Physical Review Letters

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The world’s most-cited journal in multidisciplinary physics.

An emergent vortex lattice in the 3-q state in real space, where phase is denoted by color — either yellow, cyan, or magenta — and magnitude is denoted by the intensity of the color. Roughly hexagonal shapes of these colors are interspersed in a lattice pattern with blurry boundaries between them. At each vertex is a thick black X.
A gray schematic of a two-probe coherent conductor. Global noises SLL and SLR, each shown as two overlapping circles, quantify correlations of current fluctuations measured at the left and right leads, labeled “L” and “R” in rectangles on the left and right, respectively. Local noise Sxy represents correlations of current density fluctuations between positions r and r′ — shown as arrows pointing right and up, respectively, that are connected with two blue semicircle arrows pointing at each other. Finite-frequency local shot noise can dissipate energy via near-field radiation, shown as a red squiggly arrow representing near-field electromagnetic energy at frequency ω.
A hexagonal array of 331 buckled microbeads on an optical tweezers lattice, where each bead’s brightness — ranging from light gray to dark gray — indicates its spin-up or spin-down state. The background is dark gray.
Graphic with four parts. The top left shows two wavy lines. The top is a shaken lattice and the bottom shows the effective H. Shaking the lattice makes J a time periodic function and produces a static effective model with long-ranged interactions. The top right part shows a schematic representation of the interaction amplitudes of the KDBH model, which has strong links between nearest neighbors. The bottom left part shows a vaguely circular shape made of straight lines to show the Bose-Hubbard model. The bottom right part shows a schematic representation of the SYK model. Every site is connected to every other site by random tunneling. The logarithmic distribution is parabolic.
A radial graphic with a central circle bolded with the acronym "HED" (High Energy Density), surrounded by five circular sub-topic nodes: Dynamic Compression (top): Depicted with a pink and yellow plasma explosion. Computer Simulations (top right): Depicted with a hand holding a computer chip. Astrophysics & Planetary Science (bottom right): Depicted with an illustration of the layers of a planet. Complex Material Behavior (bottom left): Depicted with a network of green and blue molecular structures. Static Compression (top Left): Depicted with two diamonds one above the other coming together at their points in the middle with a line through it.
Graphic showing the crystal structure of URhSn from different views. The top left part shows the regular crystal structure with some atoms labeled. The top right part shows the crystal structure from the top, along the z axis. The bottom part shows the structure of the chiral antiferroquadrupolar order with the space group P321 (#150).
Illustration of an elastic material composed of rigid rod-like particles (green rectangles). The red and blue arrows show the particles' displacements and internal rotations away from the rest positions and rest orientations of the undeformed state. The pink curved arrow shows the local active torque.
Side-by-side schematic diagrams illustrate quantum interference control in a semiconductor. In both panels, a lower dome-shaped valence band and an upper bowl-shaped conduction band are connected by pairs of vertical arrows representing optical excitation of charge carriers. Orange and green arrows in the left panel and orange and red arrows in the right panel indicate different excitation pathways. Dashed ovals near the conduction band mark regions where carriers are injected, while circular rings in the center plane depict the resulting momentum-space distribution. The left panel shows a more symmetric carrier distribution, whereas the right panel highlights an asymmetric distribution around the ring, illustrating quantum interference that preferentially injects carriers with momentum in one direction.
Graphic showing the conceptual experimental setup in two parts. The top part shows the setup for 1+2 quantum interference control and the bottom shows the setup for 2+3 quantum interference control. In the bottom right corner, an inset shows an image of the sample with two sets of orthogonal electrodes shown.
Crystal structure diagram viewed along the c-axis. Gray octahedra form a repeating honeycomb-like lattice across the image. Each octahedron contains a blue circle at its center. Small yellow and red circles mark sulfur atoms at the corners and edges. Two sulfur atoms on the right are labeled S(1) in red and S(2) in yellow. White circles occupy spaces between the octahedra, labeled P. Three black arrows point in different inward directions from selected sulfur atoms. Crystallographic axes a, b, and c are shown in the lower-right corner.
A graph plotting constraints on the cross-section of the dark matter-nucleon scattering, with mχ on the x-axis and scattering on the y-axis. A series of black solid and dashed lines represent constraints from this work under three different assumptions for the value of ms. A green dashed line plots the recast constraint from a previous experiment. The plot also contains green, red, purple, and yellow color-filled regions at the top, corresponding to the best excluded regions from MDMM, CRDM, and MEDM searches.
Graph showing the weighted CP asymmetry as a function of the transformed decay-time and phase-space variable t′ over one oscillation period. The data forms a wavy line of black dots. A red line shows the fit projection.
Figure showing the nonlinear viscoelastic effects in two parts. Each has a gray cube with a yellow shape overlaid. The left shows the application of orthogonal normal distortions that couple to stress-momentum currents in yellow. The right shows the application of shear distortions that couple to currents and cause nonlinear viscoelastic current responses without dissipation.
A schematic phase diagram and crystal structure diagrams of Ba₄Ru₃O₁₀. On the left, a vertical rectangular phase diagram uses red and purple dots and arrows to illustrate three temperature regimes: a disordered state at high temperatures, an antiferromagnetic and density wave phase at 100 Kelvin, and a collective transport regime below 20 Kelvin. On the right, three panels show gray and red ball-and-stick crystal structure diagrams, with red spheres representing oxygen atoms and grey spheres representing ruthenium atoms arranged into trimer units. Two panels show the structure at different orientations.
Circular visualization of the Moon's surface with a jagged outer edge representing changes in topography. Colored bands around the circumference indicate variations in crustal thickness derived from LOLA and GRAIL mission data, transitioning through blues, purples, reds, oranges, and white. The center of the circle is blank, emphasizing the ring-like map of the lunar surface and crust.
Two panels stacked vertically show crustal thickness variations on a latitude-longitude map of the lunar model. Crustal thickness varies on a red-blue color scale from 5 to 55 kilometers. The upper plot contains different-sized splotches of red and blue. A wavy black line represents a ground track that passes through Mare Humboldtianum, Mare Imbrium, and the SPA basin. Five yellow triangles mark locations of seismographs. Yellow and green stars mark potential landing sites for Chang’e-7 and the Farside Seismic Suite, respectively. The lower plot shows the model truncated at l = 4 so that the red and blue pattern appears larger and blurrier.
A contour plot with a color gradient ranging from purple to yellow representing numeric values. The x-axis is labeled "cos θK" and the y-axis is labeled "φ". Sections are marked with letters "A" and "B". The plot is divided into four quadrants, with "A" in the upper right and lower left, and "B" in the upper left and lower right. There is a color bar on the right indicating the scale of values.
Close-up views of three graphs. The image on the left shows a portion of a graph of the calculated change in density of states as functions of λ_vZ and ν at λ_R = 0 meV and B = 1 T. In the center is a portion of the graph showing experimentally measured σxx as functions of D and n at B = 1 T, with the line slice of SdH oscillations ∆σ_xx extracted from D = 0.07 V nm⁻¹ . On the right is a portion of the graph showing the calculated change in density of states as functions of ϑspin-orbit coupling = arctan(λ_R/λ_vZ) and ν at λ spin-orbit coupling = 1.6 meV and B = 1 T.
A graph comparing five colored curves labeled 0PN through 4PN. Each curve rises to a peak, marked with a star, then gradually declines. Dotted vertical lines mark the peak position for each curve. Two dashed vertical reference lines—one green and one black—appear near the center of the graph, where the curves become more closely aligned. The graph shows that the peak values converge as the approximation order increases.
Hundreds of merging black hole binaries (black circles) have been detected via gravitational waves. Different analyses of black hole masses (circle sizes) and spins (dark purple arrows) are converging on a conclusion: A subpopulation of observed mergers are likely hierarchical, meaning that they contain at least one black hole that is the remnant of a previous coalescence. Such hierarchical mergers typically occur in dense astrophysical environments (top left). Image credit: S. J. Miller/Caltech; Background image: G. Chapdelaine/ESA/Hubble and NASA
Heatmap-style scientific image showing a ring-shaped pattern of 10 bright, petal-like regions arranged around a dark central opening. The glowing regions transition from yellow at their brightest points to orange and red at the edges. Short white and blue line segments overlaid on the image indicate local orientations or vector directions across the pattern, illustrating the alignment of the underlying structure. The black background emphasizes the circular symmetry and radiating features.
A schematic of unidirectional vortex beam generation enabled by isotropic interband coupling. On the left is a diagram showing the unidirectional guided resonance ring induced by isotropic coupling, shown as a ring of exceptional points, centered around a bound state in the continuum with a topological charge of +1 at the Γ point. On the right is an illustration of the bilayer hexagonal lattice photonic crystal slab generating unidirectional vortex beams.
Artist's rendering of a network of neurons showing glowing neuron cells interconnected with branching structures illuminated in yellow and orange hues.
Technical illustration of a quantum hardware device showing two stacked layers. The top layer features a square superconducting circuit outlined in red with evenly spaced connection pads around the edges and a circular opening at the center revealing part of the underlying structure. Below, a blue-tinted chip contains a dense network of conductive traces radiating from a central square component to connection pads around the perimeter. The separated layers emphasize how the upper circuit aligns with and integrates into the lower chip.
An image with red and blue splotches showing how dynamic correlation among electrons is visualized by inelastic X-ray scattering. The vertical blue stripe indicates the exchange-correlation hole.
A white bowl filled with scoops of light-colored ice cream, heavily drizzled with a thick, glossy dark chocolate fudge sauce that covers most of the top.
A grid of 24 circular skymaps, each labeled with a one-hour interval from 0:00–1:00 through 23:00–24:00, shows the relative intensity of cosmic rays overhead across a full day. Each map uses a color scale from blue (lower intensity) to yellow, orange, and red (higher intensity) and includes a black arrow indicating the direction and strength of a large-scale anisotropy. The arrow grows strongest during the late morning to early afternoon before weakening again, illustrating how the anisotropy evolves over time during an interplanetary coronal mass ejection.
Two scientific heat maps illustrating electron dynamics in a geometrically inspired time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) framework. The left panel shows broad horizontal bands alternating between red and blue across the image, with a narrow vertical transition region near the center where the colors reverse sign. The right panel shows a much more localized pattern: small red and blue lobes concentrated around the central vertical line and fading rapidly away from it. Both panels include color bars indicating positive values in red and negative values in blue, highlighting the contrast between the extended response in the left panel and the tightly confined, non-adiabatic electron behavior captured in the right panel.
Scientific illustration showing how a localized bump in a magnetic film generates spin waves. On the left, a cross-sectional view of a rounded magnetic-film protrusion is colored by intensity, with magenta arrows pointing outward from its surface to indicate the magnetic response under microwave excitation. On the right, a top-down circular view shows concentric colored bands surrounding the bump and evenly spaced arrows radiating outward, representing spin waves emitted at discrete, regularly spaced frequencies. The color scale transitions from blue to red, highlighting variations in the wave pattern and magnetic field distribution.
Penrose diagram illustrating their choice of spacetime slicing (gray dotted lines) and the particle’s geodesic-order plunging trajectory (solid blue curve). The dotted red lines indicate the slice on which the particle crosses the zeroth-order light ring at r_p=3m_1.
Graph showing quality factor (Q) versus frequency (ω). A purple curve slopes downward from left to right, indicating that the quality factor decreases as frequency increases. A vertical green dashed line labeled "Current" marks the operating frequency, where the curve intersects at a moderate Q value. The figure illustrates the current device performance and suggests room for improving coherence at that frequency.
A four-point scattering process, with two incoming and two outgoing particles, can be investigated under certain symmetry and analyticity constraints (left). The results reveal a unique answer for the scattering amplitudes in which the particles behave as closed strings (right).
An abstract physics diagram from the file prl monday.png illustrates a quantum mechanics concept involving three participants labeled Alice, Bob, and Charlie. Each participant is represented by a large, iridescent pearl-like sphere connected to a smaller attached bubble. Inside each smaller bubble is a faint, detailed coordinate axis illustration labeled $R_{F_a}$ for Alice, $R_{F_b}$ for Bob, and $R_{F_c}$ for Charlie, with the word "flag" written in orange beneath Charlie's label. Three curved orange arrows radiate outward from a central mathematical term, $e^{i\alpha}$, pointing directly toward the smaller bubble of each participant to signify a shared relationship or phase distribution.
A schematic illustration shows trapped helium-4 and helium-3 atoms held in separate optical traps above a measurement surface. Colored shading represents laser spectroscopy used to probe each atom, while arrows indicate a comparison of their positions to measure differences in nuclear charge radius.
Cutaway schematic of a particle detector showing a central beam pipe running through concentric detector layers inside a large cylindrical magnet.
Schematic phase diagrams of Nd₃BWO₉, where the solid line represents a first-order transition, and the red star denotes the critical endpoint. The dashed lines enclose the Ising supercritical regime (ISR).
In the Shubnikov–de Haas effect (top left), the oscillatory behavior of resistivity as a function of magnetic field and the Fermi surface area AFS can be used to investigate the Fermi surface shape. But at strong fields that correspond to a rational fraction p/q of the flux quantum (top right), a new “magnetic” unit cell emerges (red lines), encircling one quantum of magnetic flux Φ0. Here the charge-carrying quasiparticles—the Brown-Zak fermions—occupy an energy level (bottom center) where the magnetic field is effectively zero. Slightly above or below these rational values (bottom right and left), the effective field is finite, leading to oscillatory behavior.