Photoelastic response of a monolayer of bidisperse disks made of a birefringent material and confined to an area of approximately 0.5 x 0.5m².

APS Editor in Chief, Michael Thoennessen, discusses a new opportunity for communicating authors to include their pronouns together with their contact email in order to promote a more respectful, inclusive, and equitable environment.

In a new version of Maxwell’s demon, the tiny being plays the role of a gambler who knows when to quit.

Focus story on:
Gonzalo Manzano et al.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 080603 (2021)

Exceptional points in non-Hermitian topological lattices obey doubling theorems just like Weyl and Dirac points which necessarily appear in pairs in Hermitian materials.

Large mechanical deformation may achieve the complex profiles required to minimize aberration and thus produce superior soft lenses.

Researchers have demonstrated that an ultracold neutral plasma can be magnetically confined, paving the way toward experiments that simulate its hot astrophysical counterparts.

Synopsis on:
G. M. Gorman, M. K. Warrens, S. J. Bradshaw, and T. C. Killian
Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 085002 (2021)

Measurement of secondary fluorine cosmic rays by the AMS experiment unexpectedly shows a rigidity dependence distinct from the other primary classes.

High-speed imaging and simulations show that the single-celled organism called Chlamydomonas reinhardtii beats its flagella on separate planes, explaining how it generates its helical movement.

Synopsis on:
Dario Cortese and Kirsty Y. Wan
Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 088003 (2021)

Entangled pairs of ultracold atoms interfere in a double waveguide.

Synopsis on:
F. Borselli et al.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 083603 (2021)

Fractional quantum Hall bilayers provide a tunable platform to study collective excitations with rich topological and geometric properties.

A spin system crossing a quantum phase transition nonadiabatically may undergo exponential suppression of excitations in the presence of asymmetries.

Contrary to what has been previously assumed for solids, the bulk contributes significantly to the mechanochemical coupling at the surface/interface.

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy reveals finite-energy bound states as well as zero-energy states inside the superconducting gap.

It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing in November 2020 of our former colleague, Jack Sandweiss, who was Editor of Physical Review Letters for a quarter of a century (1987-2013). Jack had a passion for all of physics, which infused his role. He pressed us to be better, always with a smile. Jack spearheaded many initiatives in his time here, as you can see from this APS News interview. He was always looking forward. We will miss him dearly.