JPS Hot Topics

Shrinkage-induced surface cracking is common in drying mud, paints, and coatings. The statistical properties of these patterns offer valuable insights into their formation and evolution, and the distribution of fragment sizes is particularly informative. Accurately estimating this distribution from limited data remains a central challenge in inverse modeling and materials design. Among these statistical properties, […]

Electronic ferroelectrics are materials in which the electric polarization originates from the ordering of electrons, rather than from the displacement of ions. This distinction is important because electrons respond much faster than ions, enabling the development of ferroelectric devices with ultrafast switching and novel functionalities. YbFe2O4 belongs to the mixed-valence iron oxide family RFe2O4 (R: […]

In macroscopic bulk systems, current noise is regarded merely as an undesirable disturbance. However, in low-dimensional and nanoscale materials, it serves as a powerful probe to analyze microscopic scattering processes occurring within the material. Specifically, current noise arising from phonons (thermal atomic vibrations) reflects the details of electron–phonon interactions, energy dissipation, and nonequilibrium dynamics, making […]

Several animals, such as birds, butterflies, and beetles, exhibit dazzling colors derived not from pigments but from intricate nanostructures. These structural colors arise from the interference, diffraction, or scattering of light within periodic or quasiperiodic nanostructures. The reflected wavelength changes with the viewing angle, producing brilliant iridescence. Understanding how living organisms control light through their […]

The piezomagnetic effect refers to the induction of ferromagnet-like magnetization through the application of mechanical strain to a magnetically compensated system. It is regarded as the magnetic analogue of the piezoelectric effect, where strain induces electric polarization in dielectric materials. Although the phenomenon has been recognized for several decades, examples of piezomagnetism have been limited, […]

What is glass? This seemingly simple question remains a fundamental mystery of modern physics. Although glass is widely used in daily life — for instance in smartphone displays, optical fibers, and construction materials — its scientific definition remains unclear. Glass forms when a liquid is rapidly cooled, avoiding crystallization, and enters a rigid disordered state […]

The Fe₂VAl, a Heusler-type intermetallic compound, is a promising thermoelectric material because of its semimetallic nature and favorable Seebeck coefficient. Under normal conditions, Fe₂VAl exhibits a positive Seebeck coefficient, indicating hole-dominated conduction. However, recent experiments have shown that rapid quenching at high temperatures can reverse the Seebeck coefficient sign, suggesting a shift towards electron-dominated conduction. […]

The heaviest elements known were produced by using the emblematic calcium-48 beam associated to the actinide targets up to californium, the ultimate element available at tens of milligrams amounts. No elements were discovered yet above oganesson (Z=118) despite trial of several beam-targets combinations. With its two more protons with respect to calcium, the titanium-50 is […]

Active matter is a relatively new subfield of nonequilibrium physics, where characterizing phase transitions and discovering new phases are key to understanding the collective behavior of systems in the thermodynamic limit. While studies have investigated phase transitions at equilibrium, a central question in nonequilibrium physics — and active matter in particular — is whether there […]

What happens when a material is removed far from its thermal equilibrium? At equilibrium, Ohm’s law—one of the most familiar principles in physics—predicts a linear relationship between voltage and current. However, under non-equilibrium conditions, this linearity can break down dramatically, resulting in non-linear conduction. Such phenomena are not only of interest for designing next-generation switching […]