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As quantum technologies attract more and more funding, Christophe Couteau and Snežana Lazić argue for a clear and accessible definition of the label ‘quantum’. This would help public and private investors to make the right choices.
The Metre Convention was signed in May 1875, bringing international agreement on how to measure accurately and consistently — a consensus that was essential for trade, industrialization and scientific progress. 150 years later, how does the metrology community continue this tradition?
The UK’s quantum strategy prioritizes quantum sensing, but hiring trends focus on quantum computing and communication. To meet targets, the UK must realign hiring and education with its immediate needs.
Barren plateaus are widely considered as one of the main limitations for variational quantum algorithms. This Review summarizes the latest understandings of barren plateaus, indicating its causes, architecture that will suffer from this phenomenon, and discusses strategies that can — and cannot — avoid it.
Experiments have shown that fast ions generated in fusion plasmas improve confinement by mitigating plasma turbulence. This Review explores possible physical mechanisms to explain these experimental observations.
The renormalization group (RG) is a theoretical framework to transform systems across scales and identify critical points of phase transitions. In recent years, efforts have extended RG to complex networks, which challenge traditional assumptions. This Technical Review covers key approaches and open challenges.
Despite its benefits, globalized science also has problems, including asymmetric data sharing. Understanding the origin of these imbalances can help mitigate their long-term impacts.
This Technical Review demonstrates how first-principles calculations and effective modelling provide realistic insights into spin–orbit interactions and their engineering in 2D materials and van der Waals heterostructures.
To avoid a replication crisis in physics, physicists need to understand how ever-changing social forces shape scientific practice — and even the underlying notions of replicability and objectivity.
This Review summarizes the fundamental physical mechanisms of insect respiration, in which specialized tracheal networks enable highly efficient direct oxygen delivery and gas exchange. It discusses how these principles may inform bioinspired innovations in microscale gas transport technology.
There is a natural though unexpected resonance between the concept of intersectionality — the simultaneous and compounded impact of two or more axes of discrimination — and that of emergence in physics.
The boundaries between science and pseudoscience are not always clear cut, as topics move in and out of the culturally accepted core of science. Rather, science needs to be judged on the merits of its methodology.
The way you were taught quantum mechanics depends on when you were a student; pedagogical approaches over the last century have been driven by social and political trends. Physicist and historian, David Kaiser, charts how the emphasis of quantum education has oscillated between philosophy and practicality.
A better understanding of electronic transport in semiconductors is essential for both fundamental and applied physics, as it directly affects key material properties such as the conductivity and thermoelectric quantities. This Technical Review explores different frameworks and computational tools available for computing these properties of semiconductors.
Optical refrigeration of semiconductors has the potential to reach temperatures as low as 10 K for applications in non-contact cooling and high-precision metrology. This Expert Recommendation outlines four criteria for the standardized reporting of new cooling results towards these goals.
Quantum computing outperforms classical computing on a number of tasks. This Perspective offers a view on the future potential of quantum computing to enhance simulations of nonlinear systems such as turbulent flows.
