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New research finds evidence of waveguiding in a unique quantum material. These findings counter expectations about how metals conduct light and may push imaging beyond optical diffraction limits.

We perceive metals as shiny when we encounter metals in our day-to-day lives. That’s because common metallic materials are reflective at visible light wavelengths and will therefore bounce back the light that strikes them. Although metals are well suited to conducting electricity and heat, they aren’t typically thought of as a means to conduct light.

However, scientists are increasingly finding examples that challenge expectations about how things should behave in the burgeoning field of quantum materials. New research describes a metal capable of conducting light through it. Conducted by a team of researchers led by Dmitri Basov, Higgins Professor of Physics at Columbia University.

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New technique reclaims nearly 100% of all-carbon-based transistors while retaining future functionality of the materials.

Strange metals, or non-Fermi liquids, are distinct states of matter that have been observed in different quantum materials, including cuprate superconductors. These states are characterized by unusual conductive properties, such as a resistivity that is linearly associated with temperature (T-linear).

In the strange metal phase of matter, electrons undergo what is known as “Planckian dissipation,” a high scattering rate that linearly increases as the temperature rises. This T-linear, strong electron scattering is anomalous for metals, which typically present a quadratic temperature dependence (T²), as predicted by the standard theory of metals.

Researchers at Université de Sherbrooke in Canada, Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses in France, and other institutes worldwide have recently carried out a study exploring the possibility that the resistivity of strange metals is not only associated with temperature, but also with an applied magnetic field. This magnetic field linearity had been previously observed in some cuprates and pnictides, with some physicists suggesting that it could also be linked to Planckian dissipation.

A ring-shaped waveguide with a particular pattern of notches can force a light wave to make two round trips before completing an integer number of wave cycles.

Light can travel along a closed path inside a ring of glass or similar material, reflecting repeatedly from the interior surface. Although such closed-loop waves generally have integer values of angular momentum, researchers using a small gear-shaped ring have now demonstrated an ability to generate similar waves with unusual fractional values of angular momentum [1]. As in a Möbius strip, the waves must make two round trips to return to their initial configuration. The ability to tune the angular momentum in this way could give researchers more precise control of light in advanced devices such as single-photon emitters.

Physicists refer to the closed-loop waves as whispering gallery modes, named after an acoustic effect in round rooms, where sounds reflect multiple times off the walls. Ordinarily, a wave of this kind moves around a single closed loop before retracing its earlier path. The phase of the electric field associated with the wave front must go through an integer number M of cycles in making one loop. Technically, this condition also implies that the photons associated with the wave will carry an integer number M units of angular momentum.

Researchers find that a phenomenon called multifractality manifests in the conductance fluctuations of a 2D electron gas as the gas undergoes a topological phase transition.

Fractals are geometric patterns that repeat themselves across different length scales. Such patterns are ubiquitous, appearing in the outlines of snowflakes, in swirls of turbulent fluids, and in graphs tracing the highs and lows of financial markets. Now Aveek Bid and his colleagues at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore show that fractals can also emerge in the electrical-conductance fluctuations of a 2D electron gas in graphene as the electron gas transitions between two topological phases [1]. The results confirm predictions made earlier this year [2].

Subject a 2D electron gas to a strong perpendicular magnetic field, and its Hall conductance—the conductance perpendicular to an induced current—takes on certain discrete values. But during a transition from one discrete value to another, this conductance can exhibit fluctuations. Bid and his colleagues measured these fluctuations in the 2D electron gases of two graphene-based devices. Using detailed data analysis, they determined that the conductance fluctuations contained patterns that could be accurately described by a multifractal—a fractal that scales spatially in several different ways.

Scientists with the University of Chicago have discovered a way to create a material that can be made like a plastic, but conducts electricity more like a metal.

The research, published Oct. 26 in Nature, shows how to make a kind of material in which the molecular fragments are jumbled and disordered, but can still conduct electricity extremely well.

This goes against all of the rules we know about for conductivity—to a scientist, it’s kind of like seeing a car driving on water and still going 70 mph. But the finding could also be extraordinarily useful; if you want to invent something revolutionary, the process often first starts with discovering a completely new material.

An international consortium of researchers led by the University of Sydney, has developed technology to enable the manufacturing of materials that mimic the structure of living blood vessels, with significant implications for the future of surgery.

Preclinical testing found that following transplantation of the manufactured blood vessel into mice, the body accepted the material, with new cells and tissue growing in the right places—in essence transforming it into a “living” blood vessel.

Senior author Professor Anthony Weiss from the Charles Perkins Center said while others have tried to build blood vessels with various degrees of success before, this is the first time scientists have seen the vessels develop with such a high degree of similarity to the complex structure of naturally occurring blood vessels.

Air conditioning is something you barely notice — until the power goes out, and it no longer works. But what if keeping cool didn’t require electricity at all?

A scientist has invented a material that reflects the sun’s rays off rooftops, and even absorbs heat from homes and buildings and radiates it away. And — get this — it is made from recyclable paper. The essential AC: Air conditioners are in 87% of homes in the United States, costing the homeowner $265 per year, on average. Some homes can easily spend twice that.

With global temperatures on the rise, no one is giving up their AC. More people are installing air conditioners than ever before, especially in developing countries where the middle class can finally afford them. 15 years ago, very few people in China’s urban regions had air conditioners; now, there are more AC units in China than there are homes.

A new type of material can learn and improve its ability to deal with unexpected forces thanks to a unique lattice structure with connections of variable stiffness, as described in a new paper by my colleagues and me.