Transport in Ultrahigh-Conductivity Carbon Nanotube Fibers
New Submission | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Shengjie Yu, Natsumi Komatsu, Liyang Chen, Joe F. Khoury, Nicolas Marquez Peraca, Xinwei Li, Oliver S. Dewey, Lauren W. Taylor, Ali Mojibpour, Yingru Song, Geoff Wehmeyer, Matteo Pasquali, Matthew S. Foster, Douglas Natelson, Junichiro Kono
We investigate quantum transport in aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers fabricated via solution spinning, focusing on the roles of structural dimensionality and quantum interference effects. The fibers exhibit metallic behavior at high temperatures, with conductivity increasing monotonically as the temperature decreases from room temperature to approximately 36 K. Below this temperature, the conductivity gradually decreases with further cooling, signaling the onset of quantum conductance corrections associated with localization effects. Magnetoconductance measurements in both parallel and perpendicular magnetic fields exhibit pronounced positive corrections at low temperatures, consistent with weak localization (WL). To determine the effective dimensionality of electron transport, we analyzed the data using WL models in 1D, 2D, and 3D geometries. We found that while the 2D model can reproduce the field dependence, it lacks physical meaning in the context of our fiber architecture and requires an unphysical scaling factor to match the experimental magnitude. By contrast, we developed a hybrid 3D+1D WL framework that quantitatively captures both the field and temperature dependences using realistic coherence lengths and a temperature-dependent crossover parameter. Although this combined model also employs a scaling factor for magnitude correction, it yields a satisfactory fit, reflecting the hierarchical structure of CNT fibers in which transport occurs through quasi-1D bundles embedded in a 3D network. Our results establish a physically grounded model of phase-coherent transport in macroscopic CNT assemblies, providing insights into enhancing conductivity for flexible, lightweight power transmission applications.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall), Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
12 pages, 5 figures. Shengjie Yu and Natsumi Komatsu contributed equally to this work. Submitted to Physical Review B
$P$-type Ru$2$Ti${1-x}$Hf$_x$Si full-Heusler bulk thermoelectrics with $zT = 0.7$
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Fabian Garmroudi, Illia Serhiienko, Michael Parzer, Andrej Pustogow, Raimund Podloucky, Takao Mori, Ernst Bauer
Heusler compounds have emerged as important thermoelectric materials due to their combination of promising electronic transport properties, mechanical robustness and chemical stability – key aspects for practical device integration. While a wide range of XYZ-type half-Heusler compounds have been studied for high-temperature applications, X$ _2$ YZ-type full-Heuslers, often characterized by narrower band gaps, may offer potential advantages at different temperature regimes but remain less explored. In this work, we report the discovery of $ p$ -type Ru$ _2$ Ti$ _{1-x}$ Hf$ _x$ Si full-Heusler thermoelectrics, exhibiting a high figure of merit $ zT \sim 0.7$ over a broad range of temperatures $ 700-1000$ K. These results not only represent the largest values known to date among full-Heusler materials but confirm earlier theoretical predictions that $ p$ -type Ru$ _2$ TiSi systems would be superior to their $ n$ -type counterparts. Moreover, using a two-band model, we unveil electronic structure changes induced by the Hf substitution at the Ti site and outline strategies to further improve $ zT$ up to $ zT > 1$ . Our findings highlight the untapped potential of new semiconducting full-Heusler phases and the crucial need for continued exploration of this rich materials class for thermoelectric applications.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
Decomposition of low-angle grain boundaries
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Wei Wan, Changxin Tang, Eric R Homer
Grain boundaries (GBs) merge and grains disappear during microstructure evolution. However, the Peach-Koehler model predicts that particular stress states may reverse such a process by exerting differential Peach-Koehler forces on different dislocations. This work considers this reversal as GB decomposition and illustrates it in a low-angle asymmetric tilt GB and a low-angle mixed tilt-twist GB via atomistic simulation. In both cases, the dislocations separate into two GBs separated by a new grain. This work describes the requirements for decomposition and the importance of dislocation separability. Additionally, we examine the dislocation behaviors and stress signatures associated with this process, along with the impact of strain rate and temperature on those aspects.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
11 pages, 4 figures
Gravity and Composition Modulated Solidification and Mechanical Properties of Al-Cu Nanostructures
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
The future of space exploration and human settlement beyond Earth hinges on a deeper understanding of in space manufacturing processes. The unique physical conditions and scarcity of experimental data demand robust computational models to investigate the atomic scale physics of solidification. This work presents a molecular dynamics (MD) model to examine the solidification behavior of the Al Cu binary alloy, focusing on the influence of varying compositions and gravity levels (Earth, Lunar, Martian, and microgravity) on atomistic solidification mechanisms and the resulting mechanical properties specifically, hardness of as solidified nanostructures. Hardness is evaluated via nanoindentation simulations. The study confirms that gravitational forces significantly affect the solidification pathways of Al Cu alloys. Notably, by tuning alloy composition, the influence of gravity can be modulated and in some cases, even reversed. Moreover, hardness exhibits a coupled dependence on both composition and gravity, offering a promising avenue for bottom-up design of components tailored for extraterrestrial environments. The article delves into the nanoscale physical mechanisms underlying these phenomena and outlines future directions for extending this modeling framework to broader applications.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
Current-induced molecular dissociation: Topological insulators as robust reaction platforms
New Submission | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Erika L. Mehring, Amparo Figueroa, Matias Berdakin, Hernán L. Calvo
The growing interest in topological materials with symmetry-protected surface states as catalytic platforms has sparked the emerging field of \textit{topocatalysis}. As robust transport is one of the key features of topological insulators, here we explore current-induced molecular dissociation in a transport setup. Using the non-equilibrium Green’s function formalism, we compare how the occupancies of bonding and antibonding levels, as well as the associated electronic forces in a diatomic molecule, are affected when the molecule is coupled to either a metallic (graphene) or a topological (Kane-Mele) substrate. We find a greater dissociative capability in the topological substrate than in graphene, a difference mainly attributed to the localized nature of the edge states. The inclusion of vacancy disorder within the substrate further enhances this disparity in the dissociative force. Our findings highlight the role of topological protection in molecular dissociation under non-equilibrium conditions, pointing to new opportunities for robust catalysis in topological materials.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
14 pages, 8 figures
NeuroQD: A Learning-Based Simulation Framework For Quantum Dot Devices
New Submission | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Shize Che, Junyu Zhou, Seong Woo Oh, Jonathan Hess, Noah Johnson, Mridul Pushp, Robert Spivey, Anthony Sigillito, Gushu Li
Electron spin qubits in quantum dot devices are promising for scalable quantum computing. However, architectural support is currently hindered by the lack of realistic and performant simulation methods for real devices. Physics-based tools are accurate yet too slow for simulating device behavior in real-time, while qualitative models miss layout and wafer heterostructure. We propose a new simulation approach capable of simulating real devices from the cold-start with real-time performance. Leveraging a key phenomenon observed in physics-based simulation, we train a compact convolutional neural network (CNN) to infer the qubit-layer electrostatic potential from gate voltages. Our GPU-accelerated inference delivers >1000x speedup with >96% agreement to the physics-based simulation. Integrated into the experiment control stack, the simulator returns results with millisecond scale latency, reproduces key tuning features, and yields device behaviors and metrics consistent with measurements on devices operated at 9 mK.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
Highly tunable band structure in ferroelectric R-stacked bilayer WSe$_2$
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Zhe Li, Prokhor Thor, George Kourmoulakis, Tatyana V. Ivanova, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, Hongyi Yu, Mauro Brotons-Gisbert, Brian D. Gerardot
Transition metal dichalcogenide homobilayers unite two frontiers of quantum materials research: sliding ferroelectricity, arising from rhombohedral (R) stacking, and moiré quantum matter, emerging from small-angle twisting. The spontaneous polarization of ferroelectric R-stacked homobilayers produces a highly tunable band structure, which, together with strain-induced piezoelectricity, governs the topology and correlated electronic phases of twisted bilayers. Here we present a systematic low-temperature optical spectroscopy study of R-stacked bilayer WSe$ _2$ to quantitatively establish its fundamental electronic and ferroelectric properties. Exciton and exciton-polaron spectroscopy under doping reveals a pronounced electron-hole asymmetry that confirms type-II band alignment, with the conduction and valence band edges located at the $ \Lambda$ and K valleys, respectively. Through distinct excitonic responses and tunable interlayer-intralayer exciton hybridization under displacement fields, we uncover the coexistence of AB and BA ferroelectric domains. Using exciton-polarons as a probe, we directly measure the intrinsic polarization field and extract the interlayer potential. Finally, we demonstrate electric-field-driven symmetric switching of the valence band maximum, attributed to ferroelectric domain switching. These results provide a complete experimental picture of the band alignment, spontaneous polarization field, and domain dynamics of R-stacked WSe$ _2$ , establishing key parameters to understand twisted bilayers and enabling new ferroelectric and excitonic device opportunities.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci), Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
PyDislocDyn: A Python code for calculating dislocation drag and other crystal properties
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
PyDislocDyn is a suite of python programs designed to perform various calculations for basic research in dislocation dynamics in metals with various crystal symmetries in the continuum limit. In particular, one of its main purposes is to calculate dislocation drag from phonon wind. Additional features include the averaging of elastic constants for polycrystals, the calculation of the dislocation field including its limiting velocities, and the calculation of dislocation self-energy and line tension.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
6 pages, prepared for the Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS)
Magnetic resonance and microwave resistance modulation in van der Waals colossal-magnetoresistance material
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Miuko Tanaka, Abdul Ahad, Darius-Alexandru Deaconu, Varun Shah, Daisuke Nishio-Hamane, Tomohiro Ishii, Masayuki Hashisaka, Shoya Sakamoto, Shinji Miwa, Mohammad Saeed Bahramy, Toshiya Ideue
Colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) is a fascinating quantum phenomenon that continues to draw significant interest in condensed matter physics. Mn3Si2Te6 has emerged as a prototypical CMR material, notable for its puzzling magnetoresistance behavior and pronounced directional anisotropy. Despite extensive research, the mechanisms driving CMR in Mn3Si2Te6 remain elusive [1-4]. In this work, we explore the magnetic resonance of Mn3Si2Te6 and observe a reduced g-factor for magnetic fields applied along the crystalline c-axis compared to the ab-plane, indicating a substantial orbital magnetization contribution along the c-axis. Furthermore, we detect resistance modulation under resonance conditions, suggesting that CMR in Mn3Si2Te6 is sensitive to the out-of-the plane spin polarization. These findings shed new light on the role of orbital magnetic moment in Mn3Si2Te6, offering a deeper understanding of the interplay between spin, orbital and lattice degrees of freedom of electrons in this system.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci), Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
$\textit{Ab Initio}$ Theory of Eliminating Surface Oxides of Superconductors with Noble Metal Encapsulation
New Submission | Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Cristóbal Méndez, Nathan Sitaraman, Matthias Liepe, Tomás Arias
Nanometer-scale surface chemistry limits the performance of SRF cavities and quantum circuits. We present a first-principles framework coupling DFT of interfacial energetics with strong-coupling Eliashberg theory for Nb and Ta bilayers. The approach identifies Au and Au alloys (AuPd, AuPt) as effective passivation layers. We also we introduce a thin Cu wetting underlayer as a means to minimize cap thickness while preserving superconductivity. These newly proposed design rules explain observed behavior in Nb- and Ta-based qubits and will enable longer coherence times and lower surface resistance.
Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
Tunable Coatings on Various Substrates for Self-Adaptive Energy Harvesting with Daytime Solar Heating and Nighttime Radiative Cooling
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Ken Araki, Vishwa Krishna Rajan, Liping Wang
In this work, tunable vanadium dioxide (VO2) metafilms on different substrate materials fabricated via low-oxygen furnace oxidation are demonstrated for self-adaptive daytime solar heating and nighttime radiative cooling. Because of its thermally-driven insulator-to-metal phase transition behavior, the VO2 metafilms work as spectrally-selective solar absorber with a high solar absorptance of 0.86 and a low infrared emissivity of ~0.2 at daytime, while they behave as selective cooler at nighttime to dissipate heat effectively through the atmospheric transparency window with a high emissivity of ~0.76 to cold outer space. From the outdoor vacuum tests, a significant temperature rise up to 169 K upon solar heating and a temperature drop of 17 K at night are experimentally observed from these tunable VO2 metafilms. With the atmosphere temperature fitted in-situ, the accurate heat transfer model shows excellent agreement with the stagnation temperature measurement, and indicates a high heating power of ~400 W/m2 at 80°C sample temperature in the middle of the day, and a cooling power of ~60 W/m2 at 30°C in equilibrium with ambient at night. This work would facilitate the development of self-adaptive coatings with cost-effective and scalable fabrication approaches for all-day energy harvesting.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci), Optics (physics.optics)
Efficient determination of eigenenergies and eigenstates of $N$ ($N=3$–$4$) identical 1D bosons and fermions under external harmonic confinement
New Submission | Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Few-atom systems play an important role in understanding the transition from few- to many-body quantum behaviors. This work introduces a new approach for determining the energy spectra and eigenstates of small harmonically trapped single-component Bose and Fermi gases with additive two-body zero-range interactions in one spatial dimension. The interactions for bosons are the usual $ \delta$ -function interactions while those for fermions are $ \delta$ -function interactions that contain derivative operators. Details of the derivation and benchmarks of the numerical scheme are presented. Extensions to other systems are discussed.
Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas), Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
17 pages, 4 figures
Effect of $Γ_7$ and $Γ_8$ Hybridizations on Three-Channel Kondo Phase Emerging from Ho Ions
New Submission | Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
By employing a numerical renormalization group method, we analyze a seven-orbital impurity Anderson model for Ho$ ^{3+}$ ion with ten $ 4f$ electrons. This model includes both $ V_7$ and $ V_8$ , which are hybridizations between localized $ 4f$ - and conduction electrons in $ \Gamma_7$ and $ \Gamma_8$ orbitals, respectively. For the case of $ V_7=V_8$ with the local $ \Gamma_5$ triplet ground state, we have reported the discovery of a three-channel Kondo (TCK) phase, characterized by a residual entropy of $ \log \phi$ with the golden ratio $ \phi=(1+\sqrt{5})/2$ . In this research, by depicting the ground-state phase diagram on the $ (V_8, V_7)$ plane, we attempt to unveil the effect of $ V_7$ and $ V_8$ on the emergence of the TCK phase. After performing a lot of numerical calculations, we find that the TCK phase appears in a relatively wide region on the $ (V_8, V_7)$ plane. The boundary curves surrounding the TCK phase are determined by the variation of the temperature dependence in entropy and the abrupt change in energy spectra. We consider that most of the phases surrounding the TCK phase are Fermi liquids, but the non-Fermi liquid two-channel Kondo phase is unexpectedly found to exist next to the TCK phase. Finally, we briefly comment on the actual material concerning the detection of the TCK phase.
Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el), Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
11 pages, 9 figures. To appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn
Size-Dependent Structural Motifs in Ag$_n$Mo (n = 2-13) Clusters: From Planar to Icosahedral Architectures
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Samantha Ortega-Flores, Peter Ludwig Rodríguez-Kessler
We present a comprehensive density functional theory (DFT) study of Mo-doped silver clusters Ag$ _n$ Mo ($ n=1$ -14), focusing on their structural, electronic, and bonding properties. Global optimization reveals an evolution from planar and low-symmetry isomers in small clusters to compact three-dimensional geometries with higher symmetry, culminating in a highly stable icosahedral structure at $ n=12$ . Binding energy and second-order energy difference analyses identify $ n=12$ as a “magic number” cluster exhibiting enhanced thermodynamic stability and a pronounced HOMO-LUMO gap, indicative of electronic shell closure. Bond length analysis shows relatively constant Ag-Mo distances alongside a size-dependent increase in Ag-Ag bond lengths, reflecting the growth of metallic bonding networks. Hirshfeld charge analysis reveals significant charge transfer from Ag to Mo in small clusters, which decreases with size as the system transitions toward delocalized metallic bonding. These findings provide detailed insights into the size-dependent interplay of geometry, bonding, and electronic structure in Ag$ _n$ Mo clusters, with implications for their catalytic and material applications.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
7 pages, 5 figures
High-$Q$ membrane resonators using ultra-high-stress crystalline TiN films
New Submission | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Yuki Matsuyama, Shotaro Shirai, Ippei Nakamura, Masao Tokunari, Hirotaka Terai, Yuji Hishida, Ryo Sasaki, Yusuke Tominaga, Atsushi Noguchi
High-quality-factor ($ Q$ ) mechanical resonators are essential components for precise sensing and control of mechanical motion at a quantum level. While amorphous materials such as SiN have been widely used in high-$ Q$ mechanical resonators utilizing stress-induced dissipation dilution, crystalline materials have emerging potential to achieve higher quality factors by combining low intrinsic loss and high tensile stress. In this paper, we demonstrate high-Q membrane resonators using ultra-high-stress crystalline TiN. Our membrane resonator exhibits a tensile stress exceeding 2.3 GPa and a quality factor of $ Q = 8.0 \times 10^6$ at 2.2 K. By estimating the dilution factor, we infer that our TiN resonator has a intrinsic quality factor comparable to that of SiN membrane resonators. With its ultra-high stress and crystalline properties, our TiN films can serve as a powerful tool for opto- and electromechanical systems, offering highly dissipation-diluted mechanical resonators.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall), Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
Anisotropic spin fluctuations in the triangular Kondo lattice compound CePtAl$_4$Ge$_2$ probed by site-selective $^{27}$Al NMR
New Submission | Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
H. Sakai, S. Shin, S. Kambe, Y. Tokunaga, H. Harima, E. Pomjakushina, T. Park
A site-selective $ ^{27}$ Al nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) study is carried out on the Kondo lattice compound CePtAl$ _4$ Ge$ _2$ , which crystallizes in a rhombohedral lattice with quasi-two-dimensional Ce layers forming a triangular lattice network. Two inequivalent Al sites, Al(1) and Al(2), are unambiguously assigned by comparing measured nuclear quadrupole parameters with electric field gradients obtained from electronic structure calculations. Knight shift analysis yields distinct hyperfine coupling constants, revealing that they arise predominantly from RKKY-type transferred hyperfine fields through conduction electrons. Spin-lattice relaxation measurements reveal pronounced anisotropic spin fluctuations, and comparison of the relaxation rates between the two Al sites clarifies the momentum-space structure of these fluctuations. At low magnetic fields, $ (T_1T)^{-1}$ is strongly enhanced on cooling toward the Néel temperature, indicating the growth of in-plane antiferromagnetic correlations in the paramagnetic state.
Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
9 pages, 6 figures
Aging of glass-forming materials following a temperature jump
New Submission | Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Ayata Ueno, Tomoko Mizuguchi, Takashi Odagaki
Aging in a glass forming model in which both trapping effect and delayed response of the free energy landscape (FEL) exist is studied after the temperature is changed. It is confirmed that the trapping effect gives rise to Type-I aging where the relaxation time increases with waiting time regardless of the direction of temperature change, and that the delayed response of the FEL produces Type-II aging where the waiting-time dependence of the relaxation time depends on the direction of temperature change. When both effects exist and the response time of the FEL is appropriate, these effects can be differentiated in the short-time behavior of the temporal relaxation time. It is argued that the material time or the internal clock and the fictive temperature introduced phenomenologically are understood as the concepts describing the delayed response of the FEL to temperature change.
Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
To be appeared in J. Non-Cryst. Solids
Octupole-driven spin-transfer torque switching of all-antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Jaimin Kang, Mohammad Hamdi, Shun Kong Cheung, Lin-Ding Yuan, Mohamed Elekhtiar, William Rogers, Andrea Meo, Peter G. Lim, M.S. Nicholas Tey, Anthony D’Addario, Shiva T. Konakanchi, Eric Matt, Jordan Athas, Sevdenur Arpaci, Lei Wan, Sanjay C. Mehta, Pramey Upadhyaya, Mario Carpentieri, Vinayak P. Dravid, Mark C. Hersam, Jordan A. Katine, Gregory D. Fuchs, Giovanni Finocchio, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, James M. Rondinelli, Pedram Khalili Amiri
Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) based on ferromagnets are canonical devices in spintronics, with wide-ranging applications in data storage, computing, and sensing. They simultaneously exhibit mechanisms for electrical detection of magnetic order through the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) effect, and reciprocally, for controlling magnetic order by electric currents through spin-transfer torque (STT). It was long assumed that neither of these effects could be sizeable in tunnel junctions made from antiferromagnetic materials, since they exhibit no net magnetization. Recently, however, it was shown that all-antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions (AFMTJs) based on chiral antiferromagnets do exhibit TMR due to their non-relativistic momentum-dependent spin polarization and cluster magnetic octupole moment, which are manifestations of their spin-split band structure. However, the reciprocal effect, i.e., the antiferromagnetic counterpart of STT driven by currents through the AFMTJ, has been assumed non-existent due to the total electric current being spin-neutral. Here, in contrast to this common expectation, we report nanoscale AFMTJs exhibiting this reciprocal effect, which we term octupole-driven spin-transfer torque (OTT). We demonstrate current-induced OTT switching of PtMn3|MgO|PtMn3 AFMTJs, fabricated on a thermally oxidized silicon substrate, exhibiting a record-high TMR value of 363% at room temperature and switching current densities of the order of 10 MA/cm2. Our theoretical modeling explains the origin of OTT in terms of the imbalance between intra- and inter-sublattice spin currents across the AFMTJ, and equivalently, in terms of the non-zero net cluster octupole polarization of each PtMn3 layer. This work establishes a new materials platform for antiferromagnetic spintronics and provides a pathway towards deeply scaled magnetic memory and room-temperature terahertz technologies.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci), Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall), Applied Physics (physics.app-ph)
Observation of surface superconductivity in bulk polycrystalline MoS2 induced by electric double-layer doping
New Submission | Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Yoshihiro Shimazu, Tomonori Miyatake, Kento Ueno, Masatomo Uehara
We report the observation of electric-field-induced superconductivity on the surface of bulk polycrystalline MoS2 using electric double-layer doping. A gate voltage applied in an ionic liquid environment systematically increased carrier density, leading to an insulator-to-metal transition and a sharp resistance drop at low temperatures, indicating superconductivity. The onset temperature of superconductivity strongly depended on carrier density inferred from conductance, showing a significant increase and eventual saturation. Unlike prior studies limited to single-crystalline MoS2, our results demonstrate that superconductivity can also be electrostatically induced in polycrystalline systems, broadening the scope for exploring gate-controlled superconductivity in a wider range of materials.
Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con), Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
13 pages, 4 figures
Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 64, 080902 (2025)
First-Order PT Phase Transition in Non-Hermitian Superconductors
New Submission | Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Xuezhu Liu, Ming Lu, Haiwen Liu, X. C. Xie
The interplay between superconductivity and environmental dissipation, effectively captured by non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, is a new frontier for exotic quantum phases. We explore a PT-symmetric non-Hermitian superconductor with balanced gain and loss. To ensure experimental relevance, we develop a right-eigenstate-based non-Hermitian mean-field theory. We uncover a novel first-order phase transition that coincides exactly with the PT symmetry breaking point, driven by the interplay between superconducting pairing interactions and non-Hermitian dissipation. In the PT-symmetric phase, moderate NH dissipation enhances superconductivity, while in the PT-broken phase, intensified dissipation significantly suppresses it. These phenomena, characterized by abrupt jumps in observables, can be probed through localized spectral measurements and macroscopic superfluid density analysis. Additionally, the stability analysis offers robust theoretical insights to support experimental investigations of this unique transition.
Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con), Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other)
Deconfined Quantum Critical Point in Quantum Hall Bilayers
New Submission | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Guangyu Yu, Tao Xiang, Zheng Zhu
Deconfined quantum critical points (DQCPs) represent an unconventional class of quantum criticality beyond the Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson-Fisher paradigm. Nevertheless, both their theoretical identification and experimental realization remain challenging. Here we report compelling evidence of a DQCP in quantum Hall bilayers with half-filled $ n=2$ Landau levels in each layer, based on large-scale variational uniform matrix product state (VUMPS) simulations and exact diagonalization (ED). By systematically analyzing the ground-state fidelity, low-lying energy spectra, exciton superfluid and stripe order parameters, and ground-state energy derivatives, we identify a direct and continuous quantum phase transition between two distinct symmetry-breaking phases by tuning the layer separation: an exciton superfluid phase with spontaneous $ U(1)$ symmetry breaking at small separation, and a unidirectional charge density wave with broken translational symmetry at large separation. Our results highlight quantum Hall bilayers as an ideal platform for realizing and experimentally probing DQCPs under precisely tunable interactions.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall), Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
11 pages, 9 figures
Machine learning-accelerated search of superconductors in B-C-N based compounds and R3Ni2O7-type nickelates
New Submission | Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Xiaoying Li, Wenqian Tu, Run Lv, Li’e Liu, Dingfu Shao, Yuping Sun, Wenjian Lu
Superconductor research has traditionally depended on experiments and theoretical approaches. However, the rapid advancement of data-driven methods and machine learning (ML) has opened avenues for accelerating superconductor discovery. Here, we integrated ML with density functional theory (DFT) calculations to efficiently screen conventional B-C-N based superconductors and identify potential high-TC candidates among R3Ni2O7-type bilayer nickelates. We identified 12 new binary and ternary B-C-N based superconductors with TC >= 10 K, including 3 with TC >= 25 K, such as two structural forms of B2CN (TC = 44.8 K and 41.5 K) and TiNbN2 (TC = 26.2 K). These materials share a common feature of strong {\sigma}-bonds, which is key to achieving relatively high TC. Moreover, we proposed Tb3Ni2O7 (TC = 61.6 K) and Ac3Ni2O7 (TC = 70.3 K) as potential high-TC nickelate superconductors under high pressure. Their electronic structures closely resemble those of La3Ni2O7, especially in the hole-type band dominated by Ni-3dz2 orbital character. We also analyzed feature importance in the ML results for both conventional and high-TC superconductors. These results advance the search for new superconductors and enhance the fundamental understanding of superconducting mechanisms.
Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con), Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
Probing ice-rule-breaking transition in $\rm{Dy_2Ti_2O_7}$ thin film by proximitized transport and magnetic torque
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Chengkun Xing, Han Zhang, Kyle Noordhoek, Guoxin Zheng, Kuan-Wen Chen, Lukas Horák, Yan Xin, Eun Sang Choi, Lu Li, Haidong Zhou, Jian Liu
While the spin ice state of bulk pyrochlores such as $ \rm{Dy_2Ti_2O_7}$ and $ \rm{Ho_2Ti_2O_7}$ has been extensively studied in the last several decades due to its unique degenerate ground state and emergent monopole excitation, whether it survives in the thin-film form remains a mystery. The limited volume of thin-film sample makes it challenging to study the intrinsic magnetic properties. Here, we synthesized 18nm-thick $ \rm{Dy_2Ti_2O_7}$ thin film on YSZ substrate and capped it by a thin conductive $ \rm{Bi_2Ir_2O_7}$ layer, and performed the proximitized magnetoresistance measurements. Our study found that the ice-rule-breaking phase transition survives but with a modified effective nearest-neighbor interaction and distorted Ising spin axes compared to the bulk crystal. The results are supported by the simultaneously measured capacitive torque magnetometry. Our study demonstrates that proximitized transport is an effective tool for thin films of insulating frustrated magnets.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
7 pages, 3 figures
Silicon-monoxide flames: the nucleation and condensation of silica fume
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Nils Erland L. Haugen, Axel Brandenburg, Bernd Friede, Rolf G. Birkeland
Silica fume is a valuable by-product from the silicon and ferrosilicon production. It is therefore important to understand the impact on the silica fume quality when converting the furnace feed from fossil-based to renewable reduction materials. Using self-consistent numerical simulations of the nucleation and condensation process, we present a detailed study of the silica fume formation process.
It is found that the most critical physical effect that determines the final particle size distribution is coalescence due to Brownian motion. Furthermore, it is crucial to use appropriate thermophysical parameters in order to reproduce reliable particle size distributions. Contrary to what has been done in previous studies on the same topic, this is now done by using reasonable expressions for surface energy, saturation pressure and the nucleation pre-exponential factor.
It is also found that under conditions relevant to furnaces, the liberation of latent heat leads to an explosive chain reaction of particle nucleation and condensation when the first particles nucleate and start growing due to condensation. This process continues until the relative saturation pressure of silicon dioxide is reduced to unity.
Finally, it is found that the Lagrangian approach for particle tracking is more flexible and accurate, and also more CPU efficient, than the Eulerian approach.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
24 pages, 15 figures and 2 tables, submitted to J. Phys. Chem. C
A New Approach to the Glass Transition of Percolated Polymers from the Perspective of Thermal Volume Expansion
New Submission | Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Jan-Kristian Krüger, Bernd Wetzel, Andreas Klingler
In 1995, the Nobel Price winner P.W. Anderson made the following remarkable statement: The deepest and most interesting unsolved problem in solid state theory is probably the theory of the nature of glass and glass transition. Although there have been new theoretical developments in the meantime, in our opinion, this situation has only improved marginally to date. One of the main reasons is the insufficient consideration of experimental boundary conditions. A central experimental problem arises from the fact that the time constants required to achieve thermodynamic equilibrium increase sharply in the vicinity of and above a hypothetical static glass transition. If these equilibrium conditions are violated, additional internal thermodynamic variables come into play that normally alter the static and dynamic susceptibilities significantly and thus lead to misinterpretations of the experimental data. This raises, for example, the question of whether there are static property changes during the canonical glass transition and how these correlate with dynamic precursors. In this article, we attempt to find answers to these questions using a new experimental method called temperature-modulated optical refractometry in combination with the temperature-jump technique. The total time required to investigate the glass transition behaviour of our model epoxy was approximately two years.
Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft), Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
26 pages, 12 figures
Ab initio spin Hamiltonians and magnetism of Ce and Yb triangular-lattice compounds
New Submission | Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Leonid V. Pourovskii, Rafael D. Soares, Alexander Wietek
We calculate the crystal-field splitting, ground-state Kramers doublet and intersite exchange interactions within the ground-state doublet manifold using an ab initio Hubbard-I based approach for a representative set of Ce and Yb triangular-lattice compounds. These include the putative quantum spin liquids (QSL) RbCeO$ _2$ and YbZn$ _2$ GaO$ _5$ and the antiferromagnets KCeO$ _2$ and KCeS$ _2$ . The calculated nearest-neighbor (NN) couplings are antiferromagnetic and exhibit noticeable anisotropy. The next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) couplings are ferromagnetic in the Ce systems and dominated by classical dipole-dipole interactions in the Yb case. Solving the resulting effective spin-1/2 models by exact diagonalization up to $ N=36$ sites, we predict ordered magnetic ground states for all systems, including the two QSL candidates. We explore the phase space of an anisotropic NN + isotropic NNN triangular-lattice model finding that a significant antiferromagnetic NNN coupling is required to stabilize QSL phases, while the NN exchange anisotropy is detrimental to them. Our findings highlight a possibly important role of deviations from the perfect triangular model - like atomic disorder - in real triangular-lattice materials.
Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el), Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
9 pages, 3 figures + 10 pages of Supplementary
Reciprocity of Magnetism and Nanostructure Growth
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Felix Zahner, Kirsten von Bergmann, Roland Wiesendanger, André Kubetzka
The growth of thin films and nanostructures is a fundamental process for constructing both model-type systems and nanoscale devices, where performance and functionalities can be controlled by the choice of parameters. For magnetic systems the crystal structure, material composition, size, and shape determine already most of the magnetism-related properties. Here, we investigate the reciprocal route, which is controlling nanostructure growth via magnetism. To this end we deposit Co on a uniaxial antiferromagnetic surface above and below its Néel temperature. Growth above the Néel temperature results in the formation of roughly hexagonal islands, reflecting the surface symmetry. For growth below the Néel temperature we find quasi-one-dimensional Co nanostructures along distinct crystallographic directions, which signal the local antiferromagnetic domain orientation. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of controlling growth via magnetism and the necessity to take magnetism-related effects into account for growth on magnetic surfaces.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
5 main figures, 2 extended figures
Shift Current Anomalous Photovoltaics in a Double Perovskite Ferroelectric
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Linjie Wei, Fu Li, Yi Liu, Hongbin Zhang, Junhua Luo, Zhihua Sun
Ferroelectric anomalous photovoltaic (APV) effect, as a fascinating physical conceptual phenomenon, holds significant potentials for new optoelectronic device applications. However, due to the knowledge lacking on the origin and underlying mechanism of ferroelectric APV effect, substantial challenges still remain in exploring new APV-active candidate materials. The emerging shift current model, involving the transfer of photogenerated charges through the displacement of wave functions, has attracted considerable attention for its unique insights into the bulk photovoltaic effect. Here, we present strong APV properties in a high-temperature double perovskite ferroelectric (cyclohexylmethylammonium)$ _2$ CsAgBiBr$ _7$ , showing an extremely large above-bandgap photovoltage up to about 40 V. This figure-of-merit is far beyond its bandgap of about 2.3 eV and comparable to the state-of-art molecular ferroelectrics. Strikingly, the shift current model reveals an intrinsic correlation with Cs$ ^{+}$ cation displacement and provides, for the first time, an explicit explanation for the structural origin of ferroelectric APV activities. Besides, its steady-state APV photocurrent exhibits the unique light-polarization dependence, which endows remarkable polarization-sensitivity with the highest polarization ratios of about 41 among the known 2D single-phase materials. As the unprecedented exploration of ferroelectric APV characteristics illuminated by the shift current mechanism, this finding paves a pathway to assemble new optoelectronic smart devices.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci), Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph)
Isotopically Selected Single Antimony Molecule Doping
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Mason Adshead, Maddison Coke, Evan Tillotson, Kexue Li, Sam Sullivan-Allsop, Ricardo Egoavil, William Thornley, Yi Cui, Christopher M Gourlay, Katie L Moore, Sarah J Haigh, Richard J Curry
A reliable route to the deterministic fabrication of impurity ion donors in silicon is required to advance quantum computing architectures based upon such systems. This paper reports the ability to dope isotopically-defined unique ($ {}^{121}\mathrm{Sb}{}^{123}\mathrm{Sb}$ ) clusters into silicon with measured detection efficiencies of 94% being obtained. Atomically resolved imaging of the doped clusters reveals a Sb-to-Sb separation of ~2 nm post-implantation, thus indicating suitability to form coupled qudit systems. The method used is fully compatible with integration into processing that includes pre-enrichment of the silicon host to < 3ppm $ {}^{29}\mathrm{Si}$ levels. As such, we present a potential pathway to the creation of scaled qudit arrays within silicon platforms for quantum computing.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci), Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
10 pages, 4 figures
Inherent momentum-dependent gap structure of altermagnetic superconductors
New Submission | Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Christian L. H. Rasmussen, Jannik Gondolf, Mats Barkman, Mercè Roig, Daniel F. Agterberg, Andreas Kreisel, Brian M. Andersen
Altermagnetic metals break time-reversal symmetry and feature spin-split Fermi surfaces generated by compensated Néel-ordered collinear magnetic moments. Being metallic, such altermagnets may undergo a further instability at low temperatures to a superconducting state, and it is an interesting open question what are the salient features of such altermagnetic superconductors? We address this question on the basis of realistic microscopic models that capture the altermagnetic sublattice degrees of freedom. We find that the sublattice structure can strongly affect the superconducting gap structure in altermagnetic superconductors. In particular, it imposes nodes in the gap on the Brillouin zone edges for superconductors stabilized by momentum-independent bare attraction channels. We contrast this to the case of nearest-neighbor pairing where pairing is allowed on the Brillouin zone edges and $ d$ -wave gap structures can be favored.
Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
9 pages, 4 figures
Effect of Magnetic Anisotropy on Magnetoelastic Waves in Ni/LiNbO3 Hybrid Device
New Submission | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Minwoo Yu, Moojune Song, Minseok Kang, Mujin You, Yunyoung Hwang, Albert Min Gyu Park, Byong-Guk Park, Kab-Jin Kim, Junho Suh
We study the effects of magnetic anisotropy and crystalline axes in surface acoustic waves (SAWs) driven magnetic resonances of Ni/LiNbO3 hybrid devices. SAW absorption from the interaction with magnons in Ni displays a strong anisotropic dependence on the direction of the applied in-plane magnetic field. Magnetic anisotropy is further investigated by magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements to show both uniaxial and biaxial anisotropy components in Ni films on LiNbO3. By introducing a dipolar interaction term in addition to the anisotropies, we successfully explain the anisotropic SAW absorption in our devices. These findings show the importance of substrate-induced anisotropy and long-range dipolar effects in SAW-magnons hybrid devices and indicate future directions for optimizing these spin-acoustic devices through comprehensive anisotropy engineering.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
20 pages, 6 figures, 1 table
A Review on Phenomenological Models for Chromonic Liquid Crystals
New Submission | Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Chromonic liquid crystals (CLCs) are lyotropic materials which are attracting growing interest for their adaptability to living systems. A considerable body of works has been devoted to exploring their properties and applications. In this paper, I endeavour to review some of the contributions concerning their theoretical modelling, aimed at rationalizing experimental observations. The elastic theory of CLCs is not completely established. Their ground state in the 3D space, as revealed by a number of recent experiments, is quite different from that of ordinary nematic liquid crystals: it is twisted instead of uniform. The common explanation provided for this state within the classical Oseen-Frank elastic theory demands that one Ericksen’s inequality is violated. Since such a violation would make the Oseen-Frank stored energy density unbounded below, the legitimacy of these theoretical treatments is threatened by a number of mathematical issues. To overcome these difficulties, a novel elastic theory has been proposed and tested for CLCs; it extends the classical Oseen-Frank energy by incorporating a quartic twist term. Another key characteristic of CLCs is that they exhibit broad biphasic regions, in which the nematic and isotropic phases coexist. Mathematical models inspired by experimental settings have been developed for CLC droplets in 2D. The contributions reviewed here address the morphogenesis of nuclei and topological defects during phase transitions, the topological shape transformations arising from the interplay of nematic elastic constants, and the prediction of shape bistability (yet to be observed) where tactoids and smooth-edged discoids can coexist in equilibrium. General methods have also been applied to experimental data to extract estimates of the isotropic surface tension at the nematic isotropic interface and the chromonics’ planar anchoring strength.
Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
Material parameter influence on the expression of Solitary-Wave-Induced Surface Dilation
New Submission | Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Eric Frizzell, Christine Hartzell
We formulate a method for predicting peak particle forces in a Solitary Wave (SW) wavefront within a randomly filled 3D granular channel. The SW in our simulation are driven by a sustained impact originating in the bumpy floor of the channel. We show that, when generated in this manner, forces in the driven SW wavefront within the 3D assembly follow the same power law scaling on material properties and impact velocity as in a 1D chain. A simple scaling of the 1D forces matches results from simulated impact tests we conduct using Soft Sphere Discrete Element method simulations. We then quantify the magnitude of Solitary Wave Induced Surface Dilation (SID) that occurs as a result of varied material properties and gravitational environments, giving an equation that can be used to predict the lofting depth (depth to which particles experience bulk density changes as a result of a laterally propagating SW wavefront). As predicted by our equation and confirmed with simulated results, SID is amplified as particle material properties become closer to lunar regolith grains, supporting the hypothesis that SID is the Lunar Cold Spot formation mechanism.
Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft), Space Physics (physics.space-ph)
Published in Granular Matter
Granular Matter 26.4 (2024): 90
Theory of single molecule NMR detection
New Submission | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Baruch Horovitz, Alexander Shnirman
In relation to recent experimental data [1], we develop a theory framework for demonstrating the feasibility of detecting sharp Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) oscillations in a real time ESR data. The procedure is to follow real time oscillations of the ESR signal measured at a selected frequency of a hyperfine transition. We study a variety of systems such as a single radical molecule with one or two hyperfine coupled nuclei or two molecules that coexist as either radicals or non-radicals, facilitated by charge transfer. We develop a master equation for describing these scenarios and find parameters for which a sharp NMR line can be observed. We show that in all cases an off-diagonal term in the hyperfine tensor is essential for the observation.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
11 pages, 6 figures
Family of Unconventional Superconductivities in Crystalline Graphene
New Submission | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Junseok Seo, Armel A. Cotten, Mingchi Xu, Omid Sharifi Sedeh, Henok Weldeyesus, Tonghang Han, Zhengguang Lu, Zhenghan Wu, Shenyong Ye, Wei Xu, Jixiang Yang, Emily Aitken, Prayoga P. Liong, Zach Hadjri, Rasul Gazizulin, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Mingda Li, Dominik M. Zumbühl, Long Ju
Unconventional superconductors exhibit multiple broken symmetries and exceed the range of the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory. For instance, time-reversal symmetry can be broken in addition to the gauge symmetry, resulting in superconductors that can be enhanced or induced by a magnetic field. However, such unconventional superconductivities are more vulnerable to impurities than their BCS counterparts, requiring highly ordered and clean material systems to observe them. Crystalline rhombohedral multilayer graphene is a promising platform to explore unconventional superconductivity due to its superior material quality and gate-tunable strong correlation effects. Here we report transport measurements of rhombohedral tetralayer and pentalayer graphene, where a spectrum of superconductivities in a clean limit are observed. Three of them (SC2-4) show highly unusual enhancements by magnetic fields: 1. SC2 is strengthened by an in-plane field; 2. SC3 is boosted by a small out-of-plane field; 3. SC4 is induced by an in-plane field. All these superconductors are robust against an in-plane field up to 8.5 Tesla, exceeding the Pauli limit of conventional superconductors by tens of times and suggesting their unconventional nature. Moreover, we observed that proximitized spin-orbit coupling generates a plethora of new superconductors in the phase diagram, while maintaining the high quality of bare rhombohedral graphene. Our work establishes a family of new superconductors in rhombohedral multilayer graphene, which also provides an ideal platform to engineer non-Abelian quasiparticles by proximitizing with quantum anomalous Hall states existing in the same material system.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall), Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
Noise resilience of two-dimensional Floquet topological phases
New Submission | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Balaganchi A. Bhargava, Sanjib Kumar Das, Lukas M. Sieberer, Ion Cosma Fulga
We study the effect of noise on two-dimensional periodically driven topological phases, focusing on two examples: the anomalous Floquet-Anderson phase and the disordered Floquet-Chern phase. Both phases show an unexpected robustness against timing noise. The noise-induced decay of initially populated topological edge modes occurs in two stages: At short times, thermalization among edge modes leads to exponential decay. This is followed by slow algebraic decay $ \sim n^{-1/2}$ with the number of Floquet cycles $ n$ . The exponent of $ 1/2$ is characteristic for one-dimensional diffusion, here occurring along the direction perpendicular to the edge. In contrast, localized modes in the bulk exhibit faster decay, $ \sim n^{-1}$ , corresponding to two-dimensional diffusion. We demonstrate these behaviors through full-scale numerical simulations and support our conclusions using analytical results based upon a phenomenological model. Our findings indicate that two-dimensional Floquet topological phases are ideal candidates for potential applications of Floquet topology, given the unavoidable presence of both quenched disorder and decoherence in experiments.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall), Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
12 pages, 7 figures
Investigation of non-Hermitian and Hermitian models of Altermagnets
New Submission | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Insulating altermagnets like MnTe exhibit spin configurations where opposing spins are not only aligned antiparallel but also rotated relative to each other. This is an arrangement reminiscent of antiferromagnetism with a twist of spin canting. This study investigates a model Hamiltonian that captures the essential physics of such systems, incorporating key interactions including Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya and conventional exchange terms, relativistic spin-orbit coupling, and d-wave and g-wave orderings. Non-Hermitian dynamics are introduced through complex potentials that simulate energy dissipation and amplification. The paper delves into the behavior of the quantum geometric tensor and the emergence of the quantum anomalous Hall effect within the topologically insulating regime. It also broadens the scope to encompass non-Hermitian metallic altermagnets, focusing on phases characterized by symmetry-breaking d-wave and g-wave order parameters.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall), Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
32 pages, 6 figures. Comments are welcome
Fabrication and Characterization of the Moiré surface state on a topological insulator
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Yi Zhang, Dang Liu, Qiaoyan Yu, Ruijun Xi, Xingsen Chen, Shasha Xue, Jice Sun, Xian Du, Xuhui Ning, Tingwen Miao, Pengyu Hu, Hao Yang, Dandan Guan, Xiaoxue Liu, Liang Liu, Yaoyi Li, Shiyong Wang, Canhua Liu, Haijiao Ji, Noah F. Q. Yuan, Hao Zheng, Jinfeng Jia
A Moire superlattice on the topological insulator surface is predicted to exhibit many novel properties but has not been experimentally realized. Here, we developed a two-step growth method to successfully fabricate a topological insulator Sb2Te3 thin film with a Moire superlattice, which is generated by a twist of the topmost layer via molecular beam epitaxy. The established Moire topological surface state is characterized by scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. By application of a magnetic field, new features in Landau levels arise on the Moire region compared to the pristine surface of Sb2Te3, which makes the system a promising platform for pursuing next-generation electronics. Notably, the growth method, which circumvents contamination and the induced interface defects in the manual fabrication method, can be widely applied to other van der Waals materials for fabricating Moire superlattices.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
16 pages,4 figures,1 table
Nano Letter 2025,25,35,13341,13346
Role of Fe intercalation on the electronic correlation in resistively switchable antiferromagnet Fe$_{x}$NbS$_2$
New Submission | Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Wenxin Li, Jonathan T. Reichanadter, Shan Wu, Ji Seop Oh, Rourav Basak, Shannon C. Haley, Elio Vescovo, Donghui Lu, Makoto Hashimoto, Christoph Klewe, Suchismita Sarker, James G. Analytis, Robert J. Birgeneau, Jeffrey B. Neaton, Yu He
Among the family of intercalated transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), Fe$ _{x}$ NbS$ 2$ is found to possess unique current-induced resistive switching behaviors, tunable antiferromagnetic states, and a commensurate charge order, all of which are tied to a critical Fe doping of $ x_c$ = 1/3. However, the electronic origin of such extreme stoichiometry sensitivities remains unclear. Combining angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) with density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we identify and characterize a dramatic eV-scale electronic restructuring that occurs across the $ x_c$ . Moment-carrying Fe 3$ d{z^2}$ electrons manifest as narrow bands within 200 meV to the Fermi level, distinct from other transition metal intercalated TMD magnets. This state strongly interacts with the itinerant electron in TMD layer, and rapidly loses coherence above $ x_c$ . These observations resemble the exceptional electronic and magnetic sensitivity of strongly correlated systems upon charge doping, shedding light on the important role of electronic correlation in magnetic TMDs.
Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
Quantifying many-body contributions to depletion forces
New Submission | Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Gabriel Pérez-Angel, Marco A. Ramírez-Guízar, Néstor M. De Los Santos-López, José M. Méndez-Alcaraz, Ramón Castañeda-Priego
Effective interactions inherently encompass many-body effects that appear unified. Analyzing these in reverse, that is, separating them into contributions from pairs, triples, or larger groups, is typically intricate and seldom pursued. However, this could offer essential insights into the structural architecture of complex systems, such as soft materials. This contribution tackles this issue employing a new simulation-based approach to accurately determine effective interactions. The approach is sufficiently sensitive to assess the effects of higher-order terms in the depletion potentials between large particles. Previous research has primarily focused on the role of small particles, and this work expands on these findings. However, understanding the contributions of large particles on the effective forces, particularly beyond the dilute limit, remains challenging and is not yet fully grasped, leading us to primarily focus on exploring this topic. Within the range of particle concentrations examined here, while maintaining a constant chemical potential for smaller particles, we have observed that the concentration of larger particles has no impact on the entropic potential between large colloids, as long as the size ratio remains below $ q=0.15$ . This confirms a long-established prediction founded on purely geometric considerations, which we have confirmed by means of direct observation. In contrast, for mixtures with less size asymmetry, such effects become considerably influential. Specifically, we have conducted an in-depth examination of scenarios with size asymmetries of $ q=0.45$ and $ 0.60$ . Our results for the depletion forces were directly compared with those obtained from the integral equation theory, which has also enabled us to improve and refine the approaches involved.
Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
Emergence of spin-mixed superstripe phases in spin-orbit coupled spin-1 condensate
New Submission | Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Sanu Kumar Gangwar, Rajamanickam Ravisankar, Paulsamy Muruganandam, Pankaj Kumar Mishra
We numerically investigate the ground state phases and quench dynamics of spin-orbit coupled spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates with ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions. For finite Rabi coupling, the system exhibits zero-momentum, elongated zero-momentum, and stripe phases, while in the limit $ \Omega\rightarrow 0$ , the superstripe wave phases emerge. Varying the attractive density-density ($ c_0$ ) and spin-exchange ($ c_2$ ) interactions induces the transition from stripe and superstripe phases to the elongated zero-momentum phase, characterized by miscibility and polarization. The condensate remains miscible in the zero-momentum phase and partially miscible for the elongated, stripe, and superstripe phases. Quenching in Rabi coupling stabilizes the condensate, while spin-orbit coupling quenching leads to fluctuations or the formation of complex patterns, with the stripe phase exhibiting the vanishing of the zeroth spin component over time. Our results may offer valuable insights into engineering exotic quantum phases in ultracold atomic gases.
Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas)
19 pages, 15 figures
Controlled Buildup of Half-Quantized Thermal Conductance in an Engineered Chiral Spin Liquid Platform
New Submission | Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Bo-Ye Sun, Baptiste Bermond, Lucila Peralta Gavensky, Marin Bukov, Zheng-Wei Zhou, Nathan Goldman
We study thermal transport along the edge of a small chiral-spin-liquid device coupled to two Ising-chain reservoirs, a platform suitable for quantum-engineered systems. Adiabatically switching on the tunnel couplings to the reservoirs generates a thermal current that dynamically builds up and reaches a quasi-steady-state regime. In this time window, the two-terminal thermal conductance can approach half-quantized values – a hallmark of Majorana-mediated transport – under finely tuned conditions. The results agree with a steady-state Landauer-Büttiker description for sufficiently large reservoirs, where energy-resolved transmission rates help identify the optimal parameters to achieve the half-quantized conductance. This work provides a controllable platform to investigate topological thermal transport in engineered spin systems, such as realized in cold-atom and Rydberg-atom settings.
Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas), Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall), Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other), Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el), Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
Tailored Thermal Transport in Phase Change Materials-Based Nanocomposites through Interfacial Structuring
New Submission | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Viktor Mandrolko, Mykola Isaiev
Interfacial thermal transport is a critical bottleneck in nanoscale systems, where heat dissipation and energy efficiency are strongly modulated by molecular ordering at solid-liquid boundaries. Here, using atomistic simulations of hexadecane confined by structured silica substrates, we reveal how interfacial geometry, specifically curvature, governs the density distribution and thermal transport across the interface. At flat and mildly curved surfaces, the liquid exhibits surface-templated layering, promoting efficient heat transfer, which is enhanced with increasing contact surface area. As curvature increases, this ordering breaks down, giving rise to interference-like density patterns, reduced molecular packing, and localized depletion zones. This structural reorganization leads to a systematic increase in interfacial thermal resistance (ITR), even when the contact area is kept constant. By decomposing the interface into convex (“hill” of solid) and concave (“valley” of solid) regions, we find that valleys consistently offer lower thermal resistance. In contrast, hills act as bottlenecks to heat flow. Remarkably, we show that the work of adhesion and entropy-related energy losses scale non-trivially with curvature: while adhesion increases with contact area, the entropic penalty dominates the total energy change, reflecting curvature-induced frustration of molecular alignment. These findings unveil a direct link between surface geometry, thermodynamic dissipation, and heat transport, offering new design principles for thermally tunable nanostructured materials, thermal interface coatings, and phase-change systems.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall), Applied Physics (physics.app-ph)
Magnetic Bloch bands and Weiss oscillations in Dirac mass superlattices
New Submission | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
A. Anand, R. Egger, A. De Martino
We study two-dimensional Dirac fermions in a one-dimensional mass superlattice under a perpendicular magnetic field. Using exact solutions for isolated and finite arrays of domain walls, we demonstrate the persistence of Jackiw-Rebbi modes with a field-dependent renormalized velocity. For the periodic case, we adopt a gauge-invariant projection method onto magnetic Bloch states, valid for arbitrary fields and mass profiles, which yields dispersive Landau levels, and confirm its accuracy by comparison with finite arrays spectra. From the miniband spectra we predict modified quantum Hall plateaus and Weiss-like magnetoconductivity oscillations, characterized by a strongly reduced amplitude and a $ \pi/2$ phase shift compared to electrostatic superlattices.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
16 pages, 10 figures
Variation-matching sensitivity-based virtual fields for hyperelastic material model calibration
New Submission | Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Denislav P. Nikolov, Zhiren Zhu, Jonathan B. Estrada
Accurate identification of nonlinear material parameters from three-dimensional full-field deformation data remains a challenge in experimental mechanics. The virtual fields method (VFM) provides a powerful, computationally efficient approach for material model calibration, however, its success depends critically on the choice of virtual fields and the informativeness of available kinematic data. In this work, we advance the state-of-the-art discrete formulation of the sensitivity-based virtual fields (SBVF) method by systematically developing and comparing alternative variational and analytical SBVFs within a strain-invariant-based modeling framework.
A central contribution of this work is the implementation and assessment of variation-based SBVFs (vSBVFs), formulated using directional Gâteaux derivatives, as well as virtual fields derived from analytical differentiation (aSBVFs) which provide explicit, model-tailored virtual displacement fields for parameter identification. Using simulated noisy volumetric datasets, we demonstrate that vSBVFs and aSBVFs enable procedural, automated construction of optimal virtual fields for each material parameter, substantially enhancing the robustness and efficiency of calibration without the need for manual field selection or high temporal resolution in the data acquisition. We quantify data richness – the effective diversity of sampled kinematic states – showing that increased data richness via sample geometry and loading protocols leads to improved parameter identifiability. These findings establish a pathway for automated, noise-robust material model calibration suitable for future deployment with experimental full-field imaging of soft, complex materials, and provide a foundation for optimizing shape topology and extending to viscoelastic and anisotropic behaviors.
Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
Topology meets superconductivity in a one-dimensional $t-J$ model of magnetic atoms
New Submission | Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Leonardo Bellinato Giacomelli, Thomas Bland, Louis Lafforgue, Francesca Ferlaino, Manfred J. Mark, Luca Barbiero
Strongly interacting fermions represent the key constituent of several intriguing phases of matter. However, due to the inherent complexity of these systems, important regimes are still inaccessible. Here, we derive a realistic and flexible setup based on ultracold magnetic lanthanide atoms trapped in a one-dimensional optical lattice. Leveraging their large magnetic moments, we design a fermionic $ t-J$ model with independently tunable hopping, spin-spin couplings, and onsite interaction. Through combined analytical and numerical analysis, we uncover a variety of many-body quantum phases$ -$ including superconducting and topological states. Crucially, in the regime of attractive onsite interaction we reveal that topology and superconductivity coexist, thus giving rise to an exotic state of matter: a topological triplet superconductor. We also outline a practical protocol to prepare and detect all discovered phases using current experimental techniques. Our results establish an alternative and powerful route for a deeper understanding of strongly interacting fermionic quantum matter.
Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas), Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el), Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
13 pages, 9 figures
A Comprehensive Assessment and Benchmark Study of Large Atomistic Foundation Models for Phonons
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Md Zaibul Anam, Ogheneyoma Aghoghovbia, Mohammed Al-Fahdi, Lingyu Kong, Victor Fung, Ming Hu
The rapid development of universal machine learning potentials (uMLPs) has enabled efficient, accurate predictions of diverse material properties across broad chemical spaces. While their capability for modeling phonon properties is emerging, systematic benchmarking across chemically diverse systems remains limited. We evaluate six recent uMLPs (EquiformerV2, MatterSim, MACE, and CHGNet) on 2,429 crystalline materials from the Open Quantum Materials Database. Models were used to compute atomic forces in displaced supercells, derive interatomic force constants (IFCs), and predict phonon properties including lattice thermal conductivity (LTC), compared with density functional theory (DFT) and experimental data. The EquiformerV2 pretrained model trained on the OMat24 dataset exhibits strong performance in predicting atomic forces and third-order IFC, while its fine-tuned counterpart consistently outperforms other models in predicting second-order IFC, LTC, and other phonon properties. Although MACE and CHGNet demonstrated comparable force prediction accuracy to EquiformerV2, notable discrepancies in IFC fitting led to poor LTC predictions. Conversely, MatterSim, despite lower force accuracy, achieved intermediate IFC predictions, suggesting error cancellation and complex relationships between force accuracy and phonon predictions. This benchmark guides the evaluation and selection of uMLPs for high-throughput screening of materials with targeted thermal transport properties.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
The frustrated Ising model on the honeycomb lattice: Metastability and universality
New Submission | Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Denis Gessert, Martin Weigel, Wolfhard Janke
We study the Ising model with competing ferromagnetic nearest- and antiferromagnetic next-nearest-neighbor interactions of strengths $ J_1 > 0$ and $ J_2 < 0$ , respectively, on the honeycomb lattice. For $ J_2 > - J_1 / 4$ it has a ferromagnetic ground state, and previous work has shown that at least for $ J_2 \gtrsim -0.2 J_1$ the transition is in the Ising universality class. For even lower $ J_2$ some indicators pointing towards a first-order transition were reported. By utilizing population annealing Monte Carlo simulations together with a rejection-free and adaptive update, we can equilibrate systems with $ J_2$ as low as $ -0.23 J_1$ . By means of a finite-size scaling analysis we show that the system undergoes a second-order phase transition within the Ising universality class at least down to $ J_2 =-0.23 J_1$ and, most likely, for all $ J_2 > - J_1 / 4$ . As we show here, there exist very long-lived metastable states in this system explaining the first-order like behavior seen in only partially equilibrated systems.
Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech), Computational Physics (physics.comp-ph)
15 pages. 12 figures, 2 tables
Control across scales: signals, information, and adaptive biological mechanical function
New Submission | Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
James Clarke, Jake McGrath, Colin Johnson, José Alvarado
Biological systems perform an astonishing array of dynamical processes – including development and repair, regulation, behavior and motor control, sensing and signaling, and adaptation, among others. Powered by the transduction of stored energy resources, these behaviors enable biological systems to regulate functions, achieve specific outcomes, and maintain stability far from thermodynamic equilibrium. These behaviors span orders of magnitude in length and time: from nanometer-scale molecular motors driving morphogenesis to kilometer-scale seasonal migrations, and from millisecond reflexes to millennia of evolutionary adaptations. While physical laws govern the dynamics of biological systems, they alone are insufficient to fully explain how living systems sense, decide, adapt, and, ultimately, control their dynamics. In this article, we argue that control theory provides a powerful, unifying framework for understanding how biological systems regulate dynamics to maintain stability across length and time scales far from equilibrium.
Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft), Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems (nlin.AO), Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph)
Phase Diagram and dynamical phases of self organization of a Bose–Einstein condensate in a transversely pumped red-detuned cavity
New Submission | Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Julian Mayr, Maria Laura Staffini, Simon B. Jäger, Corinna Kollath, Jonathan Keeling
We study a transversely pumped atomic Bose–Einstein Condensate coupled to a single-mode optical cavity, where effective atom–atom interactions are mediated by pump and cavity photons. A number of experiments and theoretical works have shown the formation of a superradiant state in this setup, where interference of pump and cavity light leads to an optical lattice in which atoms self-consistently organize. This self-organization has been extensively studied using the approximate Dicke model (truncating to two momentum states), as well as through numerical Gross–Pitaevskii simulations in one and two dimensions. Here, we perform a full mean-field analysis of the system, including all relevant atomic momentum states and the cavity field. We map out the steady-state phase diagram vs pump strength and cavity detuning, and provide an in-depth understanding of the instabilities that are linked to the emergence of spatio-temporal patterns. We find and describe parameter regimes where mean-field predicts bistability, regimes where the dynamics form chaotic trajectories, instabilities caused by resonances between normal mode excitations, and states with atomic dynamics but vanishing cavity field.
Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas), Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
18 Pages, 11 Figures
Chirality, confinement and dimensionality govern re-entrant transitions in active matter
New Submission | Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Anweshika Pattanayak, Amir Shee, Debasish Chaudhuri, Abhishek Chaudhuri
The non-equilibrium dynamics of individual chiral active particles underpin the complex behavior of chiral active matter. Here we present an exact analytical framework, supported by simulations, to characterize the steady states of two-dimensional chiral active Brownian particles and three-dimensional torque-driven counterparts in a harmonic trap. Using a Laplace-transform approach of the Fokker-Planck equation, we derive closed-form expressions for displacement moments and excess kurtosis, providing a precise probe of non-Gaussian statistics. Our analysis reveals three distinct regimes: bimodal active states with off-center peaks, Gaussian-like passive states, and weakly heavy-tailed distributions unique to two dimensions. We show that dimensionality plays a decisive role: in two dimensions, increasing chirality suppresses activity and restores passive behavior, while in three dimensions torque preserves activity along the torque axis, producing anisotropic steady states. These behaviors are captured by simple active length-scale arguments that map the boundaries between passive and active phases. Our results offer concrete experimental signatures - including kurtosis crossovers, off-center peaks, and torque-induced anisotropy - that establish confinement as a powerful tool to probe and control chiral and torque-driven active matter.
Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft), Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech), Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph)
10 pages, 3 figures
Speeding up Brownian escape via intermediate finite potential barriers
New Submission | Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Vishwajeet Kumar, Ohad Shpielberg, Arnab Pal
The mean first-passage time (MFPT) for a Brownian particle to surmount a potential barrier of height $ \Delta U$ is a fundamental quantity governing a wide array of physical and chemical processes. According to the Arrhenius Law, the MFPT typically grows exponentially with increasing barrier height, reflecting the rarity of thermally activated escape events. In this work, we demonstrate that the MFPT can be significantly reduced by reshaping the original single-barrier potential into a structured energy landscape comprising multiple intermediate barriers of lower heights, while keeping the total barrier height $ \Delta U$ unchanged. Furthermore, this counterintuitive result holds across both linear and nonlinear potential profiles. Our findings suggest that tailoring the energy landscape – by introducing well-placed intermediate barriers – can serve as an effective control strategy to accelerate thermally activated transitions. These predictions are amenable to experimental validation using optical trapping techniques.
Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech), Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft), Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph)
Integral $ab$ $initio$/DFT and experimental TDPAC approach enlightening the $aftereffects$ phenomenon: probing electronic properties in $α$-Al$_2$O$_3$:$^{111}$In($\rightarrow$ $^{111}$Cd) at the atomic scale
New Submission | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
G. N. Darriba, R. Vianden, A. P. Ayala, M. Rentería
By means of an integral experimental and $ ab$ $ initio$ /DFT approach we contribute here to enlighten and quantify the origin of dynamic hyperfine interactions (HFIs) assigned to the electron-capture (EC) decay aftereffects (ECAE) phenomenon observed in time-differential perturbed $ \gamma$ -$ \gamma$ angular correlation (TDPAC) experiments in oxides doped with ($ ^{111}$ In (EC)$ \rightarrow$ )$ ^{111}$ Cd as probe-atom. In previous works [Darriba et al., Phys. Rev. B 105, 195201 (2022)] we proposed an $ ab$ $ initio$ scenario in which the fluctuating electric-field gradients (EFG) producing the dynamic HFI were related with fluctuating electronic environments close to the $ ^{111}$ Cd nucleus, succeeding to identify the environment which produce the final static EFG when the dynamic ($ on-off$ ) process have stopped. In this work we show that in addition it is possible to obtain, for each temperature and HFI observed, the set of initial electronic configurations close to the probe nucleus as well as their related EFGs among which the system fluctuates to generate these dynamic HFIs. For this, we demonstrate analytically and checked experimentally the conditions to stablish the equivalence between the two approaches most used to analyze this type of dynamic HFIs, proposed by Bäverstam et al. and by Lupascu et al.. To unravel the unexpected TDPAC results in $ ^{111}$ In($ \rightarrow$ $ ^{111}$ Cd)-implanted $ \alpha$ -Al$ _2$ O$ _3$ single crystals reported in the literature, we perform a complete $ ab$ $ initio$ /DFT study of Cd-doped $ \alpha$ -Al$ _2$ O$ _3$ semiconductor and a detailed defect formation energy analysis as a function of the charge state of the Cd impurity. The presence of an unexpected second interaction was a key factor to provide experimental support to identify and quantify the different charge states the $ ^{111}$ Cd atom goes through during its electronic recovery process.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall), Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
39 pages, 11 figures, 1 Table. The original abstract was shortened for the Arxiv. Submitted to PRB
Signatures of emergent surface states across a displacive topological phase transition in Bi$_4$I$_4$
New Submission | Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Deep Singha Roy, Sk Kalimuddin, Subrata Pachhal, Saikat Mondal, Soham Das, Sukanya Jana, Arnab Bera, Satyabrata Bera, Tuhin Debnath, Ankan Bag, Souvik Pramanik, Sudipta Chatterjee, Sanjib Naskar, Shishir Kumar Pandey, Adhip Agarwala, Mintu Mondal
Topological phase transitions involving crystalline symmetry breaking provide a fertile ground to explore the interplay between symmetry, topology, and emergent quantum phenomena. Recently discovered quasi-one-dimensional topological material, Bi$ _4$ I$ _4$ , has been predicted to host topologically non-trivial gapless surfaces at high temperature, which undergo a finite temperature phase transition to a low temperature gapped phase. Here we present experimental signatures of this room temperature phase transition from a high-temperature $ \beta$ -phase with a surface state to a gapped $ \alpha$ -phase hosting hinge states. Using real-space current mapping and resistance fluctuation spectroscopy, we identify signatures of a displacive topological phase transition mediated by a first-order thermodynamic structural change. Near the emergence of $ \beta$ -phase, we observe pronounced telegraphic noise, indicating fluctuating phase domains with topological surface states. The spatially resolved current map reveals electron transport via the gapless surface states in the $ \beta$ -phase, which vanishes upon transitioning to the $ \alpha$ -phase with localized conduction channels (or hinge modes). Our experimental results, supported by first principles estimates and effective theory of a topological displacive phase transition, establish Bi$ _4$ I$ _4$ as a candidate material showing intricate interplay of classical thermodynamic phase transitions with topological quantum phenomena.
Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el), Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall), Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
35 pages, 20 figures, research articles
Dissipationless dynamics of spin supersolid states in a spin-1/2 triangular antiferromagnet with impurities
New Submission | Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Yixuan Huang, Yuan Gao, Wei Li, Seiji Yunoki, Sadamichi Maekawa
Motivated by recent experimental observations of possible spin supersolid states in triangular lattice compounds, we study the dynamical properties of various ground states in the spin-1/2 easy-axis antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model with impurities under magnetic fields, using numerical Density Matrix Renormalization Group methods. For both spin supersolid states in the low and high fields, the gapless Goldstone mode at the $ K$ points remains robust with impurities, which is related to the presence of spin superfluidity. As a comparison, we find a splitting of magnon band at the same impurity density level in the conventional magnetic state, the so-called up-up-down state. In addition, the finite superfluid stiffness probed by the twisted phase in the spin supersolid states is consistent with the excitation spectrum. We argue that this excitation spectrum with impurity provides direct evidence of the dissipationless dynamics in the spin supersolid states, which could be tested in neutron scattering experiments.
Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el), Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
8+7 pages, 4+9 figures
Enhanced second-harmonic generation from WS$_2$/ReSe$_2$ heterostructure
New Submission | Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Kanchan Shaikh, Taejun Yoo, Zeyuan Zhu, Qiuyang Li, Amalya C. Johnson, Hui Deng, Fang Liu, Yuki Kobayashi
Van der Waals stacking presents new opportunities for nonlinear optics with its remarkable tunability and scalability. However, the fundamental role of interlayer interactions in modifying the overall nonlinear optical susceptibilities remains elusive. In this letter, we report an anisotropic enhancement of second-harmonic generation (SHG) from a WS$ _2$ /ReSe$ _2$ heterobilayer, where the individual composite layers possess distinctive crystal phases. We investigate polarization-resolved response and twist-angle dependence in SHG and reveal that band alignment alone is insufficient to explain the observed anisotropy in the modified SHG response. Spectral shifts in excitonic features highlight band renormalization, supporting the role of hybridization between the two layers. Furthermore, SHG enhancement is highly anisotropic and can even be suppressed in some orientations, suggesting possible intensity-borrowing mechanisms within the heterostructure. Our work demonstrates the ability to tune both the intensity and polarization dependence of nonlinear optical responses with van der Waals stacking of distinctive crystal phases.
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
Ambient-pressure superconductivity and electronic structures of engineered hybrid nickelate films
New Submission | Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Zihao Nie, Yueying Li, Wei Lv, Lizhi Xu, Zhicheng Jiang, Peng Fu, Guangdi Zhou, Wenhua Song, Yaqi Chen, Heng Wang, Haoliang Huang, Junhao Lin, Dawei Shen, Peng Li, Qi-Kun Xue, Zhuoyu Chen
Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) nickelates have emerged as a crucial platform for exploring the mechanisms of high-temperature superconductivity. However, the Fermi surface topology required for superconductivity remains elusive. Here, we report the thin film growth and ambient-pressure superconductivity of both hybrid monolayer-bilayer (1212) and pure bilayer (2222) structures, together with the absence of superconductivity in hybrid monolayer-trilayer (1313) structure, under identical compressive epitaxial strain. The onset superconducting transition temperature is up to 50 K, exceeding the McMillan limit, in the 1212 structure. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy reveals key Fermi surface differences in these atomically-engineered structures. In superconducting 1212 and 2222 films, a dispersive hole-like band (i.e. the {\gamma} band) crosses the Fermi level, surrounding the Brillouin zone corner. In contrast, the top of the {\gamma} flat band is observed ~70 meV below the Fermi level in the non-superconducting 1313 films. Our findings expand the family of ambient-pressure nickelate superconductors and establish a connection between structural configuration, electronic structure, and the emergence of superconductivity in nickelates.
Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
Control of single spin-flips in a Rydberg atomic fractal
New Submission | Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas) | 2025-09-04 20:00 EDT
Robin C. Verstraten, Ivo H. A. Knottnerus, Yu Chih Tseng, Alexander Urech, Tiago Santiago do Espirito Santo, Vinicius Zampronio, Florian Schreck, Robert J. C. Spreeuw, Cristiane Morais Smith
Rydberg atoms trapped by optical tweezers have emerged as a versatile platform to emulate lattices with different geometries, in which long-range interacting spins lead to fascinating phenomena, ranging from spin liquids to topological states of matter. Here, we show that when the lattice has a fractal geometry with Hausdorff dimension 1.58, additional surprises appear. The system is described by a transverse-field Ising model with long-range van der Waals interactions in a Sierpinski gasket fractal. We investigate the problem theoretically using exact diagonalization, variational mean field, quantum Monte Carlo, and a graph-based numerical technique, SIM-GRAPH, which we developed. We find that in the quantum regime, the phase diagram exhibits phases in which the spins flip one-by-one. The theoretical results are in excellent agreement with experiments performed with single 88Sr atoms trapped by optical tweezers arranged in a fractal geometry. The magnetization and von Neumann entanglement entropy reveal several regimes in which single spin-flips are delocalized over many sites of one sublattice, thus allowing for an unprecedented control of a cascade of phase transitions in a manybody system. These results expand the possibilities of Rydberg atoms for quantum information processing and may have profound implications in quantum technology.
Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas), Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn), Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
Main article: 32 pages, 4 figures, 8 extended data figures. Supplementary Information: 11 pages, 5 supplementary figures