Condensed matter physics and materials science form a dynamic partnership, exploring how the collective behavior of atoms gives rise to the unique properties of solids and liquids. This field bridges the gap between fundamental quantum mechanics and the practical engineering of everything from flexible electronics to superconductors, turning abstract theories into tangible innovations that shape our daily lives.

At Gist.Science, we process every new preprint in this category directly from arXiv to make these complex discoveries accessible to everyone. Our team generates both plain-language overviews and detailed technical summaries for each paper, ensuring that researchers, students, and curious minds alike can grasp the latest breakthroughs without getting lost in dense jargon.

Below are the latest papers in condensed matter and materials science, organized by their most recent publication dates.

🔬 materials science

Compatibilities and supercompatibility conditions in shape memory alloys determined from correspondence, metrics and symmetries

This paper demonstrates that correspondence theory, an alternative crystallographic approach utilizing metric tensors and symmetry groups, can be effectively employed to determine austenite/martensite compatibility and supercompatibility conditions in shape memory alloys, previously derived using continuum mechanics-based phenomenological theory.

Cyril Cayron2026-01-27
🔬 optics

Ligand Engineering for Precise Control of Ultrathin CsPbI3 Nanoplatelet Superlattices for Efficient Light-Emitting Diodes

By employing an ancillary ligand engineering strategy with phosphoryl-functional groups to synthesize monodisperse, ultrathin CsPbI3 nanoplatelets that form uniform superlattices, researchers achieved precise orientation control and suppressed defects, resulting in light-emitting diodes with a record 13.1% external quantum efficiency.

Jongbeom Kim, Woo Hyeon Jeong, Junzhi Ye, Allison Nicole Arber, Vikram, Donghan Kim, Yi-Teng Huang, Yixin Wang, Dongeun (…)2026-01-27
🔬 materials science

Catalog of phonon emergent particles and chiral phonons: Symmetry-based classification and materials database investigation

This paper establishes a comprehensive symmetry-based classification for predicting topological phonon emergent particles and chiral phonons, leverages this framework to screen over 25 million such modes in a materials database, and provides a dedicated online resource to facilitate the discovery of materials with surface chirality momentum locking and giant phonon magnetic moments.

Houhao Wang, Dongze Fan, Hoi Chun Po, Xiangang Wan, Feng Tang2026-01-27
🔬 materials science

A Local Structural Basis to Resolve Amorphous Ices

By applying a new probabilistic data-driven framework to molecular simulations of water, this study reveals that the distinction between low-density and high-density amorphous ices is encoded within the first coordination shell and that their pressure-induced transition occurs via a first-order-like redistribution of local environments without intermediate structures.

Quinn M. Gallagher, Ryan J. Szukalo, Nicolas Giovambattista, Pablo G. Debenedetti, Michael A. Webb2026-01-27
🔬 materials science

An autonomous living database for perovskite photovoltaics

This paper introduces PERLA, an autonomous, self-updating living database that leverages large language models and physics-aware validation to extract high-precision data from post-2021 perovskite photovoltaics literature, revealing critical evolutionary trends toward inverted architectures and formamidinium-rich compositions that were previously obscured by data stagnation.

Sherjeel Shabih, Hampus Näsström, Sharat Patil, Asmin Askin, Keely Dodd-Clements, Jessica Helisa Hautrive Rossato, Hugo (…)2026-01-27
🔬 applied physics

Experimental Realization of Optimized Ternary Mirror Coatings

This paper reports the first experimental realization of multi-material dielectric mirror coatings optimized via a multi-objective algorithm to minimize thermal noise and optical losses, successfully validating the design pipeline with a SiNx system while identifying manufacturing process improvements needed for the Ti:GeO2 system to fully achieve its theoretical potential.

V. Pierro, M. Granata, C. Michel, L. Pinard, B. Sassolas, D. Forest, N. Demos, S. Gras, M. Evans, I. M. Pinto, G. Avallo (…)2026-01-27
🔬 materials science

Colour Centre Formation in Silicon-On-Insulator for On-Chip Photonic Integration

This paper investigates the formation dynamics and optimization of various colour centres in silicon-on-insulator for quantum photonics, revealing coupled creation mechanisms, identifying optimal annealing and fabrication parameters, and discovering previously uncharacterized stable optical signals.

Arnulf J. Snedker-Nielsen, David R. Gongora, Magnus L. Madsen, Christian H. Christiansen, Eike L. Piehorsch, Mathias Ø. (…)2026-01-27