Mechanical exfoliation is a convenient and effective approach to deriving two-dimensional (2D) nanodevices from layered materials; but it is also generally perceived as unpreferred as it often yields devices with structural irregularities and nonidealities. Here we show that such nonidealities can lead to new and engineerable features that should be embraced and exploited.

We study deterministic magnetic reversal of a perpendicularly magnetized Co layer in a Co/MgO/Ta nanosquare driven by spin Hall torque from an in-plane current flowing in an underlying Pt layer. The rate-limiting step of the switching process is domain wall (DW) depinning by spin Hall torque via a thermally assisted mechanism that eventually produces full reversal by domain expansion. An in-plane applied magnetic field collinear with the current is required, with the necessary field scale set by the need to overcome DW chirality imposed by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction.

We show how to exploit the rich hyperfine structure of fermionic alkali-metal atoms to produce a quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) topological superfluid while avoiding excessive heating from off-resonant scattering. We model interacting fermions where four hyperfine states are coupled by a variety of optical and microwave fields. We calculate the local density of states in a trap, finding regimes with zero-energy topological edge modes. Heating rates in this system are significantly suppressed compared to simple Raman-induced spin-orbit coupling approaches.

We report the discovery of surface states in the perovskite superconductor [Tl4]TlTe3 (Tl5Te3) and its nonsuperconducting tin-doped derivative [Tl4](Tl0.4Sn0.6)Te3 as observed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Density functional theory calculations predict that the surface states are protected by a Z2 topology of the bulk band structure. Specific heat and magnetization measurements show that Tl5Te3 has a superconducting volume fraction in excess of 95%. Thus Tl5Te3 is an ideal material in which to study the interplay of bulk band topology and superconductivity.

We describe how microwave spectroscopy of cold fermions in quasi-1D traps can be used to detect, manipulate, and entangle exotic nonlocal qubits associated with "Majorana" edge modes. We present different approaches to generate the p-wave superfluidity which is responsible for these topological zero-energy edge modes. We find that the edge modes have clear signatures in the microwave spectrum and that the line shape distinguishes between the degenerate states of a qubit encoded in these edge modes. Moreover, the microwaves rotate the system in its degenerate ground-state manifold.

Using high-speed confocal microscopy, we measure the particle positions in a colloidal suspension under large-amplitude oscillatory shear. Using the particle positions, we quantify the in situ anisotropy of the pair-correlation function, a measure of the Brownian stress. From these data we find two distinct types of responses as the system crosses over from equilibrium to far-from-equilibrium states.

We model 100 ps pulse switching dynamics of orthogonal spin transfer (OST) devices that employ an out-of-plane polarizer and an in-plane polarizer. Simulation results indicate that increasing the spin polarization ratio, C P = PIPP/POPP, results in deterministic switching of the free layer without over-rotation (360° rotation). By using spin torque asymmetry to realize an enhanced effective PIPP, we experimentally demonstrate this behavior in OST devices in parallel to anti-parallel switching.

The B phase of superfluid He3 is a three-dimensional time-reversal invariant topological superfluid, predicted to support gapless Majorana surface states. We confine superfluid He3 into a thin nanofluidic slab geometry. In the presence of a weak symmetry-breaking magnetic field, we have observed two possible states of the confined He3-B phase manifold, through the small tipping angle NMR response. Large tipping angle nonlinear NMR has allowed the identification of the order parameter of these states and enabled a measurement of the surface-induced gap distortion.