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The photon-the quantum excitation of the electromagnetic field-is massless but carries momentum. A photon can therefore exert a force on an object upon collision1. Slowing the translational motion of atoms and ions by application of such a force2,3, known as laser cooling, was first demonstrated 40 years ago4,5. It revolutionized atomic physics over the following decades6-8, and it is now a workhorse in many fields, including studies on quantum degenerate gases, quantum information, atomic clocks and tests of fundamental physics. However, this technique has not yet been applied to antimatter. Here we demonstrate laser cooling of antihydrogen9, the antimatter atom consisting of an antiproton and a positron. By exciting the 1S-2P transition in antihydrogen with pulsed, narrow-linewidth, Lyman-α laser radiation10,11, we Doppler-cool a sample of magnetically trapped antihydrogen. Although we apply laser cooling in only one dimension, the trap couples the longitudinal and transverse motions of the anti-atoms, leading to cooling in all three dimensions. We observe a reduction in the median transverse energy by more than an order of magnitude-with a substantial fraction of the anti-atoms attaining submicroelectronvolt transverse kinetic energies. We also report the observation of the laser-driven 1S-2S transition in samples of laser-cooled antihydrogen atoms. The observed spectral line is approximately four times narrower than that obtained without laser cooling. The demonstration of laser cooling and its immediate application has far-reaching implications for antimatter studies. A more localized, denser and colder sample of antihydrogen will drastically improve spectroscopic11-13 and gravitational14 studies of antihydrogen in ongoing experiments. Furthermore, the demonstrated ability to manipulate the motion of antimatter atoms by laser light will potentially provide ground-breaking opportunities for future experiments, such as anti-atomic fountains, anti-atom interferometry and the creation of antimatter molecules.

In 1906, Theodore Lyman discovered his eponymous series of transitions in the extreme-ultraviolet region of the atomic hydrogen spectrum1,2. The patterns in the hydrogen spectrum helped to establish the emerging theory of quantum mechanics, which we now know governs the world at the atomic scale. Since then, studies involving the Lyman-α line-the 1S-2P transition at a wavelength of 121.6 nanometres-have played an important part in physics and astronomy, as one of the most fundamental atomic transitions in the Universe. For example, this transition has long been used by astronomers studying the intergalactic medium and testing cosmological models via the so-called 'Lyman-α forest'3 of absorption lines at different redshifts. Here we report the observation of the Lyman-α transition in the antihydrogen atom, the antimatter counterpart of hydrogen. Using narrow-line-width, nanosecond-pulsed laser radiation, the 1S-2P transition was excited in magnetically trapped antihydrogen. The transition frequency at a field of 1.033 tesla was determined to be 2,466,051.7 ± 0.12 gigahertz (1σ uncertainty) and agrees with the prediction for hydrogen to a precision of 5 × 10-8. Comparisons of the properties of antihydrogen with those of its well-studied matter equivalent allow precision tests of fundamental symmetries between matter and antimatter. Alongside the ground-state hyperfine4,5 and 1S-2S transitions6,7 recently observed in antihydrogen, the Lyman-α transition will permit laser cooling of antihydrogen8,9, thus providing a cold and dense sample of anti-atoms for precision spectroscopy and gravity measurements10. In addition to the observation of this fundamental transition, this work represents both a decisive technological step towards laser cooling of antihydrogen, and the extension of antimatter spectroscopy to quantum states possessing orbital angular momentum.

In 1928, Dirac published an equation 1 that combined quantum mechanics and special relativity. Negative-energy solutions to this equation, rather than being unphysical as initially thought, represented a class of hitherto unobserved and unimagined particles-antimatter. The existence of particles of antimatter was confirmed with the discovery of the positron 2 (or anti-electron) by Anderson in 1932, but it is still unknown why matter, rather than antimatter, survived after the Big Bang. As a result, experimental studies of antimatter3-7, including tests of fundamental symmetries such as charge-parity and charge-parity-time, and searches for evidence of primordial antimatter, such as antihelium nuclei, have high priority in contemporary physics research. The fundamental role of the hydrogen atom in the evolution of the Universe and in the historical development of our understanding of quantum physics makes its antimatter counterpart-the antihydrogen atom-of particular interest. Current standard-model physics requires that hydrogen and antihydrogen have the same energy levels and spectral lines. The laser-driven 1S-2S transition was recently observed 8 in antihydrogen. Here we characterize one of the hyperfine components of this transition using magnetically trapped atoms of antihydrogen and compare it to model calculations for hydrogen in our apparatus. We find that the shape of the spectral line agrees very well with that expected for hydrogen and that the resonance frequency agrees with that in hydrogen to about 5 kilohertz out of 2.5 × 1015 hertz. This is consistent with charge-parity-time invariance at a relative precision of 2 × 10-12-two orders of magnitude more precise than the previous determination 8 -corresponding to an absolute energy sensitivity of 2 × 10-20 GeV.

Antihydrogen, a positron bound to an antiproton, is the simplest anti-atom. Its structure and properties are expected to mirror those of the hydrogen atom. Prospects for precision comparisons of the two, as tests of fundamental symmetries, are driving a vibrant programme of research. In this regard, a limiting factor in most experiments is the availability of large numbers of cold ground state antihydrogen atoms. Here, we describe how an improved synthesis process results in a maximum rate of 10.5 ± 0.6 atoms trapped and detected per cycle, corresponding to more than an order of magnitude improvement over previous work. Additionally, we demonstrate how detailed control of electron, positron and antiproton plasmas enables repeated formation and trapping of antihydrogen atoms, with the simultaneous retention of atoms produced in previous cycles. We report a record of 54 detected annihilation events from a single release of the trapped anti-atoms accumulated from five consecutive cycles.Antihydrogen studies are important in testing the fundamental principles of physics but producing antihydrogen in large amounts is challenging. Here the authors demonstrate an efficient and high-precision method for trapping and stacking antihydrogen by using controlled plasma.

We observe that high-Q electromagnetic cavity resonances increase the cyclotron cooling rate of pure electron plasmas held in a Penning-Malmberg trap when the electron cyclotron frequency, controlled by tuning the magnetic field, matches the frequency of standing wave modes in the cavity. For certain modes and trapping configurations, this can increase the cooling rate by factors of 10 or more. In this Letter, we investigate the variation of the cooling rate and equilibrium plasma temperatures over a wide range of parameters, including the plasma density, plasma position, electron number, and magnetic field.

In the underdoped copper-oxides, high-temperature superconductivity condenses from a nonconventional metallic "pseudogap" phase that exhibits a variety of non-Fermi liquid properties. Recently, it has become clear that a charge density wave (CDW) phase exists within the pseudogap regime. This CDW coexists and competes with superconductivity (SC) below the transition temperature Tc, suggesting that these two orders are intimately related. Here we show that the condensation of the superfluid from this unconventional precursor is reflected in deviations from the predictions of BSC theory regarding the recombination rate of quasiparticles. We report a detailed investigation of the quasiparticle (QP) recombination lifetime, τqp, as a function of temperature and magnetic field in underdoped HgBa2CuO(4+δ) (Hg-1201) and YBa2Cu3O(6+x) (YBCO) single crystals by ultrafast time-resolved reflectivity. We find that τqp(T) exhibits a local maximum in a small temperature window near Tc that is prominent in underdoped samples with coexisting charge order and vanishes with application of a small magnetic field. We explain this unusual, non-BCS behavior by positing that Tc marks a transition from phase-fluctuating SC/CDW composite order above to a SC/CDW condensate below. Our results suggest that the superfluid in underdoped cuprates is a condensate of coherently-mixed particle-particle and particle-hole pairs.

Antimatter continues to intrigue physicists because of its apparent absence in the observable Universe. Current theory requires that matter and antimatter appeared in equal quantities after the Big Bang, but the Standard Model of particle physics offers no quantitative explanation for the apparent disappearance of half the Universe. It has recently become possible to study trapped atoms of antihydrogen to search for possible, as yet unobserved, differences in the physical behaviour of matter and antimatter. Here we consider the charge neutrality of the antihydrogen atom. By applying stochastic acceleration to trapped antihydrogen atoms, we determine an experimental bound on the antihydrogen charge, Qe, of |Q|

The properties of antihydrogen are expected to be identical to those of hydrogen, and any differences would constitute a profound challenge to the fundamental theories of physics. The most commonly discussed antiatom-based tests of these theories are searches for antihydrogen-hydrogen spectral differences (tests of CPT (charge-parity-time) invariance) or gravitational differences (tests of the weak equivalence principle). Here we, the ALPHA Collaboration, report a different and somewhat unusual test of CPT and of quantum anomaly cancellation. A retrospective analysis of the influence of electric fields on antihydrogen atoms released from the ALPHA trap finds a mean axial deflection of 4.1 ± 3.4 mm for an average axial electric field of 0.51 V mm(-1). Combined with extensive numerical modelling, this measurement leads to a bound on the charge Qe of antihydrogen of Q=(-1.3 ± 1.1 ± 0.4) × 10(-8). Here, e is the unit charge, and the errors are from statistics and systematic effects.

We demonstrate a novel detection method for the cyclotron resonance frequency of an electron plasma in a Penning-Malmberg trap. With this technique, the electron plasma is used as an in situ diagnostic tool for the measurement of the static magnetic field and the microwave electric field in the trap. The cyclotron motion of the electron plasma is excited by microwave radiation and the temperature change of the plasma is measured non-destructively by monitoring the plasma's quadrupole mode frequency. The spatially resolved microwave electric field strength can be inferred from the plasma temperature change and the magnetic field is found through the cyclotron resonance frequency. These measurements were used extensively in the recently reported demonstration of resonant quantum interactions with antihydrogen. © 2014 IOP Publishing and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.

The ALPHA collaboration, based at CERN, has recently succeeded in confining cold antihydrogen atoms in a magnetic minimum neutral atom trap and has performed the first study of a resonant transition of the anti-atoms. The ALPHA apparatus will be described herein, with emphasis on the structural aspects, diagnostic methods and techniques that have enabled antihydrogen trapping and experimentation to be achieved. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Frontal-crash sled tests were conducted to assess submarining protection and abdominal injury risk for midsized male occupants in the rear seat of modern vehicles. Twelve sled tests were conducted in four rear-seat vehicle-bucks with twelve post-mortem human surrogates (PMHS). Select kinematic responses and submarining incidence were compared to previously observed performance of the Hybrid III 50th-percentile male and THOR-50M ATDs (Anthropomorphic Test Devices) in matched sled tests conducted as part of a previous study. Abdominal pressure was measured in the PMHS near each ASIS (Anterior Superior Iliac Spine), in the inferior vena cava, and in the abdominal aorta. Damage to the abdomen, pelvis, and lumbar spine of the PMHS was also identified. In total, five PMHS underwent submarining. Four PMHS, none of which submarined, sustained pelvis fractures and represented the heaviest of the PMHS tested. Submarining of the PMHS occurred in two out of four vehicles. In the matched tests, the Hybrid III never underwent submarining while the THOR-50M submarined in three out of four vehicles. Submarining occurred in vehicles having both conventional and advanced (pretensioner and load limiter) restraints. The dominant factors associated with submarining were related to seat pan geometry. While the THOR-50M was not always an accurate tool for predicting submarining in the PMHS, the Hybrid III could not predict submarining at all. The results of this study identify substantive gaps in frontal-crash occupant protection in the rear seat for midsized males and elucidates the need for additional research for rear-seat occupant protection for all occupants.

Objective: The first objective was to evaluate the effect of using less censored (i.e., exact and interval-censored) data on thoracic injury risk curves and the resulting injury probabilities. The second objective was to generate new injury risk curves to predict Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 3+ rib fractures based on chest deflection., Methods: Two data sets consisting of postmortem human surrogate (PMHS) tests with multipoint chest deflection measurements were compiled: A less censored data set consisting of exact and interval-censored data and a doubly censored data set consisting of left- and right-censored data. Chest deflection data from both data sets were processed in a consistent manner to calculate the maximum deflections at different locations across the chest. Survival analysis methods were used to generate nonparametric and parametric injury risk curves for serious skeletal injury. The total sample sizes and proportions of less censored data used to generate the risk curves were varied for each curve to evaluate the effects of sample size and less censored data on risk curve shape and predicted injury thresholds., Results: Increasing the proportion of less censored data resulted in steeper injury risk curves and a higher predicted risk for a given amount of deflection. Differences in injury risk were more pronounced in the upper half of the injury risk curves. Introducing less censored data also produced narrower confidence intervals. At a total sample size of 79, increasing the percentage of less censored data from 0 to 30 had minimal effect on the shape of the risk curve., Conclusions: Doubly censored chest deflection data have historically been used to generate thoracic injury risk curves for frontal motor vehicle crash events. This study found that incorporating less censored data into thoracic injury risk curves meaningfully affected the shape of the injury risk curves and their resulting injury risk predictions. All of the injury risk curves generated in the study predicted a lower threshold for serious rib fracture injury compared to previously developed injury risks curves that are currently in use in the field. Based on the results of this study, adding less censored data to injury risk curves should be strongly considered to improve thoracic injury risk curve prediction and confidence, especially for smaller sample sizes.

Despite years of research, it is still unknown whether the interaction of explosion-induced blast waves with the head causes injury to the human brain. One way to fill this gap is to use animal models to establish "scaling laws" that project observed brain injuries in animals to humans. This requires laboratory experiments and high-fidelity mathematical models of the animal head to establish correlates between experimentally observed blast-induced brain injuries and model-predicted biomechanical responses. To this end, we performed laboratory experiments on Göttingen minipigs to develop and validate a three-dimensional (3-D) high-fidelity finite-element (FE) model of the minipig head. First, we performed laboratory experiments on Göttingen minipigs to obtain the geometry of the cerebral vasculature network and to characterize brain-tissue and vasculature material properties in response to high strain rates typical of blast exposures. Next, we used the detailed cerebral vasculature information and species-specific brain tissue and vasculature material properties to develop the 3-D high-fidelity FE model of the minipig head. Then, to validate the model predictions, we performed laboratory shock-tube experiments, where we exposed Göttingen minipigs to a blast overpressure of 210 kPa in a laboratory shock tube and compared brain pressures at two locations. We observed a good agreement between the model-predicted pressures and the experimental measurements, with differences in maximum pressure of less than 6%. Finally, to evaluate the influence of the cerebral vascular network on the biomechanical predictions, we performed simulations where we compared results of FE models with and without the vasculature. As expected, incorporation of the vasculature decreased brain strain but did not affect the predictions of brain pressure. However, we observed that inclusion of the cerebral vasculature in the model changed the strain distribution by as much as 100% in regions near the interface between the vasculature and the brain tissue, suggesting that the vasculature does not merely decrease the strain but causes drastic redistributions. This work will help establish correlates between observed brain injuries and predicted biomechanical responses in minipigs and facilitate the creation of scaling laws to infer potential injuries in the human brain due to exposure to blast waves., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Sundaramurthy, Kote, Pearson, Boiczyk, McNeil, Nelson, Subramaniam, Rubio, Monson, Hardy, VandeVord, Unnikrishnan and Reifman.)

In order to identify the mechanism responsible for the formation of charge-density waves (CDW) in cuprate superconductors, it is important to understand which aspects of the CDW's microscopic structure are generic and which are material-dependent. Here, we show that, at the local scale probed by NMR, long-range CDW order in YBa 2 Cu 3 O y is unidirectional with a commensurate period of three unit cells (λ = 3b), implying that the incommensurability found in X-ray scattering is ensured by phase slips (discommensurations). Furthermore, NMR spectra reveal a predominant oxygen character of the CDW with an out-of-phase relationship between certain lattice sites but no specific signature of a secondary CDW with λ = 6b associated with a putative pair-density wave. These results shed light on universal aspects of the cuprate CDW. In particular, its spatial profile appears to generically result from the interplay between an incommensurate tendency at long length scales, possibly related to properties of the Fermi surface, and local commensuration effects, due to electron-electron interactions or lock-in to the lattice.

Charge density wave (CDW) order has been shown to compete and coexist with superconductivity in underdoped cuprates. Theoretical proposals for the CDW order include an unconventional d -symmetry form factor CDW, evidence for which has emerged from measurements, including resonant soft x-ray scattering (RSXS) in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 6+ x (YBCO). Here, we revisit RSXS measurements of the CDW symmetry in YBCO, using a variation in the measurement geometry to provide enhanced sensitivity to orbital symmetry. We show that the (0 0.31 L ) CDW peak measured at the Cu L edge is dominated by an s form factor rather than a d form factor as was reported previously. In addition, by measuring both (0.31 0 L ) and (0 0.31 L ) peaks, we identify a pronounced difference in the orbital symmetry of the CDW order along the a and b axes, with the CDW along the a axis exhibiting orbital order in addition to charge order., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).)

The heat carriers responsible for the unexpectedly large thermal Hall conductivity of the cuprate Mott insulator La 2 CuO 4 were recently shown to be phonons. However, the mechanism by which phonons in cuprates acquire chirality in a magnetic field is still unknown. Here, we report a similar thermal Hall conductivity in two cuprate Mott insulators with significantly different crystal structures and magnetic orders - Nd 2 CuO 4 and Sr 2 CuO 2 Cl 2 - and show that two potential mechanisms can be excluded - the scattering of phonons by rare-earth impurities and by structural domains. Our comparative study further reveals that orthorhombicity, apical oxygens, the tilting of oxygen octahedra and the canting of spins out of the CuO 2 planes are not essential to the mechanism of chirality. Our findings point to a chiral mechanism coming from a coupling of acoustic phonons to the intrinsic excitations of the CuO 2 planes.

The charge density wave in the high-temperature superconductor YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-x (YBCO) has two different ordering tendencies differentiated by their c-axis correlations. These correspond to ferro- (F-CDW) and antiferro- (AF-CDW) couplings between CDWs in neighbouring CuO 2 bilayers. This discovery has prompted several fundamental questions: how does superconductivity adjust to two competing orders and are either of these orders responsible for the electronic reconstruction? Here we use x-ray diffraction to study YBa 2 Cu 3 O 6.67 as a function of magnetic field and temperature. We show that regions with F-CDW correlations suppress superconductivity more strongly than those with AF-CDW correlations. This implies that an inhomogeneous superconducting state exists, in which some regions show a fragile form of superconductivity. By comparison of F-CDW and AF-CDW correlation lengths, it is concluded that F-CDW ordering is sufficiently long-range to modify the electronic structure. Our study thus suggests that F-CDW correlations impact both the superconducting and normal state properties of YBCO.

Brain strain secondary to head impact or inertial loading is closely associated with pathologic observations in the brain. The only experimental brain strain dataset under loadings close to traumatic levels was calculated by imposing the experimentally measured motion of markers embedded in the brain to an auxiliary model formed by triad elements (Hardy et al., 2007). However, fidelity of the calculated strain as well as the suitability of using triad elements for three-dimensional (3D) strain estimation remains to be verified. Therefore, this study proposes to use tetrahedron elements as a new approach to estimate the brain strain. Fidelity of this newly-proposed approach along with the previous triad-based approach is evaluated with the aid of three independently-developed finite element (FE) head models by numerically replicating the experimental impacts and strain estimation procedures. Strain in the preselected brain elements obtained from the whole head simulation exhibits good correlation with its tetra estimation and exceeds its triad estimation, indicating that the tetra approach more accurately estimates the strain in the preselected region. The newly calculated brain strain curves using tetra elements provide better approximations for the 3D experimental brain deformation and can be used for strain validation of FE models of human head.

A recent study of all mounted vehicle underbody blast attacks found that 21% of Abbreviated Injury Scale Severity 2+ injuries in the Joint Trauma Analysis and Prevention of Injury in Combat network were injuries to the leg and ankle. To develop effective countermeasure systems for these attacks, the epidemiology and mechanisms of injury from this loading environment need to be quantified. The goal of this study was to develop a military correlate of an existing civilian case review framework, the Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN), to consider the differences in military event types and the amount of available vehicle/attack information. Additional data fields were added to the CIREN process to cover military-specific data and "certainty" definitions in the proposed injury hypothesis were modified. To date, six group reviews have been conducted analyzing 253 injuries to the foot/ankle, tibia, femur, pelvis, and lumbar spine from 52 occupants. The familiar format and unclassified nature of the presentations allowed for the involvement of biomechanics experts from multiple disciplines., (Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2019.)

In cuprate superconductors, high magnetic fields have been used extensively to suppress superconductivity and expose the underlying normal state. Early measurements revealed insulatinglike behavior in underdoped material versus temperature T, in which resistivity increases on cooling with a puzzling log(1/T) form. We instead use microwave measurements of flux-flow resistivity in YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{6+y} and Tl_{2}Ba_{2}CuO_{6+δ} to study charge transport deep inside the superconducting phase, in the low-temperature and low-field regime. Here, the transition from metallic low-temperature resistivity (dρ/dT>0) to a log(1/T) upturn persists throughout the superconducting doping range, including a regime at high carrier dopings in which the field-revealed normal-state resistivity is Fermi-liquid-like. The log(1/T) form is thus likely a signature of d-wave superconducting order, and the field-revealed normal state's log(1/T) resistivity may indicate the free-flux-flow regime of a phase-disordered d-wave superconductor.

Relative motion between the brain and skull and brain deformation are biomechanics aspects associated with many types of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Thus far, there is only one experimental endeavor (Hardy et al., 2007) reported brain strain under loading conditions commensurate with levels that were capable of producing injury. Most of the existing finite element (FE) head models are validated against brain-skull relative motion and then used for TBI prediction based on strain metrics. However, the suitability of using a model validated against brain-skull relative motion for strain prediction remains to be determined. To partially address the deficiency of experimental brain deformation data, this study revisits the only existing dynamic experimental brain strain data and updates the original calculations, which reflect incremental strain changes. The brain strain is recomputed by imposing the measured motion of neutral density target (NDT) to the NDT triad model. The revised brain strain and the brain-skull relative motion data are then used to test the hypothesis that an FE head model validated against brainskull relative motion does not guarantee its accuracy in terms of brain strain prediction. To this end, responses of brain strain and brain-skull relative motion of a previously developed FE head model (Kleiven, 2007) are compared with available experimental data. CORrelation and Analysis (CORA) and Normalized Integral Square Error (NISE) are employed to evaluate model validation performance for both brain strain and brain-skull relative motion. Correlation analyses (Pearson coefficient) are conducted between average cluster peak strain and average cluster peak brain-skull relative motion, and also between brain strain validation scores and brain-skull relative motion validation scores. The results show no significant correlations, neither between experimentally acquired peaks nor between computationally determined validation scores. These findings indicate that a head model validated against brain-skull relative motion may not be sufficient to assure its strain prediction accuracy. It is suggested that a FE head model with intended use for strain prediction should be validated against the experimental brain deformation data and not just the brain-skull relative motion.

We present a detailed study of the temperature (T) and magnetic field (H) dependence of the electronic density of states (DOS) at the Fermi level, as deduced from specific heat and Knight shift measurements in underdoped YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{y}. We find that the DOS becomes field independent above a characteristic field H_{DOS}, and that the H_{DOS}(T) line displays an unusual inflection near the onset of the long-range 3D charge-density wave order. The unusual S shape of H_{DOS}(T) is suggestive of two mutually exclusive orders that eventually establish a form of cooperation in order to coexist at low T. On theoretical grounds, such a collaboration could result from the stabilization of a pair-density wave state, which calls for further investigation in this region of the phase diagram.

We report on the influence of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in Fe-based superconductors via application of circularly polarized spin and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We combine this technique in representative members of both the Fe-pnictides (LiFeAs) and Fe-chalcogenides (FeSe) with tight-binding calculations to establish an ubiquitous modification of the electronic structure in these materials imbued by SOC. At low energy, the influence of SOC is found to be concentrated on the hole pockets, where the largest superconducting gaps are typically found. This effect varies substantively with the k_{z} dispersion, and in FeSe we find SOC to be comparable to the energy scale of orbital order. These results contest descriptions of superconductivity in these materials in terms of pure spin-singlet eigenstates, raising questions regarding the possible pairing mechanisms and role of SOC therein.

In many high temperature superconductors, small orthorhombic distortions of the lattice structure result in surprisingly large symmetry breaking of the electronic states and macroscopic properties, an effect often referred to as nematicity. To directly study the impact of symmetry-breaking lattice distortions on the electronic states, using low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy we image at the atomic scale the influence of strain-tuned lattice distortions on the correlated electronic states in the iron-based superconductor LiFeAs, a material which in its ground state is tetragonal with four-fold (C 4 ) symmetry. Our experiments uncover a new strain-stabilised modulated phase which exhibits a smectic order in LiFeAs, an electronic state which not only breaks rotational symmetry but also reduces translational symmetry. We follow the evolution of the superconducting gap from the unstrained material with C 4 symmetry through the new smectic phase with two-fold (C 2 ) symmetry and charge-density wave order to a state where superconductivity is completely suppressed.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/nature23446.

The simultaneous control of the density and particle number of non-neutral plasmas confined in Penning-Malmberg traps is demonstrated. Control is achieved by setting the plasma's density by applying a rotating electric field while simultaneously fixing its axial potential via evaporative cooling. This novel method is particularly useful for stabilizing positron plasmas, as the procedures used to collect positrons from radioactive sources typically yield plasmas with variable densities and particle numbers; it also simplifies optimization studies that require plasma parameter scans. The reproducibility achieved by applying this technique to the positron and electron plasmas used by the ALPHA antihydrogen experiment at CERN, combined with other developments, contributed to a 10-fold increase in the antiatom trapping rate.

The value of the upper critical field H c 2 , a fundamental characteristic of the superconducting state, has been subject to strong controversy in high- T c copper oxides. Since the issue has been tackled almost exclusively by macroscopic techniques so far, there is a clear need for local-probe measurements. Here, we use 17 O NMR to measure the spin susceptibility [Formula: see text] of the CuO 2 planes at low temperature in charge-ordered YBa 2 Cu 3 O y We find that [Formula: see text] increases (most likely linearly) with magnetic field H and saturates above field values ranging from 20 T to 40 T. This result is consistent with the lowest H c 2 values claimed previously and with the interpretation that the charge density wave (CDW) reduces H c 2 in underdoped YBa 2 Cu 3 O y Furthermore, the absence of marked deviation in [Formula: see text] at the onset of long-range CDW order indicates that this [Formula: see text] reduction and the Fermi-surface reconstruction are primarily rooted in the short-range CDW order already present in zero field, not in the field-induced long-range CDW order. Above [Formula: see text], the relatively low values of [Formula: see text] at [Formula: see text] K show that the pseudogap is a ground-state property, independent of the superconducting gap., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

The observation of hyperfine structure in atomic hydrogen by Rabi and co-workers and the measurement of the zero-field ground-state splitting at the level of seven parts in 10 13 are important achievements of mid-twentieth-century physics. The work that led to these achievements also provided the first evidence for the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron, inspired Schwinger's relativistic theory of quantum electrodynamics and gave rise to the hydrogen maser, which is a critical component of modern navigation, geo-positioning and very-long-baseline interferometry systems. Research at the Antiproton Decelerator at CERN by the ALPHA collaboration extends these enquiries into the antimatter sector. Recently, tools have been developed that enable studies of the hyperfine structure of antihydrogen-the antimatter counterpart of hydrogen. The goal of such studies is to search for any differences that might exist between this archetypal pair of atoms, and thereby to test the fundamental principles on which quantum field theory is constructed. Magnetic trapping of antihydrogen atoms provides a means of studying them by combining electromagnetic interaction with detection techniques that are unique to antimatter. Here we report the results of a microwave spectroscopy experiment in which we probe the response of antihydrogen over a controlled range of frequencies. The data reveal clear and distinct signatures of two allowed transitions, from which we obtain a direct, magnetic-field-independent measurement of the hyperfine splitting. From a set of trials involving 194 detected atoms, we determine a splitting of 1,420.4 ± 0.5 megahertz, consistent with expectations for atomic hydrogen at the level of four parts in 10 4 . This observation of the detailed behaviour of a quantum transition in an atom of antihydrogen exemplifies tests of fundamental symmetries such as charge-parity-time in antimatter, and the techniques developed here will enable more-precise such tests.

Spin fluctuations are a leading candidate for the pairing mechanism in high temperature superconductors, supported by the common appearance of a distinct resonance in the spin susceptibility across the cuprates, iron-based superconductors and many heavy fermion materials. The information we have about the spin resonance comes almost exclusively from neutron scattering. Here we demonstrate that by using low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy we can characterize the spin resonance in real space. We show that inelastic tunnelling leads to the characteristic dip-hump feature seen in tunnelling spectra in high temperature superconductors and that this feature arises from excitations of the spin fluctuations. Spatial mapping of this feature near defects allows us to probe non-local properties of the spin susceptibility and to image its real space structure.

The thermal diffusivity in the [Formula: see text] plane of underdoped YBCO crystals is measured by means of a local optical technique in the temperature range of 25-300 K. The phase delay between a point heat source and a set of detection points around it allows for high-resolution measurement of the thermal diffusivity and its in-plane anisotropy. Although the magnitude of the diffusivity may suggest that it originates from phonons, its anisotropy is comparable with reported values of the electrical resistivity anisotropy. Furthermore, the anisotropy drops sharply below the charge order transition, again similar to the electrical resistivity anisotropy. Both of these observations suggest that the thermal diffusivity has pronounced electronic as well as phononic character. At the same time, the small electrical and thermal conductivities at high temperatures imply that neither well-defined electron nor phonon quasiparticles are present in this material. We interpret our results through a strongly interacting incoherent electron-phonon "soup" picture characterized by a diffusion constant [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is the soup velocity, and scattering of both electrons and phonons saturates a quantum thermal relaxation time [Formula: see text]., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

The spectrum of the hydrogen atom has played a central part in fundamental physics over the past 200 years. Historical examples of its importance include the wavelength measurements of absorption lines in the solar spectrum by Fraunhofer, the identification of transition lines by Balmer, Lyman and others, the empirical description of allowed wavelengths by Rydberg, the quantum model of Bohr, the capability of quantum electrodynamics to precisely predict transition frequencies, and modern measurements of the 1S-2S transition by Hänsch to a precision of a few parts in 10 15 . Recent technological advances have allowed us to focus on antihydrogen-the antimatter equivalent of hydrogen. The Standard Model predicts that there should have been equal amounts of matter and antimatter in the primordial Universe after the Big Bang, but today's Universe is observed to consist almost entirely of ordinary matter. This motivates the study of antimatter, to see if there is a small asymmetry in the laws of physics that govern the two types of matter. In particular, the CPT (charge conjugation, parity reversal and time reversal) theorem, a cornerstone of the Standard Model, requires that hydrogen and antihydrogen have the same spectrum. Here we report the observation of the 1S-2S transition in magnetically trapped atoms of antihydrogen. We determine that the frequency of the transition, which is driven by two photons from a laser at 243 nanometres, is consistent with that expected for hydrogen in the same environment. This laser excitation of a quantum state of an atom of antimatter represents the most precise measurement performed on an anti-atom. Our result is consistent with CPT invariance at a relative precision of about 2 × 10 -10 .

We report the NMR observation of a skewed distribution of ^{17}O Knight shifts when a magnetic field quenches superconductivity and induces long-range charge-density-wave (CDW) order in YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{y}. This distribution is explained by an inhomogeneous pattern of the local density of states N(E_{F}) arising from quasiparticle scattering off, yet unidentified, defects in the CDW state. We argue that the effect is most likely related to the formation of quasiparticle bound states, as is known to occur, under specific circumstances, in some metals and superconductors (but not in the CDW state, in general, except for very few cases in 1D materials). These observations should provide insight into the microscopic nature of the CDW, especially regarding the reconstructed band structure and the sensitivity to disorder.

The existence of charge-density-wave (CDW) correlations in cuprate superconductors has now been established. However, the nature of the CDW ground state has remained uncertain because disorder and the presence of superconductivity typically limit the CDW correlation lengths to only a dozen unit cells or less. Here we explore the field-induced 3D CDW correlations in extremely pure detwinned crystals of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 2 (YBCO) ortho-II and ortho-VIII at magnetic fields in excess of the resistive upper critical field ([Formula: see text]) where superconductivity is heavily suppressed. We observe that the 3D CDW is unidirectional and possesses a long in-plane correlation length as well as significant correlations between neighboring CuO 2 planes. It is significant that we observe only a single sharply defined transition at a critical field proportional to [Formula: see text], given that the field range used in this investigation overlaps with other high-field experiments including quantum oscillation measurements. The correlation volume is at least two to three orders of magnitude larger than that of the zero-field CDW. This is by far the largest CDW correlation volume observed in any cuprate crystal and so is presumably representative of the high-field ground state of an "ideal" disorder-free cuprate., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

A microwave cavity is described which can be used to cool lepton plasmas for potential use in synthesis of antihydrogen. The cooling scheme is an incarnation of the Purcell effect: when plasmas are coupled to a microwave cavity, the plasma cooling rate is resonantly enhanced through increased spontaneous emission of cyclotron radiation. The cavity forms a three electrode section of a Penning-Malmberg trap and has a bulged cylindrical geometry with open ends aligned with the magnetic trapping axis. This allows plasmas to be injected and removed from the cavity without the need for moving parts while maintaining high quality factors for resonant modes. The cavity includes unique surface preparations for adjusting the cavity quality factor and achieving anti-static shielding using thin layers of nichrome and colloidal graphite, respectively. Geometric design considerations for a cavity with strong cooling power and low equilibrium plasma temperatures are discussed. Cavities of this weak-bulge design will be applicable to many situations where an open geometry is required.

The thermal conductivity κ of the iron-based superconductor FeSe was measured at temperatures down to 75 mK in magnetic fields up to 17 T. In a zero magnetic field, the electronic residual linear term in the T=0  K limit, κ_{0}/T, is vanishingly small. The application of a magnetic field B causes an exponential increase in κ_{0}/T initially. Those two observations show that there are no zero-energy quasiparticles that carry heat and therefore no nodes in the superconducting gap of FeSe. The full field dependence of κ_{0}/T has the classic two-step shape of a two-band superconductor: a first rise at very low field, with a characteristic field B^{⋆}≪B_{c2}, and then a second rise up to the upper critical field B_{c2}. This shows that the superconducting gap is very small (but finite) on one of the pockets in the Fermi surface of FeSe. We estimate that the minimum value of the gap, Δ_{min}, is an order of magnitude smaller than the maximum value, Δ_{max}.

Recent theories of charge-density-wave (CDW) order in high-temperature superconductors have predicted a primarily d CDW orbital symmetry. Here, we report on the orbital symmetry of CDW order in the canonical cuprate superconductors La1.875Ba0.125CuO4 (LBCO) and YBa2Cu3O6.67 (YBCO), using resonant soft X-ray scattering and a model mapped to the CDW orbital symmetry. From measurements sensitive to the O sublattice, we conclude that LBCO has predominantly s' CDW orbital symmetry, in contrast to the d orbital symmetry recently reported in other cuprates. Furthermore, we show for YBCO that the CDW orbital symmetry differs along the a and b crystal axes and that these both differ from LBCO. This work highlights CDW orbital symmetry as an additional key property that distinguishes the different cuprate families. We discuss how the CDW symmetry may be related to the '1/8-anomaly' and to static spin ordering.

The application of magnetic fields to layered cuprates suppresses their high-temperature superconducting behaviour and reveals competing ground states. In widely studied underdoped YBa2Cu3O6+x (YBCO), the microscopic nature of field-induced electronic and structural changes at low temperatures remains unclear. Here we report an X-ray study of the high-field charge density wave (CDW) in YBCO. For hole dopings ∼0.123, we find that a field (B∼10 T) induces additional CDW correlations along the CuO chain (b-direction) only, leading to a three-dimensional (3D) ordered state along this direction at B∼15 T. The CDW signal along the a-direction is also enhanced by field, but does not develop an additional pattern of correlations. Magnetic field modifies the coupling between the CuO2 bilayers in the YBCO structure, and causes the sudden appearance of the 3D CDW order. The mirror symmetry of individual bilayers is broken by the CDW at low and high fields, allowing Fermi surface reconstruction, as recently suggested.

The pseudogap is a partial gap in the electronic density of states that opens in the normal (non-superconducting) state of cuprate superconductors and whose origin is a long-standing puzzle. Its connection to the Mott insulator phase at low doping (hole concentration, p) remains ambiguous and its relation to the charge order that reconstructs the Fermi surface at intermediate doping is still unclear. Here we use measurements of the Hall coefficient in magnetic fields up to 88 tesla to show that Fermi-surface reconstruction by charge order in the cuprate YBa2Cu3Oy ends sharply at a critical doping p = 0.16 that is distinctly lower than the pseudogap critical point p* = 0.19 (ref. 11). This shows that the pseudogap and charge order are separate phenomena. We find that the change in carrier density n from n = 1 + p in the conventional metal at high doping (ref. 12) to n = p at low doping (ref. 13) starts at the pseudogap critical point. This shows that the pseudogap and the antiferromagnetic Mott insulator are linked.

Fine questions our interpretation of unidirectional stripes over a bidirectional checkerboard and illustrates his criticism by simulating a momentum space structure consistent with our data and corresponding to a checkerboard-looking real space density. Here, we use a local rotational-symmetry analysis to demonstrate that the simulated image is actually composed of locally unidirectional modulations of the charge density, consistent with our original conclusions., (Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.)

Charge density wave (CDW) order appears throughout the underdoped high-temperature cuprate superconductors, but the underlying symmetry breaking and the origin of the CDW remain unclear. We use X-ray diffraction to determine the microscopic structure of the CDWs in an archetypical cuprate YBa2Cu3O6.54 at its superconducting transition temperature ∼ 60 K. We find that the CDWs in this material break the mirror symmetry of the CuO2 bilayers. The ionic displacements in the CDWs have two components, which are perpendicular and parallel to the CuO2 planes, and are out of phase with each other. The planar oxygen atoms have the largest displacements, perpendicular to the CuO2 planes. Our results allow many electronic properties of the underdoped cuprates to be understood. For instance, the CDWs will lead to local variations in the electronic structure, giving an explicit explanation of density-wave states with broken symmetry observed in scanning tunnelling microscopy and soft X-ray measurements.

We report on a device which filters microwave radiation prone to heating cryogenic experiments while at the same time allowing large apertures which will not disturb a propagating beam. A method for evaporating thin films onto the inner face of a narrow tube is also described.