Soft Condensed Matter
LiquiFab – Building with liquids in weightlessness
Erez Hochman, Aaron Sprecher, Kateryna Suzina et al. (+4 more)
Existing digital manufacturing methods can be broadly divided into subtractive approaches, where material is removed from a bulk to reveal the desired form, and additive methods, in which material is introduced voxel-by-voxel to create an object. We here show a fundamentally different method for the fabrication of three-dimensional objects that is neither subtractive nor additive. Instead of removal or layer-by-layer material deposition, in LiquiFab we shape an entire volume of
liquid polymer by subjecting it to a set of geometrical constraints under conditions of weightlessness. The physics of
liquid interfaces then drives the
polymer to naturally adopt a configuration that minimizes its surface energy. On Earth, we achieve weightlessness through neutral buoyancy, and show that a small, well-defined set of boundary surfaces can be used to drive the
liquid into a desired form that is then solidified. By sequentially applying this process, complex architectures can be assembled from successive
liquid-formed elements. Unlike additive manufacturing, where every point within the object must be individually visited by a print head or light field, LiquiFab forms the entire structure simultaneously. This makes the process highly scalable and opens the door to rapid manufacturing of large objects both on Earth and in space.
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All authors Erez Hochman, Aaron Sprecher, Kateryna Suzina, Amir Mann, Yuval Mihalovich, Valeri Frumkin, Moran Bercovici
Soft Condensed Matter
The mechanics of anisotropic active plates with applications to cell alignment on curved substrates
Gabriele Fioretto, Giulio Lucci, Chiara Giverso et al. (+1 more)
We develop a continuum mechanics framework for active anisotropic plates within the Föppl-von Kármán limit, incorporating a preferential direction and inelastic active contractions in geometrically nonlinear plate theory. Through asymptotic expansion, we derive coupled
equilibrium equations for plates with transversely isotropic and possibly inhomogeneous reinforcement undergoing spatially varying active contractions through their thickness. The framework highlights the coupling between material anisotropy and active deformations, with target
curvatures that compete with
geometric constraints. To demonstrate its capabilities, we apply the model to
curvature-induced
cell alignment, where substrate geometry, cytoskeletal anisotropy, and contractility interact to determine orientation. For cylindrical substrates, the model predicts a supercritical bifurcation in preferred orientation, from perpendicular to parallel through an oblique orientation, governed by the ratio of active contractility to substrate
curvature. For ellipsoidal geometries, we capture stable parallel, perpendicular, and oblique configurations set by principal
curvatures, whereas spherical substrates show no preferred
alignment. These predictions qualitatively reproduce experimental observations across
cell types, providing a mechanistic interpretation of the distinct behaviors of contractile epithelial
cells and stiffer fibroblasts. As a further illustration, we analyze the buckling of active anisotropic rings, showing how reinforcement and contractility jointly modulate the instability threshold. More broadly, the model applies to thin fiber-reinforced active structures arising in soft robotics, morphogenesis, and tissue engineering.
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All authors Gabriele Fioretto, Giulio Lucci, Chiara Giverso, Luigi Preziosi
Materials Science
QMBench: A Research Level Benchmark for Quantum Materials Research
Yanzhen Wang, Yiyang Jiang, Diana Golovanova et al. (+10 more)
We introduce QMBench, a comprehensive
benchmark designed to evaluate the capability of large
language model
agents in
quantum materials research. This specialized
benchmark assesses the model's ability to apply condensed matter physics knowledge and computational techniques such as density functional theory to solve research problems in
quantum materials science. QMBench encompasses different domains of the
quantum material research, including structural properties, electronic properties, thermodynamic and other properties,
symmetry principle and computational methodologies. By providing a standardized evaluation framework, QMBench aims to accelerate the development of an AI scientist capable of making creative contributions to
quantum materials research. We expect QMBench to be developed and constantly improved by the research community.
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All authors Yanzhen Wang, Yiyang Jiang, Diana Golovanova, Kamal Das, Hyeonhu Bae, Yufei Zhao, Huu-Thong Le, Abhinava Chatterjee, Yunzhe Liu, Chao-Xing Liu, Felipe H. da Jornada, Binghai Yan, Xiao-Liang Qi
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Kinetics of Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons in Yttrium Iron Garnet films
Hulin Yang, Gang Li, Haichen Jia et al. (+2 more)
In this article, we explain the reason of the apparent contradiction between recent experiments [1] and [2] and earlier theoretical predictions [3] of strongly asymmetric condensate resulting in attractive interaction between the condensate
magnons. We show that the relaxation time for
equilibrium between two condensates at two minima of energy exceeds the time of experiment. Therefore, it should be described by Boltzmann kinetic equation. We develop the proper kinetic theory and find the relation between the critical pumping power and the effective temperature of over-condensate
magnons.
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All authors Hulin Yang, Gang Li, Haichen Jia, Artem Abanov, Valery Pokrovsky
Materials Science
The Madelung Problem of Finite Crystals
Yihao Zhao, Yang He and Zhonghan Hu
The Coulomb potential at an interior ion in a finite
crystal of size $p$ is given by a linear superposition of contributions from displacement vectors ${\mathbf r}=(x,y,z)$ to its neighbors. This additive structure underlies universal relationships among Madelung constants and applies to both standard periodic boundary conditions and alternative Clifford supercells. Each pairwise contribution decomposes into three physically distinct components: a periodic bulk term, a quadratic boundary term, and a finite-size correction whose leading order term is $[24r^4-40(x^4+y^4+z^4)]/[9\sqrt{3} (2p+1)^2]$ for cubic
crystals with unit
lattice constant. Combining this decomposition with linear superposition yields a rapidly convergent direct-summation scheme, accurate even at $p=1$ ($3^3$ unit
cells), enabling hands-on calculations of Madelung constants for a wide range of ionic
crystals.
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Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Cross-listed from q-bio.NC
Responses to transient perturbation can distinguish intrinsic from latent criticality in spiking neural populations
Jacob T. Crosser and Braden A. W. Brinkman
The critical
brain hypothesis posits that neural circuitry operates near criticality to reap the computational benefits of accessing a wide range of timescales. The theory of critical phenomena generally predicts heavy-tailed (power-law) correlations in space and time near criticality, but it has been argued that in the
brain such correlations could be inherited from “latent variables,” such as external sensory signals that are not directly observed when recording from neural circuitry. Distinguishing whether heavy-tailed correlations in neural activity are intrinsically generated within a neural
circuit or are driven by unobserved latent variables is crucial for properly interpreting
circuit functions. We argue that measuring neural responses to sudden perturbative inputs, rather than correlations in ongoing activity, can disambiguate these cases. We demonstrate this approach in a model of
stochastic spiking
neuron populations receiving external latent input that can be tuned to a critical state. We propose a scaling theory for the covariance and response functions of the spiking network, which we validate with simulations. We end by discussing how our approach might generalize to models of neural populations with more realistic biophysical details.
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Materials Science · Cross-listed from cs.LG
Microstructure-based Variational Neural Networks for Robust Uncertainty Quantification in Materials Digital Twins
Andreas E. Robertson, Samuel B. Inman, Ashley T. Lenau et al. (+4 more)
Aleatoric uncertainties - irremovable variability in microstructure morphology, constituent behavior, and processing conditions - pose a major challenge to developing uncertainty-robust digital twins. We introduce the Variational Deep Material Network (VDMN), a physics-informed surrogate model that enables efficient and probabilistic forward and inverse predictions of material behavior. The VDMN captures microstructure-induced variability by
embedding variational distributions within its hierarchical, mechanistic architecture. Using an analytic propagation scheme based on Taylor-series expansion and automatic differentiation, the VDMN efficiently propagates uncertainty through the network during training and prediction. We demonstrate its capabilities in two digital-twin-driven applications: (1) as an uncertainty-aware materials digital twin, it predicts and experimentally validates the nonlinear mechanical variability in additively manufactured
polymer composites; and (2) as an inverse calibration engine, it disentangles and quantitatively identifies overlapping sources of uncertainty in constituent properties. Together, these results establish the VDMN as a foundation for uncertainty-robust materials digital twins.
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All authors Andreas E. Robertson, Samuel B. Inman, Ashley T. Lenau, Ricardo A. Lebensohn, Dongil Shin, Brad L. Boyce, Remi M. Dingreville
Materials Science
Breaking the 800 mV open-circuit voltage barrier in antimony sulfide photovoltaics
Jiacheng Zhou, Xinwei Wang, Tianle Shi et al. (+6 more)
Sb2S3 is a promising material for low-toxicity, high-stability next-generation photovoltaics. Despite high optical limits in efficiency, progress in improving its device performance has been limited by severe voltage losses. Recent spectroscopic investigations suggest that self-trapping occurs in Sb2S3, limiting the open-
circuit voltage (Voc) to a maximum of approximately 800 mV, which is the level the field has asymptotically approached. In this work, we surpass this voltage barrier through reductions in the defect density in Sb2S3 thin films by modulating the growth mechanism in chemical bath deposition using citrate ligand additives. Deep level transient spectroscopy identifies two deep traps 0.4-0.7 eV above the valence band maximum, and, through first-principles calculations, we identify these to likely be S vacancies, or Sb on S anti-sites. The concentrations of these traps are lowered by decreasing the grain boundary density from 1114+/-52 nm/um2 to 585+/-10 nm/um2, and we achieve a Voc of 824 mV, the record for Sb2S3
solar cells. This work addresses the debate in the field around whether Sb2S3 is limited by defects or self-trapping, showing that it is possible to improve the performance towards the radiative limit through careful defect engineering.
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All authors Jiacheng Zhou, Xinwei Wang, Tianle Shi, Lei Wan, Junzhi Ye, Zhiqiang Li, Aron Walsh, Robert L. Z. Hoye, Ru Zhou
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics · Cross-listed from physics.chem-ph
Direct Observation of Energy Transport Dynamics and High Thermal Conductance across Single Solid-Molecule Junctions
Md. Shahriar Hossain Shuvo, Xing He, Mithun Ghosh et al. (+1 more)
Interfaces play a crucial role in energy transport at the nanoscale. However, direct experimental observations of interfacial thermal conductance across molecular junctions have remained challenging due to the high spatiotemporal resolution required for probing. Here, we report dynamic energy transport processes across multi-component molecular junctions observed at the atomic level by employing reflection ultrafast electron diffraction. A clear temporal sequence of energy transfer is revealed at early times following photoexcitation of Au(111) surfaces chemically bonded with self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of alkanethiols: from the gold surface layer (SL) to the head groups of a SAM and then to the CH2-CH2 methylene
lattice. Remarkably, the structural dynamics of the gold SL differ significantly from those of clean gold. Furthermore, the methylene
lattice dynamics exhibit chain-length insensitivity but with a length-dependent retention time to reach full thermalization. Quantitatively, we find an agreement in the increased out-of-plane atomic motions between the surface gold atoms and the SAM methylene units, signifying the nature of motion-based coupling for interfacial energy transport. High interfacial thermal conductance (~300 MW/m^2/K) and high thermal conductivity for the methylene
lattice (~60 W/m/K) are obtained under the condition of impulsive heating, which provide strong support for previous room-temperature theoretical predictions and also the ballistic nature of intrachain heat transfer. This time- and spatially-resolved experimental approach will enable future quantitative assessment of interfacial energy transport across solid-molecule junctions.
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All authors Md. Shahriar Hossain Shuvo, Xing He, Mithun Ghosh, Ding-Shyue Yang
Soft Condensed Matter
Configurational entropy of randomly double-folding ring polymers
Pieter H. W. van der Hoek, Angelo Rosa, Elham Ghobadpour et al. (+1 more)
Topologically constrained genome-like
polymers often double-fold into tree-like configurations. Here we calculate the exact number of tightly double-folded configurations available to a ring
polymer in ideal conditions. For this purpose, we introduce a scheme which allows us to define a “code” specifying how a ring wraps a randomly branching tree and calculate the number of admissible wrapping codes via a variant of Bertrand's ballot
theorem. As a validation, we demonstrate that data from Monte Carlo simulations of an elastic
lattice model of non-interacting tightly double-folded rings with controlled branching activity are in excellent agreement with exact expressions for branch-node and tree size statistics that can be derived from our expression for the ring
entropy.
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All authors Pieter H. W. van der Hoek, Angelo Rosa, Elham Ghobadpour, Ralf Everaers
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Optimization of Si/SiGe Heterostructures for Large and Robust Valley Splitting in Silicon Qubits
Abel Thayil, Lasse Ermoneit, Lars R. Schreiber et al. (+2 more)
Small and device-dependent valley splittings remain a key challenge for electron
spin qubits in silicon (Si), directly limiting
qubit fidelity, device uniformity, and the scalability of Si-based
quantum processors. In silicon-germanium (SiGe)
heterostructures, this problem can be addressed through engineering of the epitaxial layer stack. Several heuristic strategies have been proposed to enhance the energy gap between the two nearly degenerate valley states in strained Si/SiGe
quantum wells (QWs), e.g., sharp Si/SiGe interfaces, Ge spikes, or oscillating Ge concentrations within the QW. Here, we develop a systematic variational optimization approach to compute optimal Ge concentration profiles that enhance selected properties of the intervalley coupling
matrix element. Our free-shape optimization framework is augmented by realistic technological constraints to ensure feasibility of the resulting epitaxial profiles and is based on an effective-mass envelope-function theory accounting for strain and compositional
alloy disorder. Previously proposed
heterostructure designs are recovered as special cases of the constrained optimization problem. Our main result is a novel
heterostructure design, which we refer to as the "modulated wiggle well", providing both a large deterministic enhancement of the valley splitting and a strong suppression of disorder-induced variability. In addition, this design enables wide electrical tunability of the valley splitting - from approximately $200\,\mu \text{eV}$ to above $1\,\text{meV}$ - offering new opportunities for engineering robust and switchable silicon
qubits.
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All authors Abel Thayil, Lasse Ermoneit, Lars R. Schreiber, Thomas Koprucki, Markus Kantner
Superconductivity
Degenerate monolayer Ising superconductors via chiral-achiral molecule intercalation
Daniel Margineda, Covadonga Álvarez-García, Daniel Tezze et al. (+8 more)
Engineering unconventional
superconductors is a central challenge in condensed matter physics. Molecule-intercalated TaS2 superlattices have recently been reported to host such states, yet their origin remains debated, underscoring the urgent need for controlled, device-integrated studies. Here, we report that nanometer-thick TaS2 and NbSe2 intercalated with
chiral and achiral organic cations instead exhibit robust monolayer-like Ising superconductivity, with no evidence of unconventional pairing. Using high-quality superlattices integrated into devices, we disentangle the roles of interlayer coupling and charge transfer in shaping their superconducting behavior. In TaS2, intercalation induces interlayer decoupling regardless of molecular size or
symmetry, yielding monolayer-like Ising superconductivity. NbSe2 instead retains quasi-three-dimensional transport, with a gradual Ising enhancement and near-monolayer behavior only at the largest interlayer spacing. Transport remains reciprocal across all superlattices, consistent with preserved inversion
symmetry and incompatible with parity-breaking superconductivity and noncentrosymmetric monolayers. We attribute the behavior to electronically detached monolayers with opposite
spin-split bands, coupled through thermal and tunneling processes, which overall preserve inversion
symmetry. These findings establish molecular intercalation compounds as a robust, device-ready, platform for engineering advanced superconducting superlattices.
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All authors Daniel Margineda, Covadonga Álvarez-García, Daniel Tezze, Sanaz Gerivani, Mohammad Furqan, Iván Rivilla, Fèlix Casanova, Raul Arenal, Emilio Artacho, Luis E. Hueso, Marco Gobbi
Superconductivity · Cross-listed from quant-ph
Stability studies on subtractively-fabricated CMOS-compatible superconducting transmon qubits
Chawki Dhieb, Johannes Weber, Samuel Taubenberger et al. (+12 more)
Developing fault-tolerant
quantum processors with error correction demands large arrays of physical
qubits whose key performance metrics (coherence times, control fidelities) must remain within specifications over both short and long timescales. Here we investigated the temporal stability of subtractively fabricated CMOS-compatible superconducting transmon
qubits. During a single cooldown and over a period of 95 hours, we monitored several parameters for 8
qubits, including coherence times $T_1$ and $T_2^*$, which exhibit fluctuations originating primarily from the interaction between two-level system (TLS) defects and the host
qubit. We also demonstrate that subtractively-fabricated superconducting
quantum devices align with the theoretical predictions that higher mean lifetimes $T_1$ correspond to larger fluctuations. To assess long-term stability, we tracked two representative
qubits over 10 cooldown cycles spanning more than one year. We observed an average total downward shift in both
qubit transition frequencies of approximately 61 MHz within the thermal cycles considered. In contrast, readout resonator frequencies decreased only marginally. Meanwhile, $T_1$ exhibits fluctuations from cycle to cycle, but maintains a stable baseline value.
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All authors Chawki Dhieb, Johannes Weber, Samuel Taubenberger, Carla Moran Guizan, Simon J. K. Lang, Zhen Luo, Emir Music, Alwin Maiwald, Wilfried Lerch, Lars Nebrich, Marc Tornow, Thomas Mayer, Daniela Zahn, Rui N. Pereira, Christoph Kutter
Materials Science · Cross-listed from physics.comp-ph
Long-range electrostatics for machine learning interatomic potentials is easier than we thought
Dongjin Kim and Bingqing Cheng
The lack of long-range electrostatics is a key limitation of modern machine learning interatomic potentials (MLIPs), hindering reliable applications to interfaces, charge-transfer reactions, polar and ionic materials, and biomolecules. In this Perspective, we distill two design principles behind the Latent Ewald Summation (LES) framework, which can capture long-range interactions, charges, and electrical response just by learning from standard energy and force training data: (i) use a Coulomb functional form with environment-dependent charges to capture electrostatic interactions, and (ii) avoid explicit training on ambiguous density functional theory (DFT) partial charges. When both principles are satisfied, substantial flexibility remains: essentially any short-range MLIP can be augmented; charge equilibration schemes can be added when desired; dipoles and Born effective charges can be inferred or finetuned; and charge/
spin-state
embeddings or tensorial targets can be further incorporated. We also discuss current limitations and open challenges. Together, these minimal, physics-guided design rules suggest that incorporating long-range electrostatics into MLIPs is simpler and perhaps more broadly applicable than is commonly assumed.
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Materials Science
Topical Review: The rise of Klein tunneling in low-dimensional materials and superlattices
Yonatan Betancur-Ocampo, Guillermo Monsivais and Vít Jakubský
We review recent advances in Klein and anti-Klein tunneling in one- and two-dimensional materials. Using a general tight-binding framework applied to multiple periodic systems, we establish the criteria for the emergence of Klein tunneling based on the conservation of an effective reduced pseudospin. The inclusion of higher-order terms in the wave vector leads to nontrivial matching conditions for wave scattering at interfaces. We further examine the emergence of multiple types of Klein tunneling in two-dimensional materials beyond
graphene, including phosphorene and borophene, as well as in one-dimensional systems such as Su-Schrieffer-Heeger
lattices. Finally, we discuss how these tunneling phenomena can be tested in both synthesized and artificial
lattices, including elastic metamaterials, optical, photonic, phononic, and superconducting platforms, demonstrating the universality of Klein tunneling across different wave natures and length scales.
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Materials Science · Cross-listed from hep-ph
A Numerical Method for the Efficient Calculation of Scattering Form Factors
Carlos Blanco, Benjamin Lillard and Jack D. Shergold
Scintillating molecular
crystals have emerged as
prime candidates for directional dark matter detector targets. This anisotropy makes them exquisitely sensitive due to the daily modulation induced by the directional dark matter wind. However, predicting the interaction rate for arbitrary molecules requires accurate modeling of the many-body ground as well as excited states, a task that has been historically computationally expensive. Here, we present a theory and computational framework for efficiently computing dark matter scattering form factors for molecules. We introduce SCarFFF, a GPU-accelerated code to compute the fully three-dimensional anisotropic molecular form factor for arbitrary molecules. We use a full time-dependent density functional theory framework to compute the lowest-lying singlet excited states, adopting the B3YLP exchange functional and a double-
zeta Gaussian basis set. Once the many-body electronic structure is computed, the form factors are computed in a small fraction of the time from the transition density
matrix. We show that ScarFFF can compute the first 12 form factors for a molecule of 10 heavy atoms in approximately 5 seconds, opening the door to accurate, high-throughput material screening for optimal directional dark matter detector targets. Our code can perform the calculation in three independent ways, two semi-analytical and one fully numeric, providing optimised methods for every precision goal.
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Superconductivity
Net Magnetization and Inhomogeneous Magnetic Order in a High-Tc Nickelate Superconductor
Alexander J. Grutter, Nurul Fitriyah, Brian B. Maranville et al. (+10 more)
High-temperature and high-
magnetic-field-induced re-entrant superconductivity has been discovered in the infinite-layer nickelate $\mathrm{Sm_{1-x-y} Eu_x Ca_y Ni O_2}$ (SECNO). Infinite-layer nickelates are the closest known analogues of high-$\mathrm{T}_c$ cuprate
superconductors, yet they host distinct
magnetic ground states. Using low-energy
muon spin relaxation and polarized
neutron reflectometry, we reveal the
magnetic order in SECNO. We find that
magnetic freezing occurs at a higher-temperature than in other nickelate compounds, and that a substantial net magnetization of 55 $\,\mathrm{kA}\,\mathrm{m}^{-1}$ $\pm10 \,\mathrm{kA}\,\mathrm{m}^{-1}$ emerges and remains largely unchanged across the superconducting transition. The magnetism in SECNO is disordered and nonuniform.
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All authors Alexander J. Grutter, Nurul Fitriyah, Brian B. Maranville, Saurav Prakash, Andreas Suter, Jochen Stahn, Gianluca Janka, Xing Gao, King Yau Yip, Zaher Salman, Thomas Prokscha, Julie A. Borchers, Ariando Ariando
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Non-Abelian topological superconductivity from melting Abelian fractional Chern insulators
Zhengyan Darius Shi and T. Senthil
Fractional Chern
insulators (FCI) are exotic phases of matter realized at partial filling of a Chern band that host fractionally charged anyon excitations. Recent numerical studies in several microscopic models reveal that increasing the bandwidth in an FCI can drive a direct transition into a charge-2e
superconductor rather than a conventional
Fermi liquid. Motivated by this surprising observation, we propose a theoretical framework that captures the intertwinement between superconductivity and fractionalization in a
lattice setting. Leveraging the duality between three field-theoretic descriptions of the Jain topological order, we find that bandwidth tuning can drive a single parent FCI at $\nu = 2/3$ into five different
superconductors, some of which are intrinsically non-Abelian and support Majorana zero modes. Our results reveal a rich landscape of exotic
superconductors with no normal state
Fermi surface and predict novel higher-charge
superconductors coexisting with neutral non-Abelian topological order at more general filling fractions $\nu = p/(2p+1)$.
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Materials Science
An interface crack in 1d piezoelectric quasicrystal under antiplane mechanical loading and electric field
Mohammed Altoumaimi and V.V. Loboda
The present study provides the consideration of a mode III interface crack in one-dimentional (1D) piezoelectric quasicrystal under antiplane
phonon and phason loading and inplane electric field. Due to complex function approach all required electromechanical parameters are presented through vector-functions analytic in the whole complex plane except the crack region. The cases of electrically impermeable (insulated) and electrically limited permeable conditions on the crack faces are considered. In the first case a vector
Hilbert problem in the complex plane is formulated and solved exactly and in the second one the quadratic equation with respect to the electric flux through the crack region is obtained additionally. Its solution permits to find
phonon and phason stresses, displacement jumps (sliding) and also electric characteristics along the material interface. Analytical formulas are also obtained for the corresponding stress intensity factors related to each field. The numerical computations for three selected variants of the loading conditions was conducted and the resulting field distributions are visualised on the crack continuation beyond the crack and also inside of the crack region.
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Quantum Gases · Cross-listed from quant-ph
Simulation of topological superconductors and their competing orders using photon-mediated interactions
Anjun Chu, Joyce Kwan, Eric Yilun Song et al. (+3 more)
Realizing and controlling the unconventional pairing featured by topological
superconductors remains a central challenge. We introduce a cavity QED
quantum simulator that engineers competing
chiral $p_x+ip_y$ and $d_{x^2-y^2}+id_{xy}$ orders by tailoring cavity-mediated couplings between atomic pseudospins that emulate momentum-dependent pairing channels. The desired spatially inhomogeneous cavity-mediated couplings can be engineered in a 2D optical
lattice using incommensurate cavity-
lattice wavelengths naturally occurring in cavity QED systems. This minimal and fully tunable platform enables controlled state preparation and continuous measurement of superconducting order parameters. To probe this competition, the platform enables selective excitation and direct time-domain detection of Bardasis-Schrieffer modes—collective excitations of the subdominant pairing channel. The same competing channel can have an even stronger impact out of
equilibrium, where a sudden quench can drive its growth and abruptly reshape the dominant superconducting order, despite the stability of the dominant order in
equilibrium. Together, these results establish cavity QED as a controlled setting for revealing hidden competing orders and exploring nonlinear dynamics of topological superconductivity that remain elusive in solid-state and ultracold-atom systems.
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All authors Anjun Chu, Joyce Kwan, Eric Yilun Song, Seth Hew Peng Chew, James K. Thompson, Ana Maria Rey
Soft Condensed Matter
Impact of Heater Thermal Properties on Nucleate Pool Boiling: Insights from a Multiscale Automata Simulation
Karina I. Mazzitello, T. Molina Blanco, C. P. Marcel et al. (+1 more)
This study investigates the influence of heater material properties on nucleate pool boiling using a comprehensive simulation model. Copper and silicon
oxide are selected as reference materials due to their properties as excellent and poor heat conductors, respectively. The model integrates well-known heat transfer mechanisms, allowing for the assessment of the effects of these distinct heater materials. The results show that materials with superior thermal diffusivity, such as copper, significantly enhance cooling efficiency during nucleate boiling. Moreover, the study provides insights into the relationship between bubble growth, microlayer recovery beneath a bubble, temperature fluctuations, and heater properties. Comparisons between copper and silicon
oxide underscore variations in bubble frequency, attributed to differences in bubble growth time, microlayer recovery time, and material-dependent behavior. The influence of neighboring boiling sites is especially pronounced in silicon
oxide due to its low thermal conductivity and diffusivity values. Temperature variations in this material become highly visible due to its very slow response to temperature changes. Simulation results align well with semi-empirical correlations, confirming the model's success in capturing the intricate phenomena of nucleate pool boiling. In summary, the model reveals that changes in the thermal properties of the heater affect not only boiling performance but also key characteristics of the process, including bubble frequency, boiling patterns, regularity, and cavity reactivation speed.
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All authors Karina I. Mazzitello, T. Molina Blanco, C. P. Marcel, V. P. Masson
Materials Science
Experimentally Mapping the Phase Diagrams of Photoexcited Small Polarons
Jocelyn L. Mendes and Scott K. Cushing
Understanding the fundamental properties that dictate photoexcited polarons in materials is critical to tuning their properties. Theoretical models of polarons have only recently been extended to the excited state. Experimental measurements of polaron formation and transport have been widely undertaken across a range of materials, from photocatalysts and
superconductors to soft conducting
polymers. Here, we map thermalized excited state experimental measurements of quantities such as polaron strength onto phase diagrams of the Holstein, Hubbard-Holstein, and t-J-Holstein models. This work demonstrates that tuning electron-
phonon coupling strength, electron localization, and
spin exchange can be leveraged to suppress or control polarons in transition metal
oxides. We find that the t-J-Holstein model provides the clearest qualitative description of electron polarons in the measured iron
oxides and could be generally applied to a wide range of systems that exhibit polaron formation in the excited state. This work combines experimental data with ground state models to provide a qualitative parameter space for informing photoexcited electron polaron design, under which excited state polaronic behavior can be classified within ground-state calculable models.
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Materials Science
Interplay of Defects and the Charge Density Wave State in Hf-Doped ZrTe$_{3}$
Ghilles Ainouche, Resmi Sudheer, Susree Mohapatra et al. (+6 more)
We carry out temperature-dependent scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies of the charge density wave (CDW) compound ZrTe$_3$ which is intentionally doped with Hf. Previous bulk studies tie Hf doping to an enhancement of the CDW transition temperature (T$_{CDW}$). In our work, by combining STM measurements with density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we observe and identify multiple defects in Zr$_{0.95}$Hf$_{0.05}$Te$_3$. Surprisingly, instead of finding clear structural or electronic signatures associated with Hf dopants, we determine the origin of the observed defects are consistent with Te and Zr vacancies. Further, our temperature dependent STM measurements allow us to examine CDW pinning to both types of observed defects below and above T$_{CDW}$.
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All authors Ghilles Ainouche, Resmi Sudheer, Susree Mohapatra, Boning Yu, Muhammad Suhayb Malik, Yu Liu, Cedomir Petrovic, Abhilash Ravikumar, Michael C. Boyer
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Stability of (Active) Bilayer Skyrmions in Synthetic Antiferromagnets
Rai M. Menezes and Clecio C. de Souza Silva
Synthetic
antiferromagnetic (SAF) skyrmions are nanoscale composite textures that exhibit high-speed,
Hall-free current-driven motion and recently demonstrated self-propulsion. These remarkable properties rely on the stability of the SAF skyrmion's topological bound state, whose underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, using an atomistic
spin model, we analyze the collapse pathways of
bilayer SAF skyrmions in homochiral systems, where both
ferromagnetic layers share the same Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) vectors, and in heterochiral systems, where the DMI vectors have opposite directions. We find that pair destruction occurs either by decoupling or by sequential collapse into the homogeneous
antiferromagnetic state, so the activation energy is set by the smaller of these two barriers. By examining how these barriers vary with DMI strength, anisotropy,
magnetic field, and interlayer exchange, we identify regimes of enhanced stability. In particular, increasing interlayer coupling strengthens homochiral skyrmions but weakens heterochiral ones, while reducing the anisotropy constant effectively stabilizes heterochiral SAF skyrmions. These results outline viable strategies to optimize SAF
heterostructures for enhanced skyrmion stability in racetrack devices and emerging active skyrmionic systems.
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Materials Science
InfinityEBSD : Metrics-Guided Infinite-Size EBSD Map Generation With Diffusion Models
Sterley Labady, Youssef Mesri, Daniel Pino Munoz et al. (+2 more)
Materials performance is deeply linked to their microstructures, which govern key properties such as strength, durability, and fatigue resistance. EBSD is a major technique for characterizing these microstructures, but acquiring large and statistically representative EBSD maps remains slow, costly, and often limited to small regions. In this work, we introduce InfinityEBSD, a
diffusion-based method for generating monophase realistic EBSD maps of arbitrary size, conditioned on physically meaningful microstructural metrics. This approach supports two primary use cases: extending small experimental EBSD maps to arbitrary sizes, and generating entirely new maps directly from statistical descriptors, without any input map. Conditioning is achieved through eight microstructural descriptors, including grain size, grain perimeter, grain inertia ratio, coordination number and disorientation angle distribution, allowing the model to generate maps that are both visually realistic and physically interpretable. A patch-wise
geometric extension strategy ensures spatial continuity across grains, enabling the model to produce large-scale EBSD maps while maintaining coherent grain boundaries and orientation transitions. The generated maps can also be exported as valid Channel Text Files (CTF) for immediate post-processing and analysis in software such as MTEX or simulation environments like DIGIMU. We quantitatively validate our results by comparing distributions of the guiding metrics before and after generation, showing that the model respects the statistical targets while introducing morphological diversity. InfinityEBSD demonstrates that
diffusion models, guided by physical metrics, can bridge the gap between synthetic and realistic materials representation, paving the way for future developments such as 3D realistic microstructure generation from 2D data.
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All authors Sterley Labady, Youssef Mesri, Daniel Pino Munoz, Baptiste Flipon, Marc Bernacki
Quantum Gases
Time-optimal force sensing with ultracold atoms
Nicolas Ombredane, Eloi Flament, Charles Babin et al. (+3 more)
We develop a time-optimal approach to force sensing using a Bose-Einstein condensate in a shaken optical
lattice. Optimal control protocols are derived from a Fisher information framework and yield optimal dynamics that spontaneously organize in intereferometer-like structures, where multiple interferences combine to maximize sensitivity. We analyse how measurement precision scales with control time and how the finite momentum dispersion of the condensate changes the optimal dynamics, observing an abrupt change of conformation from single- to double-folded interference structures for robust controls. The protocols are implemented experimentally for cold atoms subjected to inertial and
magnetic forces, demonstrating high sensitivity and robustness. Our approach establishes a general route to time-optimal
quantum sensing beyond standard interferometric architectures, applcable across all
quantum platforms.
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All authors Nicolas Ombredane, Eloi Flament, Charles Babin, Dominique Sugny, David Guéry-Odelin, B. Peaudecerf
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Effective Mass in Dissipative Coupled Polaritons
Diego A. Mendoza, Areli J. Vega-Carmona, Arturo Camacho-Guardian et al. (+1 more)
Dissipative coupling refers to the effect where two systems interact with each other mediated by dissipation channels. Recent advances in controlling light-matter systems have opened new avenues to explore non-Hermitian effects arising from dissipative coupling, such as level attraction and anomalous dispersions. In this work, we perform a parametric study of these effects in a polariton system, i.e., a light-matter superposition, under both dissipative and coherent coupling. We characterize the effects of different sources of non-Hermitian behavior and analytically identify the conditions for the emergence of negative effective mass, exceptional points, and bound states in the continuum as a function of the light-matter detuning, the coherent-to-dissipative coupling ratio, and the relative decay rate of the non-interacting subsystems. We also analyze the classical limit of the polariton system within a non-Hermitian framework, employing coherent states.
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All authors Diego A. Mendoza, Areli J. Vega-Carmona, Arturo Camacho-Guardian, Miguel A. Bastarrachea-Magnani
Statistical Mechanics
Convection Patterns in Nonequilibrium Kawasaki Dynamics at Low Temperature
Meander Van den Brande, Kyosuke Adachi and Francois Huveneers
We study a conservative
stochastic lattice gas (Kawasaki dynamics) coupled in the bulk to a heat bath, which leads to standard phase separation at low uniform temperatures. Instead, a macroscopic temperature gradient drives the system into a nonequilibrium steady state. In this state, the usual long-range order is replaced by robust convection patterns, featuring regularly spaced stripe structures. We show that these nonequilibrium states differ markedly from
equilibrium configurations with the same local temperature profiles. Finally, we develop a macroscopic description that captures these behaviors and provides a unified framework for understanding the observed patterns.
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Other Condensed Matter
Quenching statistics in Si and Ge SPADs using particle Monte Carlo simulation
Philippe Dollfus, Jérôme Saint-Martin, Rémi Helleboid et al. (+5 more)
Si- and Ge-based single-
photon-avalanche-diodes (SPAD) are investigated by using self-consistent 3D Monte Carlo simulation, in a mixed-mode approach including the presence of a passive quenching
circuit. This approach of transport allows us to capture all
stochastic features of carrier transport and SPAD operation, not only for the avalanche triggering but also for the quenching process. Beyond the comparison of Si and Ge devices, we show in particular the strong inverse correlation between avalanche and quenching probabilities when tuning the bias voltage, which highlights the importance to find a tradeoff between these two probabilities for the optimization of SPAD operation.
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All authors Philippe Dollfus, Jérôme Saint-Martin, Rémi Helleboid, Thibauld Cazimajou, Alessandro Pilotto, Arnaud Bournel, Denis Rideau, Marco Pala
Soft Condensed Matter
Dynamics of Reversible Plasticity in an Amorphous Solid
Zhicheng Wang and Nathan C. Keim
Local rearrangements are the elements of plastic deformation in an amorphous solid. In oscillatory shear, they can switch reversibly between two distinct configurations. While these repeating relaxations are typically considered in the limit of slow driving, their dynamics is less well understood. We perform experiments on a colloidal amorphous solid at an oil-water interface. The rearrangement timescales we observe span at least 1 decade, with no apparent upper bound. As frequency is increased, individual rearrangements appear faster and more hysteretic, but may disappear entirely above a crossover frequency – suggesting that in practical experiments, the slowest rearrangements may be latent. We show how to find the effective potential energy that reproduces a particle's frequency-dependent motion. In rare cases, this potential energy has only one minimum. Our results have implications for the energy landscapes and rheology of amorphous or glassy solids, for sound propagation in nonlinear media, and for mechanical
memory and history-dependence.
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