The strength of a coupling between nuclear spins depends on chirality, or handedness, of the molecule, according to a new study by researchers at UCLA, Arizona State University, Penn State, MIT and Technische Universität Dresden. The study also revealed that in chiral molecules of a given handedness – whether it is a left- or right-handed molecule – the nuclear spin tends to align in one specific direction. In molecules with the opposite chirality, such as right-handedness, the spin aligns in the opposite direction.

Spintronics uses the spins of electrons to perform logic operations or store information. Ideally, spintronic devices could operate faster and more energy-efficiently than conventional semiconductor devices. However, it is still difficult to create and manipulate spin textures in materials.

Researchers from Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands have been able to initiate a controlled movement in the very heart of an atom. They caused the atomic nucleus to interact with one of the electrons in the outermost shells of the atom. This electron could be manipulated and read out through the needle of a scanning tunneling microscope.

Now, in a recently published Nature paper, JILA and NIST Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder Physics Professor Jun Ye and his team, along with collaborators in Mikhail Lukin’s group at Harvard University, used periodic microwave pulses in a process known as Floquet engineering, to tune interactions between ultracold potassium-rubidium molecules in a system appropriate for studying fundamental magnetic systems. Moreover, the researchers observed two-axis twisting dynamics within their system, which can generate entangled states for enhanced quantum sensing in the future.

A research team led by Prof. YANG Kai at the Institute of Physics (IOP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Prof. LADO Jose from Aalto University, has developed an important bottom-up approach to simulate quantum many-body topological phases at the atomic scale.

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have successfully simulated higher-order topological (HOT) lattices with unprecedented accuracy using digital quantum computers. These complex lattice structures can help us understand advanced quantum materials with robust quantum states that are highly sought after in various technological applications.

Researchers have fabricated a quasi-one-dimensional van der Waals zirconium telluride thin film, which is a form of a substance that has long promised advances in quantum computing, nano-electronics and other advanced technologies. Until now, it has stumped scientists who have tried to manufacture it in large-scale quantities.

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) has revolutionized the field of nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), making it possible to study a wider range of materials, biomolecules and complex dynamic processes such as how proteins fold and change shape inside a cell.

A research team led by Prof PENG Xinhua and Associate Prof. JIANG Min from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has discovered the Fano resonance interference effect between mixed atomic spins. They proposed a novel magnetic noise suppression technique, reducing magnetic noise interference by at least two orders of magnitude. The study was published in Physical Review Letters.

A new milestone has been set for levitated optomechanics as Prof. Tongcang Li’s group observed the Berry phase of electron spins in nano-sized diamonds levitated in vacuum.