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Attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (ATAS) is a powerful scheme for monitoring the vibronic coherences that enables real-time observation of electronic motion, but the role of molecular rotation is usually neglected. The authors propose a theory fully accounting for molecular rotation in ATAS, closing the gap between theory and ATAS experiments.
While numerical simulations for metalenses frequently show efficiencies above 90% at low numerical apertures, the experimental counterpart struggles to reach such efficiencies. The authors modify the model for prediction and systematically realise a set of high-precision meta-lenses with high efficiencies across the whole numerical aperture range.
Quantum networks require a synergistic integration of terrestrial infrastructure employing optical fibers and wireless free-space communication technologies. In their study, the authors numerically investigate a satellite-based entanglement distribution and quantum teleportation across diverse freespace communication channels, such as diffraction or turbulence, finding that entanglement preservation endures throughout the downlink (satellite-to-ground) propagation for over 1000 km.
Interacting electrons can collectively act as a viscous flow resembling a classical fluid, a phenomenon termed electron hydrodynamics. Here, the authors develop a framework to describe electron flow in narrow channels, demonstrating that the requirements for achieving electron hydrodynamic transport can be extended beyond what is currently considered possible.
To celebrate our 5 year anniversary we present a collection of some of our favourite articles selected by editors and Editorial Board Members. Also, don't forget to cast your vote for our top feature image!
Kohei Nakajima is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo. His research interests include nonlinear dynamical systems, information theory, reservoir computing, physical reservoir computing, and soft robotics.
In April we have had the pleasure of welcome Jasna Brujic and Roberto Di Candia to our editorial board. They bring sought after expertise in our expanding journal.
Communications Physics has a 2-year impact factor of 5.5 (2022), a mean decision times of 7 days to first editorial decision and 50 days to first post-review decision (2023).
Lorentz symmetry plays a fundamental role in classical to quantum electrodynamics, as well as in quantum chromodynamics, which is typically realized at sufficiently high energies and often exclusively in closed or isolated quantum systems. Here, the authors show that such a fundamental space–time symmetry can also be manifest as an emergent symmetry even in open Dirac systems, when they interact with the surrounding environment.
Photonic Ising machines exploit the parallelism and high propagation speed of light to solve combinatorial optimization tasks. The authors propose and demonstrate a photonic Ising machine with a fully reconfigurable optical vector-matrix transformation system and a modified algorithm based on simulated annealing, solving 20 and 30-spin Ising problems with high ground state probability.
Many excitable systems share a common feedback motif, but how such feedback acts on biomechanical systems remains largely unexplored. By extending the cellular vertex models to incorporate mechanochemical feedback and excitability, the authors explore how cellular mechanics and geometry regulate the propagation of active stresses in excitable media.
Solitons are nonlinear, stable and coherent solitary wave structures that have been investigated in a variety of systems from optics to plasma physics. The authors experimentally and theoretically investigate the dynamics of soliton arrays in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate.
The advent of non-Hermitian optics carries new possibilities in manipulating optical response, offering alternative ways to enhance the quantum coherence of plasmonic resonances. Based on a theoretical model, the authors calculate a quantum yield enhanced by two orders of magnitude at room temperature, achieved by integration of a plasmonic antenna in a photonic cavity operated at a chiral exceptional point.
Since 1974, it was theoretically postulated that black holes, despite their name, emit radiation with a spectrum like that of a black body. Utilizing surface gravity water waves to emulate black hole physics, the authors reveal the emergence of a logarithmic phase singularity analogous to that predicted by Hawking in black holes, whose energy distribution associated with the singularity results in a Fermi-Dirac distribution instead of the familiar Bose-Einstein statistics of the Hawking radiation.
Epsilon-near-zero materials are promising to realize ultrafast all-optical devices, but their integration into photonic chips requires simultaneously wide broadband operativity, low-losses and Si-compatiblity. The authors propose a Si-compatible multilayer metamaterial capable of all-optical switching response times of few hundred femtoseconds.
Magnetic frustration of spins often leads to nontrivial spin textures and anomalous Hall responses, but typically below the magnetic transition temperature. The authors observe a giant unconventional anomalous Hall conductivity in the triangularlattice antiferromagnet PdCrO2 well above its Neel temperature, attributed to spin cluster skew scattering.
Steady-State Microbunching (SSMB) is emerging as a new concept for accelerator-based light sources to meet demands for high average power radiation at short wavelengths. The authors present findings from a proof-of-principle experiment that agree with theoretical expectations in multiple aspects, laying the foundation for the future realization of SSMB.