The spatial extent of a particle’s wave function depends on the particle’s mass and environment. Now researchers have developed an optical method that sheds light on this dependence for single molecules of hydrogen and deuterium trapped in a superfluid helium nanodroplet.

X-ray free-electron lasers produce extremely bright pulses, but shot-to-shot fluctuations in their temporal structure limit their use in phase-sensitive experiments. The first realization of a “mode-locked” XFEL has overcome that limitation.

Researchers have used a beam of fast hydrogen atoms to probe single-layer graphene, producing the sharpest graphene diffraction patterns to date. The patterns embody information about short-range interactions between the atoms and the surface.

Standard quantum error correction works best when errors occur independently across qubits and over time. Now researchers have tested a new way to suppress correlated errors. The demonstration expands the types of physical errors that can be mitigated.

If mimicked and controlled, the complex flows found in living systems could be useful in robotics and other areas of engineering. Now researchers have demonstrated a way of controlling such fluids that maintains a constant fluid speed despite changing conditions.

Researchers have demonstrated a modified version of Bragg coherent diffraction imaging. Unlike the conventional version, it can be used to measure large strains in nanocrystals. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Data-driven approaches to machine learning generally yield black boxes whose deductions are inaccessible. To address that shortcoming, researchers have designed a machine-learning method that can discover simple, human-interpretable laws from data. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Researchers have applied a quantum trick called weak-value amplification to beam displacements outside its usual setting, an interferometer. In principle, the technique could eavesdrop on conversations inside a building by using a laser to measure window vibrations. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

This year new observatories offered fresh views of the dark Universe, quantum computers edged closer to performing practical tasks, and gravitational-wave detectors delivered their cleanest signal yet. These stories and others are our highlights of 2025. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Researchers have demonstrated a quantum-state-verification method that should work efficiently on quantum computers with an arbitrary number of qubits. The method should prove a boon for quantum computers made of multiple modules. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

In a striking validation of physics-inspired approaches to social sciences, researchers have used data from the Tokyo Stock Exchange to find a simple mathematical law that describes how the price of every traded stock responds to trading volume. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Researchers have translated spin signals into phonon signals that can be transmitted through materials. Because phonons travel undisturbed for longer distances than spins can, the conversion potentially extends the capabilities of spintronics. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Quantum networks that rely on entangled photons reduce transmission errors by having receiving nodes send a signal, called a herald, each time an entangled photon arrives. Now researchers have shown that producing heralds at sending nodes reduces errors further. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Researchers have succeeded in laser cooling and trapping aluminum fluoride molecules. This feat takes physicists a step closer to cooling AlF molecules into a Bose-Einstein condensate. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

A survey conducted by the UK’s Institute of Physics Publishing found that 41% of its authors and referees thought generative AI had an overall positive impact on peer review, while 37% thought the overall impact was negative. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

A new fluid-control valve inspired by the way strong wind flaps an umbrella inside out could find uses in wearable devices, microfluidics, and soft robotics. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Researchers have devised a “reset or reload” protocol that mitigates the loss of atoms from devices that use cold, trapped atoms for quantum computing. The method held up through 41 successive operations. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

The Higgs field hides electroweak symmetry and gives masses to the electroweak bosons, W and Z. New results from the ATLAS Collaboration support the idea that the quark and charged-lepton masses are also the work of the Higgs field. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

In 1927 Einstein devised a thought experiment to expose what he believed was contradictory character of quantum complementarity. Researchers have now performed the experiment in a way that could explore other, less established aspects of quantum mechanics. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Within femtoseconds, a photon absorbed by a molecule can cause electrons to jump between energy levels, atoms to vibrate, and chemical bonds to rearrange. Now researchers have shown that ultrafast electron diffraction can track those perturbations. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

The fractional quantum Hall effect comes with fractionally charged quasiparticles called anyons. Curiously, anyon charges are found to be multiples of their expected values. Now theorists have a solution: anyons bind together into “molecules.” physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Two independent groups have proposed a new class of 2D multiferroic materials that could find applications in spin-based computers, sensors, and energy-harvesting devices. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Surprisingly, the size distributions of shattered fragments and spattered drops follow a simple power law. Now researchers have shown that the statistical regularities of fragmentation can emerge from a combination of maximum randomness and kinematic constraints. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Researchers have trapped molecules in the standing wave created by a laser field in a cavity. By mitigating Doppler broadening, the technique enhances high-precision molecular spectroscopy, which is used to search for new physics. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Devised 40 years ago, the Leggett-Garg inequality tests whether a system’s evolution over time can be described by classical realism. Now researchers have shown that this limit can be surpassed by a quantum system evolving under a superposition of operations. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Researchers have imaged and stretched a gold nanowire while also tracking its electrical conductance. The two-for-one experiment enabled them to pinpoint the width at which ballistic transport becomes operative. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Researchers have placed a precise amount of charge on a microparticle trapped in optical tweezers. Their technique could lead to better understanding of the effects of charged particles on lightning and clouds. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Researchers have built and studied a tiny engine in the form of a levitated glass microparticle. The engine’s counterintuitive thermodynamics may help explain the nonequilibrium behavior of various biological systems. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Researchers have analyzed a hypothetical scenario in which three Cooper pairs tunnel simultaneously in a four-terminal Josephson junction. Such a process is important because it could facilitate new functionalities in quantum technologies. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

The extent of a particle’s wave function depends on the particle’s mass and environment. Researchers have developed an optical method that sheds light on this dependence for single hydrogen and deuterium molecules trapped in a superfluid helium nanodroplet. physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Researchers have determined the entropy of a double quantum dot by measuring how much energy is needed to pack in an additional electron. Their method could be used to determine quantities that are even harder to measure, such as exotic quasiparticle couplings.

Quantum magic is a property of certain quantum states that enables operations outside the fault-tolerant, classically accessible set. Last year two theorists answered the long-standing question of how to reliably measure this important property.

Researchers made a clock from two single-electron traps known as quantum dots and used it to measure the entropy produced by the act of recording a clock’s ticks. They found that this process generates far more entropy and heat than the clock’s quantum operations.

A quantum system's decoherence can be delayed by contriving to have its dynamics linger in persistent, preexisting patterns called quantum scars. Researchers have now demonstrated a general theoretical method for finding these scars.

Researchers have measured the opacity of one of the Sun’s most important elements for radiation transport—oxygen—at densities and temperatures high enough to potentially resolve a persistent discrepancy between theory and observation.

Researchers have found that stacks of the 2D semiconductor palladium diselenide keep their original form as the interlayer spaces are packed with additional Pd atoms—until the stack switches abruptly to a new and thicker 3D structure.

Copper-67 is a promising radionuclide for treating cancer. Researchers have shown they can make it by piggy-backing on particle physics experiments.

Researchers have combined the quantum sensing of nitrogen vacancy centers with the atomic resolution of scanning probe microscopy. To demonstrate this new capability, the team followed the individual steps of an important chemical process: the dissociation of water molecules on a surface.

Researchers have identified a new low-temperature emission effect in nanocrystals. Related to zero-point motion, the effect could prove useful in cooling nanocrystals to lower temperatures than previously possible.

Helimagnets’ spin phase—a parameter describing the spin direction at one end of the helical pattern—could be used to store information. That prospect could be closer now that researchers have reported a new way to measure spin phase.

The cancelling spins of antiferromagnets bestow resistance to stray magnetic fields but they also make the materials hard to probe or control. Now researchers have shown that light provides a powerful new way to image antiferromagnetic domains and even to manipulate them.

Current quantum processors have profound physical limitations, mostly related to noise. New research shows that the possibility of noisy quantum computers outdoing classical computers may be restricted to a “Goldilocks zone” between too few and too many qubits.

Coaxing tiny, self-propelled particles into cohesive structures provides one route to making micromachines. Taking a step in that direction, researchers have measured and analyzed the mechanical properties of materials assembled from active particles.

Spider webs often feature zigzagging layers of tough silk whose purpose has puzzled biologists. Now physicists have a solution. The structures spread prey-induced vibrations out through the web, helping spiders to locate their trapped victims.

Two groups of researchers have independently devised a new recipe for quickly driving a generic quantum system into a desired ground state. Compared with previous recipes, it doesn't require as much detailed knowledge of the system.

Push together a small number of mutually repelling particles and they’ll adopt configurations that depend on the specifics of the interaction and the container. Researchers have now shown that a wide range of particle types can be coaxed into the same set of configurations.

In 2012 engineers discovered that nanoparticles, such as extracellular vesicles, can be trapped by acoustic fields provided they are mixed into a liquid suspension of microparticles. Now physicists have explained the puzzling phenomenon.

Researchers have demonstrated that nanofluidic memristors, based on membranes containing conical nanopores, can be organized into functional circuits. What’s more, they showed that their devices can represent brain-like properties.

Researchers have unveiled a quantum algorithm that could lead to quantum advantage. Using a time-reversal procedure, the algorithm calculated how quantum information spreads through a many-particle system. A classical supercomputer would take 13,000 times longer.

For quantum key distribution to be practical and affordable on a large scale, it needs to run on optical-fiber networks that already carry classical information. Researchers have now done that over a distance of 120 km using continuous-variable quantum key distribution.