Nature Physics

Nature Physics, Published online: 25 February 2021; doi:10.1038/s41567-021-01165-8

A topological photonic crystal design directly generates light that carries orbital angular momentum with high quantum numbers. The beam contains several different states at the same time, promising integrated and multiplexed light sources.

Nature Physics, Published online: 25 February 2021; doi:10.1038/s41567-021-01184-5

Quantum impurities immersed in a bosonic environment can evolve into polaronic quasiparticles, so-called polarons. Interferometric measurement reveals this transition, which involves three different regimes dominated by few-body and many-body dynamics.

Nature Physics, Published online: 25 February 2021; doi:10.1038/s41567-021-01185-4

Non-Hermitian concepts together with optical gain allow the tailoring of short- and long-range exchange interactions in integrated topological photonics, and an exact Haldane model can be realized in this way.

Nature Physics, Published online: 25 February 2021; doi:10.1038/s41567-021-01188-1

SARS, MERS and now SARS-CoV-2 are unlikely to be the last emerging infections we face during our lifetimes. Tracing contacts both forward and backward through our heterogeneous populations will prove essential to future response strategies.

Nature Physics, Published online: 25 February 2021; doi:10.1038/s41567-021-01187-2

Contact tracing is key to epidemic control, but network analysis now suggests that whom you infect may not be as pertinent a question as who infected you. Biases due to contact heterogeneity reveal the efficacy of backward over forward tracing.

Nature Physics, Published online: 24 February 2021; doi:10.1038/s41567-021-01192-5

Publisher Correction: Charge radii of exotic potassium isotopes challenge nuclear theory and the magic character of N = 32