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Liquid scintillator detectors have been used to study neutrinos ever since their discovery in 1956. The authors introduce an opaque scintillator detector concept for future neutrino experiments with increased capacity for particle identification and a natural affinity for doping.
Exceptional points are singularities in the parameter space of a physical system where two or more eigenvalues, and their associated eigenvectors, simultaneously coalesce. Here, it is shown that non-local acoustic metagratings that enable precise control over their multiple orders of diffraction, can serve as a robust platform for investigating higher-order exceptional points in free space.
Characterising the structure of real-world complex networks is of crucial importance to understand the emerging dynamics taking place on top of them. In this work the authors investigate the cycle organization of synthetic and real systems, and use such information to define a centrality measure that is more informative than traditional indexes to the end of understanding network dismantling, synchronization, and spreading processes
Spherically-symmetric lenses can create sharp virtual images, but a general expression for their refractive index profiles had not yet been developed. Here, this expression is provided via analogy between classical mechanics and geometrical optics, yielding solutions complementary to existing lenses obtained from the generalized Luneburg lens problem.
Anderson localisation is a well-known phenomenon in condensed-matter physics, which is driven by disorder and can be an important factor in the low-temperature properties for a wide range of systems. Here, the authors describe how a metal-insulator transition can be induced by anion disorder in the perovskite oxynitride SrNbO2N.
The availability of integrated mid-infrared light sources is restricted by a lack of suitable materials and increasingly complicated fabrication requirements. Here, a single-mode silicon microresonator laser is demonstrated, who’s emission in the mid-infrared can be tuned by integrated microheaters.
Most electrical components have an equivalent thermal-based counterpart however some devices, such as an inductor, can be more difficult to realise than others. Here, the authors demonstrate a Peltier-induced thermoinductive effect theoretically and experimentally demonstrating a circuit with an electrically controllable reverse heat flow.
Preserving the entanglement of quantum bits is essential for the operation for all quantum technologies. Here, the geometric nature of spins in a diamond nitrogen vacancy is leveraged to improve the fidelity of entanglement with a spontaneously emitted photon.
Finding the ground state of a variety of complex systems can be formulated as the minimization of the total interaction energy of Ising machines, posing a challenge as computational cost increases exponentially with system size. In this paper, the authors propose an algorithm to find the ground states of Ising-type problems by destabilising non-trivial attractors in combinatorial optimisation solvers through a heuristic modulation of the target amplitude, and show that this provides an improved scaling with respect to several existing methods.
Topologically non-trivial materials demonstrate a range of exotic electronic phases related to the Berry phase of the system and recent investigations are also considering the magnetic properties in order to further enrich the physics of these materials. Here, the authors perform electronic transport and magnetization measurements on single crystals of Ti-doped ZrTe5 revealing them to be 3D Dirac semimetals that may also exhibit Berry paramagnetism.
While interdisciplinary research is a growing trend among scientists in all disciplines, recent evidence suggests such a career choice is usually penalized by lower citations and funding. Here, the authors look into research funding data from the UK research councils, and show that interdisciplinary researchers actually outperform monodisciplinary researchers in terms of long-term funding performance.
Studies on the role of noise in the recovery of a degraded ecosystem have so far been limited to single-variable systems. Here, the authors employ general concepts of nucleation theory in spatially-extended multi-variable systems and apply them to illustrative ecological models.
Breaking of parity-time (PT) symmetry in non-Hermitian systems can lead to a range of unusual physical properties and, in the case of many-body systems, exotic critical behaviour. Here, the authors theoretically consider a PT-symmetric Fermi superfluid, demonstrating emergent PT symmetry breaking in its collective excitations which leads to topologically protected phenomena at the critical point.
Mechanical ventilation of living animals is routinely used to achieve high-resolution pulmonary imaging, but this can damage the subject. Here, an alternative, free-breathing method enables X-ray tomography with 30 μm resolution.
Noncollinear spin structures, are a type of magnetic ordering the current-driven dynamics of which can give rise to a type of inductance quantum-mechanical in origin. Here, using linear response theory, the authors investigate the underlying physics in more detail in order to determine the sign dependence and frequency of the emergent inductance in a magnetic conductor.
Thermal fluctuations play a crucial role in non-equilibrium phenomena at microscopic length scales, making it challenging to analyse and interpret experimental data. Here, the authors demonstrate that the short-time thermodynamic uncertainty relation inference scheme can estimate the entropy production rate for a colloidal particle in time-varying potentials and with background flows determined by the presence of a microbubble.
Atom interferometry using single photon transitions has the potential to provide new tools for fundamental physics. This work proposes a circulating pulse scheme for enabling atom interferometry to operate in optical cavities without being constrained in their pulse bandwidth, providing a route to overcoming severe limitations in available laser power.
Skyrmions are particle-like magnetic structures which could form an important component of future spintronic devices but greater control over their physical characteristics must first be achieved. Here, using micromagnetic simulations, the authors report pixelated skyrmions showing how to engineer their position, size, and shape using a current pulse.
Open quantum systems governed by non-Hermitian dynamics provide a platform to explore PT symmetric phases. Here, a general theory is derived to describe the location of exceptional points in a 1D oligomer chain of arbitrary length.
X-ray free electron lasers provide high brightness sources that permit the study of low-cross section phenomena, such as Compton scattering from atoms and molecules. Here, the angular distribution of electrons after stimulated Compton scattering from molecular hydrogen are simulated, revealing the influence of dipole and non-dipole transitions.