Entangling Independent Particles by Path Identity.

Quantum entanglement-correlations of particles that are stronger than any classical analog-is the basis for research on the foundations of quantum mechanics and for practical applications such as quantum networks. Traditionally, entanglement is achieved through local interactions or via entanglement swapping, where entanglement at a distance is generated through previously established entanglement and Bell-state measurements. However, the precise requirements enabling the generation of quantum entanglement without traditional local interactions remain less explored.

Two-Dimensional Organic-Inorganic van der Waals Hybrids.

Two-dimensional organic-inorganic (2DOI) van der Waals hybrids (vdWhs) have emerged as a groundbreaking subclass of layer-stacked (opto-)electronic materials. The development of 2DOI-vdWhs via systematically integrating inorganic 2D layers with organic 2D crystals at the molecular/atomic scale extends the capabilities of traditional 2D inorganic vdWhs, thanks to their high synthetic flexibility and structural tunability. Constructing an organic-inorganic hybrid interface with atomic precision will unlock new opportunities for generating unique interfacial (opto-)electronic transport properties by combining the strengths of organic and inorganic layers, thus allowing us to satisfy the growing demand for multifunctional applications.

Suppression of bubbles in unstable active liquids via fast evaporation.

A common intuition in thermodynamics is that bubbles can spontaneously grow in unstable liquids, which will be detrimental to a variety of physical and chemical processes, such as evaporation-induced self-assembly and electrocatalysis. Here, we show that this common intuition can be significantly reversed by demonstrating a suppression of bubbles in unstable active liquids induced by fast evaporation, which is in contrast to the bubble growth in passive liquids. Such anomalous bubble suppression can be attributed to an activity-induced inversion of pressure difference between bubbles and their surrounding liquid.

A Two-Dimensional Superconducting Electron Gas at LaFeO/SrTiO Interfaces.

Transition metal oxide interfaces have garnered great attention due to their fascinating properties that are absent in their bulk counterparts. The high mobility and coexistence of superconductivity and magnetism at these interfaces remain compelling research topics. Here, we first report superconductivity in the 2DEG formed at the LaFeO/SrTiO interfaces, characterized by a superconducting transition temperature () of 333 mK and a superconducting layer thickness of 13.

Unleashing the potential: AI empowered advanced metasurface research.

In recent years, metasurface, as a representative of micro- and nano-optics, have demonstrated a powerful ability to manipulate light, which can modulate a variety of physical parameters, such as wavelength, phase, and amplitude, to achieve various functions and substantially improve the performance of conventional optical components and systems. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an emerging strong and effective computational tool that has been rapidly integrated into the study of physical sciences over the decades and has played an important role in the study of metasurface. This review starts with a brief introduction to the basics and then describes cases where AI and metasurface research have converged: from AI-assisted design of metasurface elements up to advanced optical systems based on metasurface.

Controlling thermal emission with metasurfaces and its applications.

Thermal emission caused by the thermal motion of the charged particles is commonly broadband, un-polarized, and incoherent, like a melting pot of electromagnetic waves, which makes it unsuitable for infrared applications in many cases requiring specific thermal emission properties. Metasurfaces, characterized by two-dimensional subwavelength artificial nanostructures, have been extensively investigated for their flexibility in tuning optical properties, which provide an ideal platform for shaping thermal emission. Recently, remarkable progress was achieved not only in tuning thermal emission in multiple degrees of freedom, such as wavelength, polarization, radiation angle, coherence, and so on but also in applications of compact and integrated optical devices.

Achieving asymmetry parameter-insensitive resonant modes through relative shift-induced quasi-bound states in the continuum.

High-Q resonances in metasurfaces, stemming from symmetry-protected bound states in the continuum (BICs), have proven to be effective for achieving high-performance optical devices. However, the properties associated with symmetry-protected BICs are inherently limited, as even a slight variation in the asymmetry parameter leads to a noticeable shift in the resonance location. Herein, we introduce the concept of relative shift-induced quasi-BICs (QBICs) within dimerized silicon (Si) meta-lattices (DSMs), which can be excited when a nonzero relative shift occurs, a result of in-plane inversion symmetry breaking and Brillouin zone folding within the structure.

Topological Phononic Fiber of Second Spin-Chern Number.

The discovery of quantum spin Hall effect characterized by the first spin-Chern numbers in 2D systems has significantly advanced topological materials. To explore its 4D counterpart is of fundamental importance, but so far remains elusive in experiments. Here, we realize a topological phononic fiber protected by the second spin-Chern number in a 4D manifold, using a 3D geometric structure combined with a 1D rotational parameter space.

A self-learning magnetic Hopfield neural network with intrinsic gradient descent adaption.

Physical neural networks (PNN) using physical materials and devices to mimic synapses and neurons offer an energy-efficient way to implement artificial neural networks. Yet, training PNN is difficult and heavily relies on external computing resources. An emerging concept to solve this issue is called physical self-learning that uses intrinsic physical parameters as trainable weights.

The Effects of Ligands with Different Electron Donation on the Nitrogen Reduction Performance of Constructed Co-MOFs: NH or NH?

Four cobalt-based metal-organic frameworks (Co-MOFs) based on different ligands with varying electron-donating properties (dpt = 2,5-di(pyridin-4-yl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole, NH₂bdc = 5-aminoisophthalic acid, OHbdc = 5-hydroxyisophthalic acid, H₂tdc = thiophene-2,5-dicarboxylic acid, and hfipbb = 4,4'-(hexafluoropropane-2,2-diyl)bisbenzoic acid) are synthesized. Among them, Co-dpt-NH₂bdc demonstrates the highest nitrogen reduction reaction activity, achieving an ammonia (NH) yield of 68.61 µg·h⁻¹·mg⁻¹ and Faraday efficiency (FE) of 6.

Lithium extraction from low-quality brines.

In the quest for environmental sustainability, the rising demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies has substantially increased the need for efficient lithium extraction methods. Traditional lithium production, relying on geographically concentrated hard-rock ores and salar brines, is associated with considerable energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, groundwater depletion and land disturbance, thereby posing notable environmental and supply chain challenges. On the other hand, low-quality brines-such as those found in sedimentary waters, geothermal fluids, oilfield-produced waters, seawater and some salar brines and salt lakes-hold large potential owing to their extensive reserves and widespread geographical distribution.

Crystal-facet modulated pathway of CO photoreduction on BiNbOCl nanosheets boosting production of value-added solar fuels.

Two nanosheets of BiNbOCl were successfully synthesized for photocatalytic conversion of CO into solar fuel, featuring differently exposed (001) and (201) facets. The exposure of these specific facets facilitates C-C coupling to generate ethanol, and (201) facet typically accelerates this process.

Ultrasound-assisted aberration correction of transcranial photoacoustic imaging based on angular spectrum theory.

To correct the refraction aberration induced by the skull in photoacoustic imaging, a method for phase distortion compensation is proposed based on the angular spectrum theory with the aid of ultrasonic signals. This method first updates the speed of sound distribution by iteratively performing aberration correction in the ultrasonic reconstruction. Then the speed of sound distribution obtained with ultrasound-assisted serves as prior knowledge to address phase distortion compensation by adjusting the phase shift factor of the wavefront in different media.

Tunable third harmonic generation based on high-Q polarization-controlled hybrid phase-change metasurface.

Dielectric metasurfaces have made significant advancements in the past decade for enhancing light-matter interaction at the nanoscale. Particularly, bound states in the continuum (BICs) based on dielectric metasurfaces have been employed to enhance nonlinear harmonic generation. However, conventional nonlinear metasurfaces are typically fixed in their operating wavelength after fabrication.

High-efficiency nonlinear frequency conversion enabled by optimizing the ferroelectric domain structure in -cut LNOI ridge waveguide.

Photonic devices based on ferroelectric domain engineering in thin film lithium niobate are key components for both classical and quantum information processing. Periodic poling of ridge waveguide can avoid the selective etching effect of lithium niobate, however, the fabrication of high-quality ferroelectric domain is still a challenge. In this work, we optimized the applied electric field distribution, and rectangular inverted domain structure was obtained in the ridge waveguide which is beneficial for efficient nonlinear frequency conversions.

Programmable flip-metasurface with dynamically tunable reflection and broadband undistorted transmission.

We introduce a programmable flip-metasurface that can dynamically control the reflection while leaving the transmitted wavefront undistorted in an ultra-broad spectrum, i.e., the same as that of the incidence.

Bioinspired adaptive lipid-integrated bilayer coating for enhancing dynamic water retention in hydrogel-based flexible sensors.

While hydrogel-based flexible sensors find extensive applications in fields such as medicine and robotics, their performance can be hindered by the rapid evaporation of water, leading to diminished sensitivity and mechanical durability. Despite the exploration of some effective solutions, such as introducing organic solvents, electrolytes, and elastomer composites, these approaches still suffer from problems including diminished conductivity, interface misalignment, and insufficient protection under dynamic conditions. Inspired by cell membrane structures, we developed an adaptive lipid-integrated bilayer coating (ALIBC) to enhance water retention in hydrogel-based sensors.

Dynamic Diselenide Hydrogels for Controlled Tumor Organoid Culture and Dendritic Cell Vaccination.

Dynamic hydrogels are emerging as advanced materials for engineering tissue-like environments that mimic cellular microenvironments. We introduce a diselenide-cross-linked hydrogel system with light-responsive properties, designed for precise control of tumor organoid growth and light-initiated radical inactivation, particularly for dendritic cell (DC) vaccines. Diselenide exchange enables stress relaxation and hydrogel remodeling, while recombination and quenching of seleno radicals (Se) reduce cross-linking density, leading to controlled degradation.

Strong Magneto-Chiroptical Effects through Introducing Chiral Transition-Metal Complex Cations to Lead Halide.

The interplay between chirality with magnetism can break both the space and time inversion symmetry and have wide applications in information storage, photodetectors, multiferroics and spintronics. Herein, we report the chiral transition-metal complex cation-based lead halide, R-CDPB and S-CDPB. In contrast with the traditional chiral metal halides with organic cations, a novel strategy for chirality transfer from the transition-metal complex cation to the lead halide framework is developed.

Large Band Splitting in g-Wave Altermagnet CrSb.

Altermagnetism (AM), a newly discovered magnetic state, ingeniously integrates the properties of ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism, representing a significant breakthrough in the field of magnetic materials. Despite experimental verification of some typical AM materials, such as MnTe and MnTe_{2}, the pursuit of AM materials that feature larger spin splitting and higher transition temperature is still essential. Here, our research focuses on CrSb, which possesses Néel temperature of up to 700 K and giant spin splitting near the Fermi level (E_{F}).