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This study reveals spatiotemporally resolved current-induced switching in Mn₃Sn thin films, identifying both thermal and non-thermal mechanisms depending on the amplitude of the current.

Interaction between Cooper pairs and other collective excitations may reveal important information about the pairing mechanism. Here, the authors observe a universal jump in the phase of the driven Higgs oscillations in cuprate thin films, indicating the presence of a coupled collective mode, as well as a nonvanishing Higgs-like response at high temperatures, suggesting a potential nonzero pairing amplitude above Tc.

Monolayer materials have tunable electronic structures that may be useful for optical applications. Here the authors show even and odd high-harmonic generation up to 15th order from a variety of monolayers with different band properties and emphasize the role of nonlinear interband polarization.

The sample taken from carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu and brought back to Earth by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft contains outer Solar System-derived materials uncontaminated by terrestrial processes. Even CI carbonaceous chondrites, despite their closeness to solar abundances, are not pristine.

A close-up look at the action of space weathering on carbonaceous asteroids, provided by Ryugu’s returned samples, highlights its role on the dehydration of the first micrometre-thick layer of the surface, possibly hiding a water-rich interior. The depth of the 2.7 µm hydration band may be an indication of the level of space weathering withstood by a C-type asteroid.

Domain walls in magnetic Weyl semimetals are a source of exotic transport owing to topologically protected domains with opposite chirality. Here, utilizing an optical technique to manipulate magnetic domains in Co₃Sn₂S₂ Hall-bar devices, the authors discover giant antisymmetric magnetoresistance across a domain wall formed by serially connected upward- and downward-magnetized Weyl domains.

Ryugu is more primitive than carbonaceous chondrites, according to elevated noble gas concentrations. Elevated Xe and its isotopic composition further provide constraints on fractionation of the solar composition to form the early planetary components.

Iron nitride (Fe₄N) is detected on magnetite particles within the Ryugu sample returned by Hayabusa2. It is probably the product of impacts of nitrogen-rich dust from the outer Solar System on the surface of Ryugu, indicative of a flux of N-rich dust in the inner Solar System.

Floquet engineering describes the control of a quantum system using light-matter interactions and has received renewed interest due to recent developments in ultrafast spectroscopy techniques. Here, the authors use light scattering spectroscopy to investigate the Floquet state in MoS₂ and apply dynamical symmetries to understand the polarisation selection rules

The returned samples from Hayabusa2 show that C-type asteroid Ryugu experienced various steps of mineralogical alteration within only 1–2 million years after accretion.

Signatures of impact-induced shocks are found on Ryugu returned particles. Observations show that they happened at moderate temperatures (~500 °C) and pressures (~2 GPa) and did not dehydrate the particles substantially, suggesting that bigger meteoroids, rather than micrometeoroids, provide Earth with hydrated minerals.

Oxygen isotopic measurements from the Ryugu returned sample suggest that primitive hydrated carbonaceous chondrites are an important source of early water and other volatiles to Earth, despite being underrepresented in our meteorite collection due to their preferential destruction during atmospheric entry.

The aqueous activity responsible for carbonate formation on Ryugu happened much earlier—less than 1.8 million years after CAI formation—than estimates (4–6 Myr) from carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. Ryugu’s parent body either was smaller than ∼20 km in diameter or was disrupted before reaching the high temperatures required.

About 0.5% by volume of the Ryugu particle C0009 is made up of anhydrous silicates, mostly olivines, despite the extensive aqueous alteration of its parent body. Such aggregates, rich in ¹⁶O, were present in Ryugu’s protolith and survived fluid activity.

Weyl semimetals exhibit a unique feature known as Weyl nodes, which give rise to non-trivial topological features such as an anomalous Hall effect, and there are many efforts to try and control such properties. Here, the authors report light-induced chirality switching in a ferromagnetic Weyl semimetal Co₃Sn₂S₂ using circularly polarized mid-infrared light pulse excitation.

Ultrafast optical excitation of a charge density wave leads to the formation of a metastable gapped state that synchronizes with the underlying correlated phase.

Light-matter interaction is not only used to melt electronic orders, but also carry the potential as a non-thermal tuning knob to enhance emergent orders. Here the authors demonstrate a light-induced transient enhancement of superconductivity in an iron chalcogenide superconductor via terahertz optical conductivity and terahertz third-harmonic generation by the injection of photo-carriers.