Spin-orbit coupling is a phenomenon in quantum physics that involves the interaction between the spin of a particle and its orbital motion. This effect is important in many fields, such as condensed matter physics, molecular physics, atomic physics, and atomic nuclear physics. In condensed matter physics, spin-orbit coupling has important effects on the electronic structure and properties of materials, such as magnetism, electrical conductivity, and optical properties. In the atomic nucleus, the spin-orbit coupling effect is used to explain the “magic number” of the nucleus.

Clarivate Analytics unveiled its latest Essential Science Indicators (ESI) data on May 9, announcing that the Chemistry discipline at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) has been ranked among the world’s top 1‰ disciplines for the first time.

For many natural networked complex systems, evolution is their most striking feature. Exploring and understanding the underlying mechanism of evolution lies at the heart of many scientific areas, ranging from studying the origin and evolution of life and the ecological system to the emergence of intelligence through the brain neural network’s rewiring and formation of social communities and nation-states. It is the most fundamental aspect of scientific discoveries in evolving complex systems.

As a new class of advanced functional materials, rare earth telluride exhibits abundant properties such as magnetic, electrical, thermoelectric, magnetic semiconductor, and charge density wave. However, the research and application of such materials are subject to two major challenges: one is the lack of convenient and universal preparation methods, and it is difficult to prepare rare earth telluride in high purity and large quantities; the other one is the lack of in-depth understanding of the electronic structure of materials.

Encoding quantum information and conveying it efficiently to a long-distant node using a single photon is essential for any communication between quantum nodes, and, at the same time, significant in quantum information security. Photons, as information carriers, fly with the highest speed in vacuum, and are insensitive to environmental disturbance. Further, quantum information can be encoded in the various degrees of freedom of a photon, such as polarization, orbital angular momentum, and frequency, among others, which can dramatically increase the information capacity of a quantum communication link.