<i>Colloquium</i>: Linear in temperature resistivity and associated mysteries including high temperature superconductivity

Author(s): Chandra M. VarmaEven after much research and heated debate, high temperature superconductivity remains one of the most challenging and controversial problems in condensed matter. Apart from that at a phenomenological level some accepted and successful paradigms for the behavior of electrons fail, even the model relevant for the observed properties...

16h

Nuclear effective field theory: Status and perspectives

Author(s): H.-W. Hammer, Sebastian König, and U. van KolckEffective field theory has revolutionized the theory of nuclear forces by providing a systematic expansion for strong interactions at low energies based on the symmetries of quantum chromodynamics. This paper reviews layers of effective field theories used in the description of nuclei and their...

2w

Strong-field nano-optics

Author(s): Péter Dombi, Zsuzsanna Pápa, Jan Vogelsang, Sergey V. Yalunin, Murat Sivis, Georg Herink, Sascha Schäfer, Petra Groß, Claus Ropers, and Christoph LienauWhen electromagnetic fields impinge on nanoscale structured materials, optical field concentrations can occur that enhance the field strength up to 2 orders of magnitude. The strong-field...

4w

<i>Colloquium</i>: Spintronics in graphene and other two-dimensional materials

Author(s): A. Avsar, H. Ochoa, F. Guinea, B. Özyilmaz, B. J. van Wees, and I. J. Vera-MarunControlled spin transport in graphene and other two-dimensional materials has become increasingly promising for applications in devices. Of particular interest are custom-tailored heterostructures, known as van der Waals heterostructures, that consist of stacks...

Jun 2020

Secure quantum key distribution with realistic devices

Author(s): Feihu Xu, Xiongfeng Ma, Qiang Zhang, Hoi-Kwong Lo, and Jian-Wei PanSome years ago quantum hacking became popular: devices implementing the unbreakable quantum cryptography were shown to have imperfections which could be exploited by attackers. Security has been thoroughly enhanced, as a consequence of both theoretical and experimental advances....

May 2020

<i>Colloquium</i>: Bell’s theorem and locally mediated reformulations of quantum mechanics

Author(s): K. B. Wharton and N. ArgamanQuantum mechanics and relativity are two of the most profound theoretical developments of the 20th century. In 1964, John Bell proposed a test for quantum mechanics that shocked the theoretical community, showing that quantum mechanics implies a violation of locality, that is, action at a distance beyond the light-speed...

May 2020

<i>Colloquium</i>: Quantum limits to the energy resolution of magnetic field sensors

Author(s): Morgan W. Mitchell and Silvana Palacios AlvarezMagnetometry, that is, the measurement of magnetic fields, has applications that range from brain imaging to exploration of the outer Solar System. The best magnetometry technologies achieve a sensitivity close to Planck’s constant, the number that appears in the Heisenberg uncertainty relation....

Apr 2020

Theoretical perspectives on biological machines

Author(s): Mauro L. Mugnai, Changbong Hyeon, Michael Hinczewski, and D. ThirumalaiBy operating out of equilibrium, nanoscale biological machines execute many functions that do not take place in abiotic systems. Statistical physics, physical chemistry, and polymer physics principles are needed in elucidating the rules and constraints governing large-scale...

Apr 2020

Sensitivity optimization for NV-diamond magnetometry

Author(s): John F. Barry, Jennifer M. Schloss, Erik Bauch, Matthew J. Turner, Connor A. Hart, Linh M. Pham, and Ronald L. WalsworthNitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond carry spin degrees of freedom that enable their use for sensing of weak magnetic fields with high spatial resolution and under ambient conditions . This article reviews measurement...

Mar 2020

Quantum computational chemistry

Author(s): Sam McArdle, Suguru Endo, Alán Aspuru-Guzik, Simon C. Benjamin, and Xiao YuanWith small quantum computers becoming a reality, first applications are eagerly sought. Quantum chemistry presents a spectrum of computational problems, from relatively easy to classically intractable. Algorithms for the easiest of these have been run on the first...

Mar 2020