Nature Materials, Published online: 16 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41563-025-02471-9
Controllable and scalable phase transition of transition metal chalcogenides is challenging. Using in situ microscopic analysis, a non-stoichiometric phase transition from PdTe2 to PdTe is observed on the atomic scale, providing mechanistic insights into the scalable phase engineering of transition metal chalcogenide films and heterostructures.14 ranked entries (highest score first, 0 with PDF summaries)
We investigate the emergence of correlated electron phases in rhombohedral N -layer graphene due to two-valley Coulomb interactions within a low-energy k · p framework. Analytical expressions for Lindhard susceptibilities in intra- and intervalley channels are derived, and the critical temperatures for phase transitions are estimated using both the random phase approximation (RPA) and the parquet approximation (PA). Within RPA, only Stoner and intervalley coherent (IVC) phases are supported, while the PA reveals a richer phase structure including particle-particle (PP) channel instabilities. We establish a general scaling law for the critical temperature with respect to layer number N , highlighting an upper bound as N → ∞ , and demonstrate a nonmonotonic decrease of the critical temperature with increasing chemical potential. The PA uncovers the role of interaction symmetry: S U ( 4 ) -symmetric interactions favor intervalley Stoner order in the density channel, whereas S U ( 2 ) × S U ( 2 ) -symmetric interactions permit a broader set of phases. A crossover in the dominant instability occurs in the particle-hole channel at a critical layer number, suggesting the emergence of magnetic or IVC phases in thicker systems. We also identify conditions under which pair-density wave (PDW) order could form in the PP channel, though its physical realization may be constrained.
Author(s): Chiho Yoon, Tianyi Xu, Yafis Barlas, and Fan Zhang
We investigate the recently discovered multiple superconducting states in rhombohedral graphene quarter metal. We demonstrate that one of these states features a single-spin, single-valley, single-band, single-Fermi-pocket parent state and is most likely a chiral topological pair-density wave, chara…
[Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 026603] Published Fri Jan 16, 2026
Author(s): Ningxi Yang, Jincheng Yue, Xinkai Sun, Yinong Liu, Meng An, and Shiqian Hu
Twist engineering in van der Waals heterostructures has unlocked a range of novel physical phenomena, yet its influence on lattice thermal transport—particularly in heterostructures—remains underexplored. In this study, we employ a neuroevolution potential (NEP) based atomistic framework, combining …
[Phys. Rev. B 113, 035426] Published Fri Jan 16, 2026
Highly thermally conductive graphene fibers (GFs) hold exceptional promise for next‐generation high‐flux thermal management systems, yet their integration into advanced composites remains fundamentally limited by insufficient interfacial compatibility with polymer resin. This limitation severely restricts both thermal and mechanical transfer efficiency and compromises stability under extreme thermal cycling. Herein, a molecularly tailored conjugation interfaces engineering through strategically selected silane‐based molecular tethers grafted onto the wrinkled GF surfaces to establish covalent bridges into the epoxy network, effectively addressing the interfacial bonding dilemma between GFs and polymer resin is introduced. The resultant GF composites achieve a synergistic enhancement in interfacial shear strength increased by 61.6% (from 55.2 to 89.2 MPa) and a record‐level in‐plane thermal conductivity of 571.1 W m −1 K −1 . Critically, the thermal conductivity retention consistently exceeds 98% throughout 100 thermal shock cycles (25 to 125°C), confirming exceptional interfacial stability and thermal fatigue resistance. Furthermore, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations reveal that rigid benzene ring of molecular tethers interphase enables exceptional interfacial thermal conductance of 373.56 MW m −2 K −1 between graphene and epoxy, while flexible or mismatched molecular tethers agents induce disorder and weaken spectral coupling. This molecular conjugation interface engineering unlocks the interfacial design and chemistry for improving thermomechanical performances of GF composites, paving the way for robust and high‐flux thermal management.
Author(s): Jingman Pang, Sicheng Song, Mengyuan Lin, Meiguang Zhang, Zhe Wang, and Yun Zhang
Realizing topological spin textures such as skyrmions in two-dimensional magnets has attracted significant attention in recent years. Most efforts focus on breaking inversion symmetry to induce Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), which is often difficult to implement experimentally. Here, using…
[Phys. Rev. B 113, 024417] Published Fri Jan 16, 2026
We discuss a theoretical description of the inelastic electron tunneling spectra (IETS) of a magnetic nanosystem (an atom or a molecule) adsorbed on a solid surface measured in a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). We represent the nanosystem by means of a cluster Hubbard model, which allows us to study scenarios when the tunneling electrons sequentially interact with several magnetic centers inside the nanosystem or when the magnetic centers are made out of heavy atoms with a strong spin-orbit coupling and large orbital moments. The sequential tunneling through multiple centers is illustrated on an adatom probed by an STM tip with a nickelocene molecule attached to it. For atoms with large orbital moments, we find that the exchange interaction between the atom and the spin s of the tunneling electron is richer than the usually assumed Heisenberg form S · s or J · s , where S and J are the spin and total orbital moments of the atom. For atoms in axially symmetric environments, the J · s exchange would restrict the transitions accessible by IETS to those fulfilling | Δ J z | ≤ 1 , where J z is the projection of the total angular momentum to the symmetry axis, whereas we arrive at a more permissive selection rule | Δ J z | ≤ 2 ℓ + 1 , where ℓ is the orbital momentum quantum number of the partially filled atomic shell carrying the magnetic moment.
Manipulation of excitonic emission properties is important for numerous photonic applications. Of particular interest are developing easy-to-implement yet effective approaches for controlling the radiation dynamics and directionality of spin-forbidden dark excitons (XD) in two-dimensional semiconductors. Here, we investigate the spectral, temporal, and directional characteristics of room-temperature XD emission from a tungsten diselenide monolayer coupled to a dissipative plasmonic nanocavity. Under resonant plasmon-exciton coupling, the radiative decay rate of XD is accelerated by nearly four orders of magnitude, and correspondingly, the XD lifetime is shortened to a subnanosecond level, making it comparable to that of bright excitons. Fitting the measured lifetimes with a Purcell-formalism-based cavity quantum electrodynamics model allows estimating of the intrinsic room-temperature XD lifetime to be about 24 ± 2.3 microseconds. Furthermore, the measured radiation patterns of the dark excitons show that subtle variations in the nanocavity orientation can effectively tailor the XD emission directionality, important for quantum technologies and optoelectronics applications.
Author(s): Shuvam Sarkar, Joydipto Bhattacharya, Pramod Bhakuni, Divya Jangra, Pampa Sadhukhan, Rajib Batabyal, Christos D. Malliakas, Marco Bianchi, Davide Curcio, Shubhankar Roy, Arnab Pariari, Sajal Barman, Mohammad Balal, Giovanni Di Santo, Luca Petaccia, Duck Young Chung, Yihao Wang, Vasant G. Sathe, Prabhat Mandal, Mercouri G. Kanatzidis, Philip Hofmann, Aparna Chakrabarti, and Sudipta Roy Barman
The authors demonstrate here that incommensurate charge density wave (CDW) driven inversion symmetry breaking in YTe produces a Kramers nodal line across the Brillouin zone. ARPES agrees well with band structure calculations when the CDW twin domains are considered. Consequently, symmetry-protected CDW shadow-band crossings with bilayer-split main bands that reach the Fermi level are identified. The noncentrosymmetric crystal structure has been established by x-ray crystallography and Raman spectroscopy. These findings establish YTe as a CDW-driven topological nodal-line metal.
[Phys. Rev. B 113, 035129] Published Fri Jan 16, 2026
Author(s): Hong-Hao Song, Chen Peng, Rui-Zhen Huang, and Long Zhang
Domain walls of topological phases can host exotic gapless states. In the one-dimensional domain wall between topological orders, the authors uncover here a hidden nonsymmorphic symmetry that enforces an emergent SU(2) conformal field theory. The domain wall is either gapless or symmetry breaking, reflecting its symmetry anomaly inherited from the bulk topological order. The gapless domain wall corresponds to a topological quantum critical point, fulfilling a holographic construction of topological phase transitions.
[Phys. Rev. B 113, L041114] Published Fri Jan 16, 2026
Communications Physics, Published online: 16 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s42005-025-02483-6
Fractional Chern insulators, and their time-reversal analogs, fractional topological insulators, are realizations of topological order in flat-band electronic systems; while the former have been realized experimentally in twisted bilayer MoTe2, the latter have remained more elusive. Here, using exact diagonalization calculations, the authors propose routes towards engineering fractional topological insulators in twisted bilayer MoTe2 and other moiré materials.Advanced Functional Materials, EarlyView.
Author(s): Guilherme Delfino, Claudio Chamon, and Yizhi You
We broaden the scope of quantum field theory by introducing a general class of discrete gauge theories that realize either topological order or fracton behavior across dimensions. We start from translation-invariant systems endowed with unconventional charge-conservation laws, which we term exponent…
[Phys. Rev. B 113, 045130] Published Fri Jan 16, 2026
Author(s): Keisuke Kataoka, Yoshihito Kuno, Takahiro Orito, and Ikuo Ichinose
A measurement-only (quantum) circuit (MOC) gives the possibility to realize the states with rich entanglements, topological orders, and quantum memories. This work studies the MOC, in which the projective-measurement operators consist of stabilizers of the toric code and competitive local Pauli oper…
[Phys. Rev. B 113, 024111] Published Fri Jan 16, 2026