Nature Physics, Published online: 31 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41567-025-03143-w
Orbitronics uses the electron’s orbital angular momentum to enable next-generation memory and computing technologies. This Perspective outlines recent advances, key challenges and future directions in this rapidly evolving field.
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- Challenges and opportunities in orbitronics
- Observation of a hidden charge density wave liquidNature Physics, Published online: 30 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41567-025-03108-z Liquid charge density wave order is thought to occur in many correlated electron systems but has not been observed experimentally. Now, a liquid-like electronic state is shown to emerge in a transition metal dichalcogenide on photoexcitation.
- Experimental evidence of a spatially textured electron fluidNature Physics, Published online: 30 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41567-025-03133-y In most metals, free electrons form a homogeneous and isotropic fluid. However, a periodically modulated electronic fluid — known as a liquid charge density wave — is thought to form when electrons interact strongly with the vibrations of the crystalline host. This state is now observed using ultrafast electron diffraction.
- Interplay of orbital angular momentum and chiralityNature Physics, Published online: 29 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41567-025-03113-2 Orbital angular momentum textures can drive orbital currents and enable applications in orbitronics. This Perspective shows how polarization-dependent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy can visualize orbital textures in momentum space.
- Chirality helps malaria parasites reach their targetNature Physics, Published online: 19 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41567-025-03142-x Malaria parasites rapidly glide through host tissues in right-handed spirals. A tilted architecture and asymmetric forces power this chiral motion and help them to transition between different environments.
- Fusion and fission of particle-like chiral nematic vortex knotsNature Physics, Published online: 15 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41567-025-03107-0 Topologically protected vortex knots are shown to undergo fusion and fission, with electric pulses acting as a switch between the two processes. This might enable applications in electro-optics and photonics.
- Optimal operation of hole spin qubitsNature Physics, Published online: 12 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41567-025-03106-1 Hole spin semiconductor qubits suffer from charge noise, but now it has been demonstrated that placing them in an appropriately oriented magnetic field can suppress this noise and improve qubit performance.
- A super-conducting diode with ultimate efficiency and noise resilience at 77 KNature Physics, Published online: 11 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41567-025-03118-x An electrical method is shown to reliably introduce nonreciprocal behaviour across a Josephson junction made of high-temperature cuprate superconductors, which then, under microwave irradiation, forms a ‘quantum superconducting diode’. The device is magnetic-field-free, works at a temperature of 77 K with a diode efficiency of 100%, and, owing to Shapiro steps that quantize the output voltage, has robust noise-filtering.
