There is a long-running effort to find a material with a spin liquid ground state, but existing experimental probes have not given definitive evidence. Now, impurity spins have been used as probes of the putative spin liquid phase of herbertsmithite.

Relaxation processes in glasses display two distinct components—fast localized motions versus slower diffusive dynamics. Time-domain interferometry experiments with a typical glass former now show that the two processes are coupled.

Anderson localization allows critical states between localized and extended regimes, but observing them is difficult. Now critical states are experimentally realized in a superconducting-qubit simulator implementing a quasiperiodic lattice model.

Laughlin states are descriptions of the quantum Hall effect in which interactions between electrons create fractionally charged quasiparticles. Now, excitons are shown to form between these quasiparticles in a bilayer graphene device.

Short-wavelength magnons and their couplings are difficult to detect, limiting studies of nanoscale spin dynamics. Now a method using soft X-rays to image magnon momentum captures their nonlinear interactions with nanometre-scale sensitivity.

Two different types of medium-thickness rhombohedral graphene are shown to exhibit multiple superconducting states. These states arise from wavefunctions that are localized mainly on their two outer layers.

Most researchers would agree that science communication is important. Still, academia would benefit from a more proactive approach — one that embeds communication in research culture.

Max Planck introduced units of length, time and mass defined solely in terms of fundamental constants. As Saurya Das explains, these units define a system in which quantum mechanics, relativity, gravity and thermodynamics meet on equal footing.

International metrological decision-making processes are exceedingly complex. Shanay Rab and Richard Brown explain how it works.