Volume 136, Issue 9

6 March 2026

Browse Issues:

On the Cover

Artist’s conception of spectral manipulation of single photons. Selected for a Focus story in Physics Magazine and for an Editors’ Suggestion.

From the article:

Broadband Spectral Manipulation of Single Photons Using Cross-Phase Modulation
Kate L. Fenwick, Frédéric Bouchard, Guillaume Thekkadath, Philip J. Bustard, Duncan England, and Benjamin J. Sussman
Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 090803 (2026)

HIGHLIGHTED ARTICLES

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Broadband Spectral Manipulation of Single Photons Using Cross-Phase Modulation

Kate L. Fenwick, Frédéric Bouchard, Guillaume Thekkadath, Philip J. Bustard, Duncan England, and Benjamin J. Sussman

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 090803 (2026) - Published 6 March, 2026

Researchers can adjust the frequency and bandwidth of single photons inside an optical fiber, which will be useful for future quantum networks.

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Relativistic Feedback Discharges in Dielectric Solids

Victor P. Pasko, Sebastien Celestin, and Anne Bourdon

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 095301 (2026) - Published 5 March, 2026

Electrons accelerated to relativistic speeds in a dielectric material can produce bursts of x rays, similar to a phenomenon found in thunderstorms.

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Anderson Localization in a Two-Dimensional Metal

Morgan Thinel, Taketo Handa, Christie S. Koay, Daniel G. Chica, Nicholas Olsen, Apoorv Jindal, JeongHeon Choe, Xavier Roy, Xiaoyang Zhu, and Abhay N. Pasupathy

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096401 (2026) - Published 3 March, 2026

A new layered material enabled researchers to document a dramatic change in metallic electron behavior as the material goes from 3D to 2D.

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Magnetic Signature of Chiral Phonons Revealed by Neutron Spectroscopy in Ferrimagnetic ${Fe}_{1.75} {Zn}_{0.25} {Mo}_{3} O_{8}$

Song Bao, Junbo Liao, Zhentao Huang, Yanyan Shangguan, Zhen Ma, Bo Zhang, Shufan Cheng, Hao Xu, Zihang Song, Shuai Dong, Maofeng Wu, Ryoichi Kajimoto, Mitsutaka Nakamura, Tom Fennell, Dmitry Khalyavin, and Jinsheng Wen

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096502 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

Neutron scattering has provided a new and broader view of the twirling collective atomic vibrations in a magnetic crystal.

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

Turbulent Dynamos in a Collapsing Cloud

Muhammed Irshad, Pallavi Bhat, Kandaswamy Subramanian, and Anvar Shukurov

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 091201 (2026) - Published 5 March, 2026

A coordinate transformation devised for an expanding universe leads to new insights into how a collapsing protogalaxy acquires a large magnetic field.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Decoherent Histories with(out) Objectivity in a (Broken) Apparatus

Benoît Ferté, Davide Farci, and Xiangyu Cao

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 090404 (2026) - Published 5 March, 2026

An analysis of a quantum-to-classical transition reveals two distinct notions of classicality.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Self-Organized Criticality in Atmospheric Rivers

Shang Wang, Jun Meng, Sheng Fang, Teng Liu, Kim Christensen, Jürgen Kurths, and Jingfang Fan

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 094201 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

A statistical-physics-based analysis of the full life cycle of atmospheric rivers finds universal signatures of self-organized criticality.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Pressure-Induced 18 K Superconductivity and Two Superconducting Phases in ${CuIr}_{2} S_{4}$

Bijuan Chen, Yuhao Gu, Dong Wang, Dexi Shao, Wen Deng, Xin Han, Meiling Jin, Jing Song, Yu Zeng, Hirofumi Ishii, Yen-Fa Liao, Dongzhou Zhang, Jianbo Zhang, Youwen Long, Jinlong Zhu, Liuxiang Yang, Hong Xiao, Jia-cai Nie, Youguo Shi, Changqing Jin, Jiangping Hu, Ho-kwang Mao, and Yang Ding

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096505 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

CuIr $_{2}$ S $_{4}$ becomes a bulk superconductor with T $_{c}$ of 18.2 K under pressure, a new record for spinels, and splits into two distinct superconducting phases that coexist over a broad window.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Quantum Oscillations of Nonlinear Electrical Transport in a Topological Dirac Semimetal

Vijaysankar Kalappattil, Chuanpu Liu, Zhijie Chen, Vipul Sharma, Kai Liu, Jinke Tang, Steven S.-L. Zhang, and Mingzhong Wu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096603 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

Quantum oscillations in nonlinear electrical transport reveal the geometry and spin orientation of the Fermi surface in the Dirac semimetal α-Sn.

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Brightening Interlayer Excitons by Electric-Field-Driven Hole Transfer in Bilayer ${WSe}_{2}$

Tianyi Ouyang, Erfu Liu, Soonyoung Cha, Rukai Cang, Raj Kumar Paudel, Yiyang Sun, Zhaoran Xu, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, Nathaniel M. Gabor, Yia-Chung Chang, and Chun Hung Lui

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096903 (2026) - Published 6 March, 2026

Bilayer WSe $_{2}$ hosts bright interlayer A and B excitons even when separated by ~300 meV from intralayer excitons, a regime where conventional exciton hybridization models fail.

LETTERS

Quantum Information, Science, and Technology

Reliable Quantum Steering Detection under Imperfect Measurement

Ting Zhang, Wenhao Zhang, Jing-Tao Qiu, Leilei Huang, Xiao Yuan, and Qi-Ming Ding

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 090201 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

General Quantum Backflow in Realistic Wave Packets

Tomasz Paterek and Arseni Goussev

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 090202 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

Power and Limitations of Distributed Quantum State Purification

Benchi Zhao, Yu-Ao Chen, Xuanqiang Zhao, Chengkai Zhu, Giulio Chiribella, and Xin Wang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 090203 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

No-Go Theorems for Universal Quantum State Purification via Classically Simulable Operations

Keming He, Chengkai Zhu, Hongshun Yao, Jinguo Liu, Yinan Li, and Xin Wang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 090204 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

Catability as a Metric for Evaluating Superposed Coherent States

Šimon Bräuer, Jan Provazník, Vojtěch Kala, and Petr Marek

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 090205 (2026) - Published 5 March, 2026

Unquestionable Bell Theorem for Interwoven Frustrated Downconversion Processes

Paweł Cieśliński, Jan-Åke Larsson, Marcin Markiewicz, Konrad Schlichtholz, and Marek Żukowski

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 090206 (2026) - Published 6 March, 2026

Symmetric Tensor Scars with Tunable Entanglement from Volume to Area Law

Bhaskar Mukherjee, Christopher J. Turner, Marcin Szyniszewski, and Arijeet Pal

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 090401 (2026) - Published 3 March, 2026

Quantum Mpemba Effect in Long-Range Spin Systems

Shion Yamashika and Filiberto Ares

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 090402 (2026) - Published 5 March, 2026

Coupled Lindblad Pseudomode Theory for Simulating Open Quantum Systems

Zhen Huang, Gunhee Park (박건희), Garnet Kin-Lic Chan, and Lin Lin

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 090403 (2026) - Published 5 March, 2026

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Decoherent Histories with(out) Objectivity in a (Broken) Apparatus

Benoît Ferté, Davide Farci, and Xiangyu Cao

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 090404 (2026) - Published 5 March, 2026

An analysis of a quantum-to-classical transition reveals two distinct notions of classicality.

Learning Mixed Quantum States in Large-Scale Experiments

Matteo Votto, Marko Ljubotina, Cécilia Lancien, J. Ignacio Cirac, Peter Zoller, Maksym Serbyn, Lorenzo Piroli, and Benoît Vermersch

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 090801 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

Symmetry and Topology of Successive Quantum Feedback Control

Junxuan Wen, Zongping Gong, and Takahiro Sagawa

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 090802 (2026) - Published 5 March, 2026

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Broadband Spectral Manipulation of Single Photons Using Cross-Phase Modulation

Kate L. Fenwick, Frédéric Bouchard, Guillaume Thekkadath, Philip J. Bustard, Duncan England, and Benjamin J. Sussman

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 090803 (2026) - Published 6 March, 2026

Researchers can adjust the frequency and bandwidth of single photons inside an optical fiber, which will be useful for future quantum networks.

Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Gravitation

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

Turbulent Dynamos in a Collapsing Cloud

Muhammed Irshad, Pallavi Bhat, Kandaswamy Subramanian, and Anvar Shukurov

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 091201 (2026) - Published 5 March, 2026

A coordinate transformation devised for an expanding universe leads to new insights into how a collapsing protogalaxy acquires a large magnetic field.

Indications against Dynamical $C P T$ Symmetry Restoration in Quantum Gravity

Astrid Eichhorn and Marc Schiffer

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 091501 (2026) - Published 6 March, 2026

Particles and Fields

Large- $N$ Free Energy of Chiral $N = 2$ Chern-Simons-Matter Theories

Seyed Morteza Hosseini

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 091601 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

From Quantum Relative Entropy to the Semiclassical Einstein Equations

Philipp Dorau and Albert Much

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 091602 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

Haagerup Symmetry in $(E_{8})_{1}$ ?

Jan Albert, Yamato Honda, Justin Kaidi, and Yunqin Zheng

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 091603 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

Unitarity Flow Conjecture: An On-Shell Approach to the Renormalization Group

Ameya Chavda, Daniel McLoughlin, Sebastian Mizera, and John Staunton

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 091604 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

Nuclear Physics

Nonlocal Orbital-Free Density Functional Theory Incorporating Nuclear Shell Effects

Xinhui Wu, Gianluca Colò, Kouichi Hagino, and Pengwei Zhao

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 092501 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

Beta-Decay Half-Lives beyond ${}^{54}{Ca}$ : A Systematic Survey of Decay Properties Approaching the Neutron Dripline

W.-J. Ong et al.

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 092502 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

Effects of Nuclear Hyperfine Mixing on ${}^{229}{Th}^{3 +}$ Ions

Jie Zhou and Xu Wang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 092503 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

Collective Energy Transfer to a Spectator Atom via Multicenter Intermolecular Coulombic Decay

Saroj Barik, Pratikkumar Thakkar, Siddhartha S. Payra, Yash Lenka, Y. Sajeev, and G. Aravind

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 093201 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

Attosecond Vortex Photoelectron Holography for Probing Phase-Encoded Chirality

Liding Li, Yongkun Chen, Miao Yu, Xu Zhang, Yang Li, Yueming Zhou, and Peixiang Lu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 093202 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

Ultrafast Bimolecular Reaction in Acetylene Dimer Induced by Femtosecond Strong-Laser-Field Ionization

Junyang Ma, Enliang Wang, Zhubin Hu, Yan Yang, Jing Chen, Xiangjun Chen, and Zhenrong Sun

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 093203 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

Compatibility of Trapped Ions and Dielectrics at Cryogenic Temperatures

M. Bruff, L. Sonderhouse, K. N. David, J. Stuart, D. H. Slichter, and D. Leibfried

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 093204 (2026) - Published 6 March, 2026

Beyond Mean-Field Dynamics of the Dicke Model with Non-Markovian Dephasing

Anqi Mu, Nathan Ng, Andrew J. Millis, and David R. Reichman

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 093601 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

Driven-Dissipative Landau Polaritons: Two Highly Nonlinearly Coupled Quantum Harmonic Oscillators

Farokh Mivehvar

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 093602 (2026) - Published 5 March, 2026

On-Chip Electro-optically Tunable Narrow Linewidth Brillouin Microlasers Implemented in Thin Film Lithium Niobate

Chuntao Li, Jiale Deng, Xingzhao Huang, Xiaochao Luo, Renhong Gao, Huakang Yu, Jianglin Guan, Jacob B. Khurgin, Zhiyuan Li, Jintian Lin, and Ya Cheng

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 093801 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

Analogs of Spontaneous Emission and Lasing in Photonic Time Crystals

Kyungmin Lee, Minwook Kyung, Yung Kim, Jagang Park, Hansuek Lee, Joonhee Choi, C. T. Chan, Jonghwa Shin, Kun Woo Kim, and Bumki Min

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 093802 (2026) - Published 3 March, 2026

Physics of Fluids, Earth & Planetary Science, and Climate

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Self-Organized Criticality in Atmospheric Rivers

Shang Wang, Jun Meng, Sheng Fang, Teng Liu, Kim Christensen, Jürgen Kurths, and Jingfang Fan

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 094201 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

A statistical-physics-based analysis of the full life cycle of atmospheric rivers finds universal signatures of self-organized criticality.

Plasma and Solar Physics, Accelerators and Beams

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Relativistic Feedback Discharges in Dielectric Solids

Victor P. Pasko, Sebastien Celestin, and Anne Bourdon

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 095301 (2026) - Published 5 March, 2026

Electrons accelerated to relativistic speeds in a dielectric material can produce bursts of x rays, similar to a phenomenon found in thunderstorms.

Condensed Matter and Materials

Physical Realization of an Anti- $P$ -Pseudo-Hermitian Mechanical System

Yanzheng Wang, Jianlei Zhao, Qian Wu, Xiaoming Zhou, Heng Jiang, Weiqiu Chen, Mu Wang, and Guoliang Huang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096101 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

Damage Scaling Laws at Crack Tip in Disordered Materials

Wenbin Liu, Huiling Duan, and Jian Lu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096102 (2026) - Published 5 March, 2026

Nanoscale Icelike Water Layer on a Diamond Surface under Ambient Conditions

Zhijie Li, Xi Kong, Haoyu Sun, Yunxia Wang, Guanyu Qu, Pei Yu, Tianyu Xie, Zhiyuan Zhao, Ya Wang, Guosheng Shi, Fazhan Shi, and Jiangfeng Du

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096201 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

Magnetic-Flux Tuning of Second Harmonic Content in Intrinsic ${CsV}_{3} {Sb}_{5}$ Josephson Junction

Jing-Jing Chen, Han-Xin Lou, Xing-Guo Ye, Zhen-Bing Tan, An-Qi Wang, Zhen-Tao Zhang, Yu-Xuan Wang, Xin Liao, Zhen-Sheng Zhang, Zhi-Min Liao, and Da-Peng Yu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096301 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Anderson Localization in a Two-Dimensional Metal

Morgan Thinel, Taketo Handa, Christie S. Koay, Daniel G. Chica, Nicholas Olsen, Apoorv Jindal, JeongHeon Choe, Xavier Roy, Xiaoyang Zhu, and Abhay N. Pasupathy

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096401 (2026) - Published 3 March, 2026

A new layered material enabled researchers to document a dramatic change in metallic electron behavior as the material goes from 3D to 2D.

Probing Electron Transfer Orbitals Selectively at ${LiCoO}_{2} / C$ Cathode Interfaces via Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy

Meiying Zheng, Jan Kuriplach, Ilja Makkonen, Rafael Ferragut, Ekaterina Laakso, Gioele Pagot, Vito Di Noto, and Bernardo Barbiellini

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096402 (2026) - Published 5 March, 2026

Orbital-Selective Spin-Orbit Mott Insulator in Fractional Valence Iridate ${La}_{3} {Ir}_{3} O_{11}$

Kai Wang, Jun Yang, Chaoyang Kang, Weikang Wu, Wenka Zhu, Jianzhou Zhao, Yaomin Dai, and Bing Xu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096501 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

FEATURED IN PHYSICS

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Magnetic Signature of Chiral Phonons Revealed by Neutron Spectroscopy in Ferrimagnetic ${Fe}_{1.75} {Zn}_{0.25} {Mo}_{3} O_{8}$

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096502 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

Neutron scattering has provided a new and broader view of the twirling collective atomic vibrations in a magnetic crystal.

Electric-Field-Tuned Consecutive Topological Phase Transitions between Distinct Correlated Insulators in Moiré ${MoTe}_{2} / {WSe}_{2}$ Heterobilayer

Xumin Chang, Zui Tao, Bowen Shen, Wanghao Tian, Jenny Hu, Kateryna Pistunova, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Tony F. Heinz, Tingxin Li, Kin Fai Mak, Jie Shan, and Shengwei Jiang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096503 (2026) - Published 3 March, 2026

Localization Transition for Interacting Quantum Particles in Colored-Noise Disorder

Giacomo Morpurgo, Laurent Sanchez-Palencia, and Thierry Giamarchi

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096504 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Pressure-Induced 18 K Superconductivity and Two Superconducting Phases in ${CuIr}_{2} S_{4}$

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096505 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

Competing and Intertwined Orders in Boson-Doped Mott Antiferromagnets

Xin Lu, Jia-Xin Zhang, Lukas Homeier, Shou-Shu Gong, D. N. Sheng, and Zheng-Yu Weng

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096506 (2026) - Published 5 March, 2026

Paired Parton Trial States for the Superfluid-Fractional Chern Insulator Transition

Tevž Lotrič and Steven H. Simon

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096601 (2026) - Published 3 March, 2026

Universal Chern Model on Arbitrary Triangulations

Nigel Higson and Emil Prodan

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096602 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Quantum Oscillations of Nonlinear Electrical Transport in a Topological Dirac Semimetal

Vijaysankar Kalappattil, Chuanpu Liu, Zhijie Chen, Vipul Sharma, Kai Liu, Jinke Tang, Steven S.-L. Zhang, and Mingzhong Wu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096603 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

Quantum oscillations in nonlinear electrical transport reveal the geometry and spin orientation of the Fermi surface in the Dirac semimetal α-Sn.

Quantization of Spin Circular Photogalvanic Effect in Altermagnetic Weyl Semimetals

Hiroki Yoshida, Jan Priessnitz, Libor Šmejkal, and Shuichi Murakami

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096701 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

Deterministic Switching of the Néel Vector by Asymmetric Spin Torque

Shui-Sen Zhang, Zi-An Wang, Bo Li, Wen-Jian Lu, Mingliang Tian, Yu-Ping Sun, Haifeng Du, and Ding-Fu Shao

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096702 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

Diameter-Controlled High-Order Vortex States and Magnon Hybridization in ${VSe}_{2}$ Nanotubes

Jia-Wen Li, Xin-Wei Yi, Jin Zhang, Gang Su, and Bo Gu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096703 (2026) - Published 4 March, 2026

Ultrafast One-Dimensional Peierls-Distortion Dynamics in $1 T^{'} − Re S_{2}$ Revealed by 4D Electron Microscopy

Jingchao Liu, Shaozheng Ji, Lifu Zhang, Yiping Jiao, Jiangteng Guo, Cuntao Gao, Fang Liu, Shibin Deng, Xuewei Cao, Zhenpeng Hu, Yimei Zhu, and Xuewen Fu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096901 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

Nonlinear Terahertz Electroluminescence from Dirac-Landau Polaritons

B. Benhamou-Bui, C. Consejo, S. S. Krishtopenko, S. Ruffenach, C. Bray, J. Torres, J. Dzian, F. Le Mardelé, A. Pagot, X. Baudry, S. V. Morozov, N. N. Mikhailov, S. A. Dvoretskii, B. Jouault, P. Ballet, M. Orlita, C. Ciuti, and F. Teppe

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096902 (2026) - Published 2 March, 2026

EDITORS' SUGGESTION

Brightening Interlayer Excitons by Electric-Field-Driven Hole Transfer in Bilayer ${WSe}_{2}$

Tianyi Ouyang, Erfu Liu, Soonyoung Cha, Rukai Cang, Raj Kumar Paudel, Yiyang Sun, Zhaoran Xu, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, Nathaniel M. Gabor, Yia-Chung Chang, and Chun Hung Lui

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 096903 (2026) - Published 6 March, 2026

Bilayer WSe $_{2}$ hosts bright interlayer A and B excitons even when separated by ~300 meV from intralayer excitons, a regime where conventional exciton hybridization models fail.

Statistical Physics; Classical, Nonlinear, and Complex Systems

Polymers, Chemical Physics, Soft Matter, and Biological Physics

Micromechanics of Compressive and Tensile Forces in Partially Bonded Granular Materials

Abrar Naseer, Karen E. Daniels, and Tejas G. Murthy

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 098201 (2026) - Published 6 March, 2026