Volume 136, Issue 2

16 January 2026

Browse Issues:

On the Cover

Multipartite entanglement enables the generation of a shared secure key among multiple users. Selected for an Editors’ Suggestion.

From the article:

Experimental Phase-Matching Quantum Cryptographic Conferencing in Symmetric and Asymmetric Fiber Channels
Mi Zou, Bin-Chen Li, Shuai Zhao, Yingqiu Mao, Dandan Qin, Xiao Jiang, Teng-Yun Chen, and Jian-Wei Pan
Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 020801 (2026)

HIGHLIGHTED ARTICLES

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Interference-Induced Entanglement Engineering on a Metasurface

Yajun Gao, Rui Zhong, Xianglin Mao, Hulin Zhang, Yue Jiang, Chenyu Bao, Chuanfeng Li, Ruwen Peng, and Mu Wang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 023601 (2026) - Published 13 January, 2026

Photons passing through a specially engineered wafer emerge entangled and spread among multiple output channels.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Experimental Phase-Matching Quantum Cryptographic Conferencing in Symmetric and Asymmetric Fiber Channels

Mi Zou, Bin-Chen Li, Shuai Zhao, Yingqiu Mao, Dandan Qin, Xiao Jiang, Teng-Yun Chen, and Jian-Wei Pan

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 020801 (2026) - Published 12 January, 2026

Phase-matching quantum cryptographic conferencing can operate over realistic intercity fiber networks, advancing the feasibility of multiparty quantum communication.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Unified and Consistent Structure Growth Measurements from Joint ACT, SPT, and Planck CMB Lensing

Frank J. Qu et al. (ACT + SPT-3G Collaborations)

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 021001 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

By combining CMB lensing measurements from three major surveys, the tightest constraint on the structure growth parameter $σ_{8}$ is obtained and found to be in excellent agreement with $Λ$ CDM expectations.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Molecular Alignment Echo for Controlling the Readout Time of Vortex Beams

A. Voisine, P. Béjot, F. Billard, O. Faucher, and E. Hertz

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 023202 (2026) - Published 16 January, 2026

Molecular rotational echoes can be selectively retrieved by angular momentum using vortex beams.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Rigorous Theory of Coupled Resonators

E. A. Muljarov

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 023801 (2026) - Published 16 January, 2026

A new theory of coupled resonators based on a rigorous framework for mode coupling reveals that the standard tight-binding picture fundamentally breaks down for open resonators.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Hydrodynamic Spin-Coupling of Rotors

Jesse Etan Smith, Leif Ristroph, and Jun Zhang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 024001 (2026) - Published 13 January, 2026

Flow experiments and streamline analysis systematically explore the hydrodynamic spin-coupling of rotors, identifying the conditions in which either corotating or counterrotating modes emerge.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Advanced Torrential Loss Function for Precipitation Forecasting

Jaeho Choi, Hyeri Kim, Kwang-Ho Kim, and Jaesung Lee

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 024201 (2026) - Published 13 January, 2026

An advanced torrential loss function for machine-learning-based precipitation forecasting outperforms conventional functions in forecast accuracy.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Monte Carlo Simulations of Crystal Defects in Open Ensembles

Flynn Walsh, Babak Sadigh, Joseph T. McKeown, and Timofey Frolov

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 026201 (2026) - Published 12 January, 2026

A Monte Carlo approach for open ensembles allows the simulation of variable number of defects in materials.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

First-Principles Nanocapacitor Simulations of the Optical Dielectric Constant in Water Ice

Anthony Mannino, Graciele M. Arvelos, Kedarsh Kaushik, Emilio Artacho, Pablo Ordejon, Alexandre R. Rocha, Luana S. Pedroza, and Marivi Fernández-Serra

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 026202 (2026) - Published 16 January, 2026

A first-principles framework involving a charge-separation protocol yields unique capacitance-derived polarizability and dielectric constants in nanocapacitors, reliably separating electrode and dielectric charges.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Rigid-Body Anisotropy in Noncollinear Antiferromagnets

Zheng Liu, Yang Gao, and Qian Niu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 026703 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

In Mn $_{3}$ Sn, spin-orbit coupling is linked to both the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction and biaxial single-ion anisotropy.

LETTERS

Quantum Information, Science, and Technology

Observation of Hierarchy of Hilbert Space Ergodicities in the Quantum Dynamics of a Single Spin

Wenquan Liu, Zou-Wei Pan, Yue Fu, Wen Wei Ho, and Xing Rong

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 020401 (2026) - Published 13 January, 2026

Symmetry Rebreaking in an Effective Theory of Quantum Coarsening

Federico Balducci, Anushya Chandran, and Roderich Moessner

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 020402 (2026) - Published 13 January, 2026

Emergence of Generic Entanglement Structure in Doped Matchgate Circuits

Alessio Paviglianiti, Luca Lumia, Emanuele Tirrito, Alessandro Silva, Mario Collura, Xhek Turkeshi, and Guglielmo Lami

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 020403 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

Double-Bracket Quantum Algorithms for Quantum Imaginary-Time Evolution

Marek Gluza, Jeongrak Son, Bi Hong Tiang, René Zander, Raphael Seidel, Yudai Suzuki, Zoë Holmes, and Nelly H. Y. Ng

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 020601 (2026) - Published 12 January, 2026

Matrix-Product Entanglement Characterizing the Optimality of State-Preparation Quantum Circuits

Shuo Qi, Wen-Jun Li, Gang Su, and Shi-Ju Ran

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 020602 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

Probing Defects with Quantum Simulator Snapshots

Abhijat Sarma, Nayan Myerson-Jain, Yue Liu, Nandagopal Manoj, Jason Alicea, Roger G. Melko, and Cenke Xu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 020603 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

Optical Tweezer-Controlled Entanglement Gates with Trapped-Ion Qubits

David Schwerdt, Lee Peleg, Gal Dekel, Lekshmi Rajagopal, Oz Matoki, Avram Gross, Yotam Shapira, Nitzan Akerman, and Roee Ozeri

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 020604 (2026) - Published 15 January, 2026

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Experimental Phase-Matching Quantum Cryptographic Conferencing in Symmetric and Asymmetric Fiber Channels

Mi Zou, Bin-Chen Li, Shuai Zhao, Yingqiu Mao, Dandan Qin, Xiao Jiang, Teng-Yun Chen, and Jian-Wei Pan

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 020801 (2026) - Published 12 January, 2026

Phase-matching quantum cryptographic conferencing can operate over realistic intercity fiber networks, advancing the feasibility of multiparty quantum communication.

Suppressing Si Valley Excitation and Valley-Induced Spin Dephasing for Long-Distance Shuttling

Yasuo Oda, Merritt P. Losert, and J. P. Kestner

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 020802 (2026) - Published 13 January, 2026

Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Gravitation

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Unified and Consistent Structure Growth Measurements from Joint ACT, SPT, and Planck CMB Lensing

Frank J. Qu et al. (ACT + SPT-3G Collaborations)

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 021001 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

Gravitational-Wave Signatures of Nonstandard Neutrino Properties in Collapsing Stellar Cores

Jakob Ehring, Sajad Abbar, Hans-Thomas Janka, Georg Raffelt, Ko Nakamura, and Kei Kotake

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 021201 (2026) - Published 13 January, 2026

Spinning Black Holes in Modified Gravity via Spectral Methods

Kelvin Ka-Ho Lam, Adrian Ka-Wai Chung, and Nicolás Yunes

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 021401 (2026) - Published 15 January, 2026

Particles and Fields

Observation of the Singly Cabibbo Suppressed Decay $D^{0} \to b_{1} (1235)^{-} e^{+} ν_{e}$ and Evidence for $D^{+} \to b_{1} (1235)^{0} e^{+} ν_{e}$

M. Ablikim et al. (BESIII Collaboration)

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 021801 (2026) - Published 13 January, 2026

Compton-Scattering Total Cross Section at Next-to-Next-to-Leading Order and Resummation of Leading Logarithms

Hai Tao Li, Yan-Qing Ma, Cheng-Tai Tan, Jian Wang, and Hong-Fei Zhang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 021802 (2026) - Published 13 January, 2026

First Observation of $C P$ Violation and Measurement of Polarization in $B^{+} \to ρ (770)^{0} K^{*} (892)^{+}$ Decays

R. Aaij et al. (LHCb Collaboration)

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 021803 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

Observation of $B_{c}^{+} \to D h^{+} h^{-}$ Decays

R. Aaij et al. (LHCb Collaboration)

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 021804 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

Nucleon Tomography with Zero Jettiness

Shen Fang, Shuo Lin, Ding Yu Shao, and Jian Zhou

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 021901 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

Nuclear Physics

Unexpected Rise in Nuclear Collectivity from Short-Range Physics

Kevin S. Becker, Kristina D. Launey, Andreas Ekström, Tomáš Dytrych, Daniel Langr, Grigor H. Sargsyan, and Jerry P. Draayer

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 022501 (2026) - Published 13 January, 2026

First Results on the Search for Lepton Number Violating Neutrinoless Double- $β$ Decay with the LEGEND-200 Experiment

H. Acharya et al. (LEGEND Collaboration)

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 022701 (2026) - Published 16 January, 2026

Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

High-Resolution Spectroscopy of ${}^{173}{Yb}^{+}$ Ions

J. Jiang, A. V. Viatkina, Saaswath JK, M. Steinel, M. Filzinger, E. Peik, S. G. Porsev, M. S. Safronova, A. Surzyhkov, and N. Huntemann

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 023001 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

Nuclear Spin Quenching of the ${{}^{2}S}_{1 / 2} \to {{}^{2}F}_{7 / 2}$ Electric Octupole Transition in ${}^{173}{Yb}^{+}$

Jialiang Yu, Anand Prakash, Clara Zyskind, Ikbal Ahamed Biswas, Rattakorn Kaewuam, Piyaphat Phoonthong, and Tanja E. Mehlstäubler

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 023002 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

Sub-Doppler Cooling of a Trapped Ion in a Phase-Stable Polarization Gradient

Ethan Clements, Felix W. Knollmann, Sabrina Corsetti, Zhaoyi Li, Ashton Hattori, Milica Notaros, Reuel Swint, Tal Sneh, May E. Kim, Aaron D. Leu, Patrick Callahan, Thomas Mahony, Gavin N. West, Cheryl Sorace-Agaskar, Dave Kharas, Robert McConnell, Colin D. Bruzewicz, Isaac L. Chuang, Jelena Notaros, and John Chiaverini

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 023201 (2026) - Published 15 January, 2026

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Molecular Alignment Echo for Controlling the Readout Time of Vortex Beams

A. Voisine, P. Béjot, F. Billard, O. Faucher, and E. Hertz

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 023202 (2026) - Published 16 January, 2026

Molecular rotational echoes can be selectively retrieved by angular momentum using vortex beams.

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Interference-Induced Entanglement Engineering on a Metasurface

Yajun Gao, Rui Zhong, Xianglin Mao, Hulin Zhang, Yue Jiang, Chenyu Bao, Chuanfeng Li, Ruwen Peng, and Mu Wang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 023601 (2026) - Published 13 January, 2026

Photons passing through a specially engineered wafer emerge entangled and spread among multiple output channels.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Rigorous Theory of Coupled Resonators

E. A. Muljarov

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 023801 (2026) - Published 16 January, 2026

A new theory of coupled resonators based on a rigorous framework for mode coupling reveals that the standard tight-binding picture fundamentally breaks down for open resonators.

Supersymmetric Landau Levels in Subwavelength Type-I Dirac Metasurfaces

Yi Yuan, Yikai Xu, Liang Zhao, Qiong He, Shulin Sun, Shaojie Ma, and Lei Zhou

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 023802 (2026) - Published 15 January, 2026

Physics of Fluids, Earth & Planetary Science, and Climate

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Hydrodynamic Spin-Coupling of Rotors

Jesse Etan Smith, Leif Ristroph, and Jun Zhang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 024001 (2026) - Published 13 January, 2026

Flow experiments and streamline analysis systematically explore the hydrodynamic spin-coupling of rotors, identifying the conditions in which either corotating or counterrotating modes emerge.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Advanced Torrential Loss Function for Precipitation Forecasting

Jaeho Choi, Hyeri Kim, Kwang-Ho Kim, and Jaesung Lee

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 024201 (2026) - Published 13 January, 2026

An advanced torrential loss function for machine-learning-based precipitation forecasting outperforms conventional functions in forecast accuracy.

Plasma and Solar Physics, Accelerators and Beams

Experimental Evidence of Vortex $γ$ Photons in All-Optical Inverse Compton Scattering

Mingxuan Wei, Siyu Chen, Yu Wang, Pei-Lun He, Xichen Hu, Mingyang Zhu, Hao Xu, Weijun Zhou, Jiao Jia, Xulei Ge, Lin Lu, Boyuan Li, Feng Liu, Min Chen, Liming Chen, Pavel Polynkin, Jian-Xing Li, Wenchao Yan, and Jie Zhang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 025001 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

First Demonstration of Resonant Pitch-Angle Scattering of Relativistic Electrons by Externally Launched Helicon Waves

H. Choudhury, A. Battey, C. Paz-Soldan, J. Lestz, N. Leuthold, A. Lvovskiy, C. Marini, J. Barr, W. Heidbrink, D. Spong, S. Tang, B. Van Compernolle, Q. Zhang, Y. Zhang, and X. Tang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 025101 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

Shock Reformation Induced by Ion-Scale Whistler Waves in Quasiperpendicular Bow Shock

Si-Bo Xu, Jia-Ji Sun, Shan Wang, Jing-Huan Li, Xu-Zhi Zhou, Daniel B. Graham, Yu-Fei Hao, Qiu-Gang Zong, Chao Yue, Yoshiharu Omura, and Yuri V. Khotyaintsev

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 025201 (2026) - Published 13 January, 2026

Condensed Matter and Materials

Spontaneous Twirls and Structural Frustration in Moiré Materials

Jingtian Shi, Gaurav Chaudhary, Allan H. MacDonald, and Ivar Martin

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 026101 (2026) - Published 13 January, 2026

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Monte Carlo Simulations of Crystal Defects in Open Ensembles

Flynn Walsh, Babak Sadigh, Joseph T. McKeown, and Timofey Frolov

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 026201 (2026) - Published 12 January, 2026

A Monte Carlo approach for open ensembles allows the simulation of variable number of defects in materials.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

First-Principles Nanocapacitor Simulations of the Optical Dielectric Constant in Water Ice

Anthony Mannino, Graciele M. Arvelos, Kedarsh Kaushik, Emilio Artacho, Pablo Ordejon, Alexandre R. Rocha, Luana S. Pedroza, and Marivi Fernández-Serra

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 026202 (2026) - Published 16 January, 2026

Foundations of the Ionization Potential Condition for Localized Electron Removal in Density Functional Theory

Guy Ohad, María Camarasa-Gómez, Jeffrey B. Neaton, Ashwin Ramasubramaniam, Tim Gould, and Leeor Kronik

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 026401 (2026) - Published 12 January, 2026

Microscopic Evidence of Spin-Driven Multiferroicity and Topological Spin Textures in Monolayer ${NiI}_{2}$

Haitao Wang, Tianxing Jiang, Weiyi Pan, Xu Wang, Hongyu Wang, Junchao Tian, Lianchuang Li, Dongming Zhao, Qingle Zhang, Chenxi Wang, Ying Yang, Hongjun Xiang, Changsong Xu, Donglai Feng, and Tong Zhang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 026402 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

One-Dimensional $Z_{2}$ Topological Skin Effect Driven by Acoustic Lossy Couplings

Shuochen Wang, Wei Xiong, Zhiwang Zhang, Ying Cheng, and Xiaojun Liu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 026601 (2026) - Published 13 January, 2026

In-Plane Anomalous Features in the 3D Quantum Hall Regime

Ming Lu and Xiao-Xiao Zhang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 026602 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

Quarter-Metal Superconductivity in Rhombohedral Graphene

Chiho Yoon, Tianyi Xu, Yafis Barlas, and Fan Zhang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 026603 (2026) - Published 16 January, 2026

Altermagnet-Driven Magnon Spin Splitting Nernst Effect

Yuben Yang, Di Wang, Bin Yang, Peng Wang, Yuxuan Mu, Yuanzhe Tian, Bowen Zheng, Weijie Qin, Kaiyuan Wang, Biying Huang, Baigeng Wang, Xiangang Wan, and Di Wu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 026701 (2026) - Published 12 January, 2026

Ferromagnetic Interface Engineering of Spin-Charge Conversion in ${RuO}_{2}$

Dongchao Yang, Zhaoqing Li, Yu Dai, Lili Lang, Zhong Shi, Zhe Yuan, and Shi-Ming Zhou

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 026702 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Rigid-Body Anisotropy in Noncollinear Antiferromagnets

Zheng Liu, Yang Gao, and Qian Niu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 026703 (2026) - Published 14 January, 2026

In Mn $_{3}$ Sn, spin-orbit coupling is linked to both the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction and biaxial single-ion anisotropy.

Statistical Physics; Classical, Nonlinear, and Complex Systems

Supersymmetric Isophase Acoustic Potentials

Jieun Yim, Zihe Gao, Haoqi Zhao, Shuang Wu, Ying Wu, Li Ge, Natalia M. Litchinitser, and Liang Feng

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 027201 (2026) - Published 15 January, 2026