Nature Physics, Published online: 01 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41567-026-03237-z
Airy beams are promising for applications requiring sharp focusing but have so far been realized in only two dimensions. Now their extension to three dimensions exhibits superior spatiotemporal focusing dynamics than Gaussian beams.
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- Full space-time ultrafast self-focusing of spherical Airy wavepackets
- Real-space imaging of the band topology of transition metal dichalcogenidesNature Physics, Published online: 31 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41567-026-03197-4 Two distinct types of atomic insulator can be distinguished by the distribution of charges within the unit cell. Now, real-space imaging of WSe2 shows that it is a so-called obstructed insulator.
- Observation of an obstructed atomic band in a transition metal dichalcogenideNature Physics, Published online: 31 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41567-026-03196-5 Atomic insulators come in two varieties: so-called unobstructed and obstructed types. The former are common and now scanning tunnelling microscopy experiments provide evidence for the latter.
- Observation of giant nonlinear valley Hall effectNature Physics, Published online: 31 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41567-026-03221-7 Previous observations of the valley Hall effect have been limited to the linear regime. Now a nonlinear version is demonstrated with a larger magnitude than in the linear case.
- Topology uncovered in real spaceNature Physics, Published online: 31 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41567-026-03199-2 There are theoretical predictions that topologically non-trivial states in materials leave tell-tale signs in the spatial structure of their wave functions. These have now been observed in monolayer materials.
- Publisher Correction: Driving Floquet physics with excitonic fieldsNature Physics, Published online: 31 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41567-026-03264-w Publisher Correction: Driving Floquet physics with excitonic fields
- A tunable topological photonic interferometerNature Physics, Published online: 30 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41567-026-03227-1 Robust interference between photonic topological edge states, without compromising unidirectional transmission, is achieved. Optical gain enables fast, reconfigurable control of mode coupling, thus realizing a tunable on-chip topological interferometer.
- The hydrodynamic torque dipole from rotary bacterial flagella powers symmetric discsNature Physics, Published online: 27 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41567-026-03189-4 It is known that placing asymmetric objects in a bacterial bath results in the net rotation of those objects. Now it is shown that the torque dipole of confined E.coli can rotate symmetric objects hydrodynamically.
