NEWSROOM

Researchers at the University of Tokyo fabricated optical structures based on the “Smith hat,” the aperiodic monotile that solves the Einstein problem. Laser illumination of these nanostructures produced previously unobserved chiral diffraction patterns, revealing how aperiodicity and lack of mirror symmetry can twist light. The results open new directions for quasiperiodic optical devices. Published in Nature Communications.

JGU researcher Jairo Sinova and former Mainz-based scientist Libor Šmejkal receive the 2026 EPS Europhysics Prize of the European Physical Society together with Tomas Jungwirth

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute examined around 25 billion ultracold neutrons and found no evidence of oscillation into mirror neutrons. The high-precision experiment largely rules out the hypothesis that neutrons disappear into a mirror world, a theoretical candidate for dark matter. The results set a new standard for such searches. Published in Physical Review Letters.

An international research team has observed Jahn-Teller polarons, unique quasiparticles, in cobalt oxide (Co₃O₄) crystals triggered by precisely tailored laser pulses. These polarons emerge through ultrafast electron transfer and local lattice distortions, dramatically influencing the material’s structural, electronic, and magnetic properties. Using advanced pump probe spectroscopy and theoretical modeling led by physicists at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Ac

Researchers from Tsinghua University and Nanyang Technological University have achieved a major breakthrough in optical skyrmions — tiny topological “knots” of light that are highly promising for future high-capacity and secure data transmission.

By adapting an algorithm from the 1980s to mathematical objects called tensor networks, researchers at the Flatiron Institute show that classical computers can tackle a class of problems previously claimed to be solvable only by quantum computers