The 50 most-cited articles in Physics Today, 2022

Subwavelength planar structures can generate, reshape, and entangle photons in a compact and stable device.

The idea that the collapse of a quantum state is a physical process stems from a misunderstanding of probability and the role it plays in quantum mechanics.

New quantum computing applications are now possible because of advances in atomic and solid-state physics.

The electrification of spacecraft could significantly extend the useful life of billion-dollar missions in outer space.

Technological immaturity, falling oil prices, overoptimistic investors, and regulatory uncertainty are blamed for the failure of a promising biofuel technology to perform as hoped.

Faculty attitudes, public perceptions, tuition, and state requirements are barriers to science majors entering the teaching profession.

To understand Earth’s climate, think of it as a giant, planetary-scale heat engine that drives the circulation of the oceans and atmosphere.

Innovations in diffusion analysis and imaging techniques have gradually revealed the ubiquity and importance of extracellular space.

The laureates brought the conceptual features of quantum physics back to mainstream interest.

The Parker Solar Probe is braving extreme conditions to explore the mysterious solar corona, a region that harbors some of the most difficult-to-understand phenomena in astrophysics.

They were mostly lost to space early in Mars’s history, in processes driven by the Sun’s UV photons and solar wind after Mars lost its magnetic field.

Attempts to solve the problem have led to a number of well-defined competing theories. Choosing between them might be crucial for progress in fundamental physics.

Created in 1917 to detect German U-boats, Paul Langevin’s piezoelectric quartz transducer remains the foundation of all modern ultrasonic techniques.

Noting the nation’s shrinking lead in various indicators of R&D performance, the panel encourages the US to strengthen international collaborations and increase investments in STEM education.

The ocean has a nearly neutral pH. But the same can’t be said of the microscopic drops churned up from its surface.

Technological advances and business incentives far outpace space regulations.

The light’s wavelength becomes effectively infinite, and the spatial and temporal variations of its electric and magnetic fields decouple.

Complex physical processes that affect the solidification of multicomponent fluids have implications for materials science and geophysics.

Physics remains one of the least diverse fields in science. Here’s how individuals at all career stages can contribute to fostering an inclusive environment for everyone.

Illuminating materials with lasers can create intriguing magnetic and topological states of matter..

A halt to construction, pandemic-caused delays in deliveries, labor strife, and concerns about potential beryllium exposure are among recent challenges to the fusion project.

The transparent carbon allotrope is finding new applications, but expanded use for electronics will depend on further advances in crystal growth.

For nearly 20 years, Einstein’s quantum theory of light was disputed on the basis that light was a wave. In 1922 Compton’s x-ray scattering experiment proved light’s dual nature.

We consider the aerodynamics of football, specifically, the interaction between a ball in flight and the ambient air. Doing so allows one to account for the characteristic range and trajectories of balls in flight, as well as their anomalous deflections as may be induced by striking the ball either with or without spin. The dynamics of viscous boundary layers is briefly reviewed, its critical importance on the ball trajectories highlighted. The Magnus effect responsible for the anomalous curvature of spinning balls is seen to depend critically on the surface roughness of the ball, the sign of the Magnus force reversing for smooth balls. The origins of the fluttering of balls struck with nearly no spin is also discussed. Particular attention is given to categorizing and providing aerodynamic rationale for the various free kick styles. 1

Nulling interferometry draws aside bright stellar glare to probe fine dust in extrasolar systems that may hamper future searches for Earthlike worlds.

In the bottom-up planning process, a collider on US soil garnered enthusiasm; diversity and community engagement also got attention.

Contrary to modern stereotypes, the laws of the natural world used to be considered a fundamental part of young women’s education.

States and regions around the US are readying their bids to host centers for hydrogen production, distribution, and end uses.

In a former gold mine in South Dakota, an international particle-physics experiment will delve into the unexplained matter–antimatter imbalance that gave rise to the universe.

The impulse to help Ukrainian scientists is widespread. But balancing sanctions against Russia while keeping open bridges of communication is tricky and controversial.

In that regime, fusion reactions are the plasma’s primary source of heating.

The Biden administration’s recently announced national charging network is a first step to enabling a fully electrified US vehicle fleet.

Experimental methods to imitate extra spatial dimensions reveal new physical phenomena that emerge in a higher-dimensional world.

"The aim of science is to make difficult things understandable in a simpler way; the aim of poetry is to state simple things in an incomprehensible way. The two are incompatible."11. H. S. Kragh, Dirac: A Scientific Biography, Cambridge U. Press (1990), p. 258.Paul Dirac's assertion to J. Robert Oppenheimer strikes me more as a witty aphorism than a heartfelt manifesto. Still, given that physicists and poets both strive for brevity and universality, it's worth exploring the similarities and differences of their respective vocations.One commonality is youthful talent. The psychologist Dean Simonton has correlated the productivity of people in various intellectual occupations with their ages. Physicists, poets, and chess players tend to produce their best work early in their careers; novelists, biologists, and historians take longer to peak. A plausible explanation for the finding is that everyone's intellectual ability is at its highest in their twenties. Practicing physics, poetry, and chess entails following a small set of clear rules, which can be acquired before one's peak is…

In addition to being a navigation tool, GPS signals are helping scientists observe Earth’s hydrologic cycle.

How wisely will the billions of dollars in new funding for commercial-scale demonstrations be spent?

Celestial messengers carry a link between interstellar matter and life on Earth.

All scientists and engineers solve research problems by calling on relevant knowledge to make a series of common, critical decisions.

The question about carbon extraction is no longer if it will be needed, but whether it can be scaled up quickly enough.

The country aims to be climate neutral by 2045.

Until now, the technique was thought to work only on molecules with no more than about five atoms. A powerful x-ray source leaves that limit in the dust.

Ultracold atomic gases with the right balance of interactions enter a phase that demonstrates a superposition of seemingly opposing properties.