Nature Physics January Issue

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TABLE OF CONTENTS January 2015 Volume 11, Issue 1 Editorial Thesis Books and Arts Research Highlights News and Views Correction Letters Articles Futures Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   Editorial Top Looking back   p1 doi:10.1038/nphys3221 2015 promises to be a year for celebrating important discoveries in physics — an apt way to mark the International Year of Light. And, after ten years in print, Nature Physics looks forward to its own anniversary. Thesis Top Innovation slowdown   p2 Mark Buchanan doi:10.1038/nphys3222 Books and Arts Top Film: Disbelief, suspended?   pp3 - 4 Nicky Dean reviews by Nicky Dean doi:10.1038/nphys3207 Research Highlights Top Little lanterns | Topological transistor | Beard watching | Distant dust bunnies | Protection mechanism News and Views Top Magneto-chiral dichroism: Bring to light   pp7 - 8 José Ramón Galan-Mascarós doi:10.1038/nphys3200 Magnetic fields can be used to modify light absorption in chiral media, but the effect is weak, so the potential of this approach has gone largely untapped. Synchrotron radiation may provide a solution, enabling surprisingly strong dichroisms in a molecular helix. See also: Article by Sessoli et al. Quantum magnets: Break it up   pp8 - 9 Federico Becca and Sandro Sorella doi:10.1038/nphys3213 Fractional magnetic excitations naturally emerge in one-dimensional spin chains. The search for fractionalization in higher dimensions has focused on frustrated systems but evidence now suggests that it can occur in simple two-dimensional antiferromagnets. See also: Article by Dalla Piazza et al. Quantum optics: Spin gives direction   pp9 - 10 Lorenzo Marrucci doi:10.1038/nphys3198 Light emitted near an optical waveguide is captured and equally split into two modes with opposite directions of propagation. By controlling the dipole spin of the emitter, it is possible to break this symmetry and select only one direction. Graphene spintronics: Intercalated boosters   pp11 - 12 Marko Kralj doi:10.1038/nphys3209 Graphene is a candidate spintronics material, but its weak intrinsic spin-orbit coupling is problematic. Intercalating graphene on an iridium substrate with islands of lead is now shown to induce a strong, spatially varying spin-orbit coupling. See also: Letter by Calleja et al. Graphene optoelectronics: A fool's errand   pp12 - 13 Isabella Gierz doi:10.1038/nphys3206 Transferring electrons from the ground state to an excited state by optical pumping usually increases the population of the upper state. But for graphene in an external magnetic field, the pumped state actually gets depleted. See also: Article by Mittendorff et al. Molecular physics: Subradiance spectroscopy   pp14 - 15 Benjamin Pasquiou doi:10.1038/nphys3208 Subradiant states have remained elusive since their prediction sixty years ago, but they have now been uncovered in ultracold molecules, where they could prove useful for ultra-high precision spectroscopy. See also: Letter by McGuyer et al. Ten years of Nature Physics: Slowly but surely   pp15 - 16 Ebrahim Karimi and Robert W. Boyd doi:10.1038/nphys3210 In 2006, Nature Physics published a paper reporting a Stern-Gerlach effect for dark polaritons and one revealing the existence of slow-light solitons. Both of these papers have significantly advanced the field of slow-light research. Physics JOBS of the week PhD student position in materials physics Chalmers University of Technology Junior Professor (W1) in Experimental Physics with Focus on EUV and X-ray Sources Friedrich Schiller University Jena Faculty Position - Experimental Polymer Physics King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Postdoctoral Research Associate in Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics KTH Royal Institute of Technology PhD position - Low-loss waveguide micro-resonator circuits University of Twente (UT) More Science jobs from Physics EVENT Physics of Emergent Behaviour 2015 9th July - 10th July 2015 London, UK More science events from Correction Top Correction   p16 doi:10.1038/nphys3205 Letters Top Colossal thermomagnetic response in the exotic superconductor URu2Si2   pp17 - 20 T. Yamashita, Y. Shimoyama, Y. Haga, T. D. Matsuda, E. Yamamoto et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3170 The Nernst coefficient is a measure of the transverse thermoelectric effect in a conductor. Superconducting fluctuations magnify this effect but in URu2Si2, the million-fold enhancement suggests that the fluctuations have an exotic origin. Rayleigh instability of confined vortex droplets in critical superconductors   pp21 - 25 I. Lukyanchuk, V. M. Vinokur, A. Rydh, R. Xie, M. V. Milošević et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3146 Superconducting vortex droplets in a mesoscopic superconductor disintegrate in the same way as the charged liquid droplets studied by Lord Rayleigh, revealing dynamics similar to thunder clouds, atomic nuclei and trapped ultracold atoms. Increasing the elastic modulus of graphene by controlled defect creation   pp26 - 31 Guillermo López-Polin, Cristina Gómez-Navarro, Vincenzo Parente, Francisco Guinea, Mikhail I. Katsnelson et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3183 Defects are often introduced to increase the stiffness of three-dimensional materials. Evidence now suggests that the elastic modulus of two-dimensional graphene sheets can also be increased by controlled defect creation. Precise study of asymptotic physics with subradiant ultracold molecules   pp32 - 36 B. H. McGuyer, M. McDonald, G. Z. Iwata, M. G. Tarallo, W. Skomorowski et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3182 An experimental study characterizes subradiance—inhibited emission due to destructive interference—in ultracold molecules close to the dissociation limit and shows that it could be used for precision molecular spectroscopy. See also: News and Views by Pasquiou Modular entanglement of atomic qubits using photons and phonons   pp37 - 42 D. Hucul, I. V. Inlek, G. Vittorini, C. Crocker, S. Debnath et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3150 Many quantum protocols require fast, remote entanglement generation to outperform their classical counterparts. A modular solution is now reported, using trapped ions that are remotely entangled through photons. Spatial variation of a giant spin-orbit effect induces electron confinement in graphene on Pb islands   pp43 - 47 Fabian Calleja, Héctor Ochoa, Manuela Garnica, Sara Barja, Juan Jesús Navarro et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3173 Graphene's electronic properties can be modified by putting it on a substrate. Now it is shown that intercalating a graphene sheet and an iridium substrate with lead islands causes resonances, attributed to a spatial variation of spin-orbit coupling. See also: News and Views by Kralj Wettability-independent bouncing on flat surfaces mediated by thin air films   pp48 - 53 Jolet de Ruiter, Rudy Lagraauw, Dirk van den Ende and Frieder Mugele doi:10.1038/nphys3145 Falling droplets bounce back well from superhydrophobic surfaces. Now it is shown that when a thin air film is made to persist between drop and surface, efficient bouncing is possible for wettable surfaces too, and for drops with low surface tension. Articles Top Theory of universal incoherent metallic transport   pp54 - 61 Sean A. Hartnoll doi:10.1038/nphys3174 Linear resistivity across many strongly correlated materials at high temperatures has no satisfactory explanation. A universal framework of incoherent metallic transport in which quantities are bounded could be the way forward. Fractional excitations in the square-lattice quantum antiferromagnet   pp62 - 68 B. Dalla Piazza, M. Mourigal, N. B. Christensen, G. J. Nilsen, P. Tregenna-Piggott et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3172 Fractional magnetic excitations are thought to exist even in the simplest multi-dimensional spin models, but attention has focused on frustrated systems. Such excitations have now been seen in an unfrustrated two-dimensional quantum antiferromagnet. See also: News and Views by Becca & Sorella Strong magneto-chiral dichroism in a paramagnetic molecular helix observed by hard X-rays   pp69 - 74 Roberta Sessoli, Marie-Emmanuelle Boulon, Andrea Caneschi, Matteo Mannini, Lorenzo Poggini et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3152 Weak magneto-chiral dichroic effects may explain why biomolecules all have the same chirality, but they are notoriously difficult to observe. Using hard X-rays, strong magneto-chiral dichroism has now been observed in a paramagnetic molecular helix. See also: News and Views by Galan-Mascaros Carrier dynamics in Landau-quantized graphene featuring strong Auger scattering   pp75 - 81 Martin Mittendorff, Florian Wendler, Ermin Malic, Andreas Knorr, Milan Orlita et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3164 Landau levels in graphene are not equidistant so that transitions between them can be individually probed. Time-resolved optical pumping experiments reveal strong electron-electron scattering resulting in an Auger-depleted zeroth order Landau level. See also: News and Views by Gierz Stiffening solids with liquid inclusions   pp82 - 87 Robert W. Style, Rostislav Boltyanskiy, Benjamin Allen, Katharine E. Jensen, Henry P. Foote et al. doi:10.1038/nphys3181 Solids embedded with fluid inclusions are intuitively softer than their pure counterparts. But experiments show that when the droplets are small enough, material can become stiffer—highlighting a role for surface tension. Futures Top Passersby   p88 George Zebrowski doi:10.1038/nphys3223 Contact has been made. Top Natureevents is a fully searchable, multi-disciplinary database designed to maximise exposure for events organisers. The contents of the Natureevents Directory are now live. The digital version is available here. Find the latest scientific conferences, courses, meetings and symposia on natureevents.com. For event advertising opportunities across the Nature Publishing Group portfolio please contact natureevents@nature.com More Nature Events

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