Physics articles from across Nature Portfolio

An electrical method is shown to reliably introduce nonreciprocal behaviour across a Josephson junction made of high-temperature cuprate superconductors, which then, under microwave irradiation, forms a ‘quantum superconducting diode’. The device is magnetic-field-free, works at a temperature of 77 K with a diode efficiency of 100%, and, owing to Shapiro steps that quantize the output voltage, has robust noise-filtering.

The tension of conventional surgical sutures can affect wound healing and is dependent on the surgeon’s experience. Imaging and simulations reveal that slipknots can reproducibly store and release force, enabling precise and consistent surgical knotting without the need for electronic sensors or specialized equipment.

The emission of photons by excited nuclei has been explored for timekeeping and sensing, but nuclear processes that eject electrons offer practical advantages.

Laser wakefield acceleration offers compact high-energy electron sources, but controlling electron injection remains challenging. The authors experimentally demonstrate a controlled "scissor-cross ionization injection" mechanism that achieves localized, stable, and tunable electron injection using an oblique trigger laser.

Non-Hermitian physics extends criticality beyond conventional Hermitian systems. Here, the authors report a universal many-body critical skin effect arising from the interplay of multiple pumping channels and interactions, revealing new collective edge phenomena and real-to-complex transitions.

The authors use multi-slice ptychography to reconstruct depth-resolved phase contrast images of a non-superconducting infinite-layer nickelate superlattice, 8NdNiO₂/2SrTiO₃. The results highlight the presence of disordered residual oxygen and suggest the formation of local domains with varying degrees of oxygenation.

From blood tests to friend groups, normalized mutual information is widely used to assess similarity between classifications, outcomes, or labelings of data. Here the authors demonstrate systematic biases of this measure and propose a modification that eliminates them.

Here, the authors reveal how twisting MoSe₂/WS₂ layers controls exciton behaviour. Combining theory and ultrafast spectroscopy, they show that lattice reconstruction creates distinct bright and long-lived excitons without hybridization effects.

An electrical method is shown to reliably introduce nonreciprocal behaviour across a Josephson junction made of high-temperature cuprate superconductors, which then, under microwave irradiation, forms a ‘quantum superconducting diode’. The device is magnetic-field-free, works at a temperature of 77 K with a diode efficiency of 100%, and, owing to Shapiro steps that quantize the output voltage, has robust noise-filtering.

Combining artificial intelligence with a conventional climate model can predict heatwaves faster than the standard model alone.

This year’s quantum celebrations and triumphs have sparked global excitement. Now it’s time to turn that momentum into lasting action to build an inclusive global quantum community.

The tension of conventional surgical sutures can affect wound healing and is dependent on the surgeon’s experience. Imaging and simulations reveal that slipknots can reproducibly store and release force, enabling precise and consistent surgical knotting without the need for electronic sensors or specialized equipment.

Elite women in physics wait longer than men for recognition. Once elected to the US National Academy of Sciences, however, their prominence surges — evidence that their work was undervalued all along.

Social connections can unlock opportunities that are advantageous to careers in physics. However, this resource is unevenly distributed, and its benefits can’t always overcome the negative effects of societal stereotypes and biases.