Table of contents

It is well-known that the nonlinear coupling between a mechanical oscillator and a superconducting resonator or optical cavity can be used to generate a Kerr-nonlinearity for the cavity mode. We show that the strength of this Kerr-nonlinearity, as well as the effect of the photon-pressure force can be enormously increased by modulating the strength of the nonlinear coupling. We describe an electromechanical circuit where this enhancement could be readily realized.

The collision of two plasma clouds at a speed that exceeds the ion acoustic speed can result in the formation of shocks. This phenomenon is observed not only in astrophysical scenarios, such as the propagation of supernova remnant (SNR) blast shells into the interstellar medium, but also in laboratory-based laser-plasma experiments. These experiments and supporting simulations are thus seen as an attractive platform for small-scale reproduction and study of astrophysical shocks in the laboratory. We model two plasma clouds, which consist of electrons and ions, with a 2D particle-in-cell simulation. The ion temperatures of both clouds differ by a factor of ten. Both clouds collide at a speed that is realistic for laboratory studies and for SNR shocks in their late evolution phase, like that of RCW86. A magnetic field, which is orthogonal to the simulation plane, has a strength that is comparable to that of SNR shocks. A forward shock forms between the overlap layer of both plasma clouds and the cloud with cooler ions. A large-amplitude ion acoustic wave is observed between the overlap layer and the cloud with hotter ions. It does not steepen into a reverse shock because its speed is below the ion acoustic speed. A gradient of the magnetic field amplitude builds up close to the forward shock as it compresses the magnetic field. This gradient gives rise to an electron drift that is fast enough to trigger an instability. Electrostatic ion acoustic wave turbulence develops ahead of the shock, widens its transition layer, and thermalizes the ions, but the forward shock remains intact.

The usually negligibly small thermoelectric effects in superconducting heterostructures can be boosted dramatically due to the simultaneous effect of spin splitting and spin filtering. Building on an idea of our earlier work (Machon et al 2013 Phys. Rev. Lett.110 047002), we propose realistic mesoscopic setups to observe thermoelectric effects in superconductor heterostructures with ferromagnetic interfaces or terminals. We focus on the Seebeck effect being a direct measure of the local thermoelectric response and find that a thermopower of the order of $\sim 250$$\mu V\;{{K}^{-1}}$ can be achieved in a transistor-like structure. A measurement of the thermopower can furthermore be used to determine quantitatively the spin-dependent interface parameters that induce the spin splitting. For applications in nanoscale cooling we discuss the figure of merit for which we find values exceeding 1.5 for temperatures $\lesssim 1$ K.

We propose a model for the electric current in graphene in which electric carriers are supplied by virtual particles allowed by the uncertainty relations. The process to make a virtual particle real is described by a weak value of a group velocity: the velocity is requisite for the electric field to give the virtual particle the appropriate changes of both energy and momentum. With the weak value, we approximately estimate the electric current, considering the ballistic transport of the electric carriers. The current shows the quasi-Ohmic with the minimal conductivity of the order of ${{e}^{2}}/h$ per channel. Crossing a certain ballistic time scale, it is brought to obey the Schwinger mechanism.

Clusters excited by intense laser pulses are a unique source of warm dense matter, that has been the subject of intensive experimental studies. The majority of these investigations concern atomic clusters, whereas the evolution of molecular clusters excited by intense laser pulses is less explored. In this work we trace the dynamics of ${\rm C}{{{\rm O}}_{2}}$ clusters triggered by a few-cycle $1.45\;\mu {\rm m}$ driving pulse through the detection of XUV fluorescence induced by a delayed 800 nm ignition pulse. Striking differences among fluorescence dynamics from different ionic species are observed.

We consider a Bose–Hubbard ladder subject to an artificial magnetic flux and discuss its different ground states, their physical properties, and the quantum phase transitions between them. A low-energy effective field theory is derived, in the two distinct regimes of a small and large magnetic flux, using a bosonization technique starting from the weak-coupling limit. Based on this effective field theory, the ground-state phase diagram at a filling of one particle per site is investigated for a small flux and for a flux equal to π per plaquette. For π-flux, this analysis reveals a tricritical point, which has been overlooked in previous studies. In addition, the Mott insulating state at a small magnetic flux is found to display Meissner currents.

An interesting new physical phenomenon is uncovered—an open resonator array excited by an electron beam and able to generate a special kind of Smith–Purcell radiation (SPR). Although the frequency and direction satisfy the SPR relation, this is a single frequency radiation in a specific direction that is essentially different from ordinary SPR. The spectral density of this special radiation is also much higher than that of ordinary SPR. By means of theoretical analysis and digital simulations, the radiation mechanism together with its requirements are explored. This radiation may have great influence in modern physics and optics as it offers new ways to carry out coherent radiation generation and beam diagnostics.

We propose a method to simulate the real time evolution of one-dimensional quantum many-body systems at finite temperature by expressing both the density matrices and the observables as matrix product states. This allows the calculation of expectation values and correlation functions as scalar products in operator space. The simulations of density matrices in inverse temperature and the local operators in the Heisenberg picture are independent and result in a grid of expectation values for all intermediate temperatures and times. Simulations can be performed using real arithmetics with only polynomial growth of computational resources in inverse temperature and time for integrable systems. The method is illustrated for the XXZ model and the single impurity Anderson model.

A systematic investigation of the effect of the history force on particle advection is carried out for both heavy and light particles. General relations are given to identify parameter regions where the history force is expected to be comparable with the Stokes drag. As an illustrative example, a paradigmatic two-dimensional flow, the von Kármán flow is taken. For small (but not extremely small) particles all investigated dynamical properties turn out to heavily depend on the presence of memory when compared to the memoryless case: the history force generates a rather non-trivial dynamics that appears to weaken (but not to suppress) inertial effects, it enhances the overall contribution of viscosity. We explore the parameter space spanned by the particle size and the density ratio, and find a weaker tendency for accumulation in attractors and for caustics formation. The Lyapunov exponent of transients becomes larger with memory. Periodic attractors are found to have a very slow, ${{t}^{-1/2}}$ type convergence towards the asymptotic form. We find that the concept of snapshot attractors is useful to understand this slow convergence: an ensemble of particles converges exponentially fast towards a snapshot attractor, which undergoes a slow shift for long times.

DNA is known to be a mechanically and thermally stable structure. In its double stranded form it is densely packed within the cell nucleus and is thermo-resistant up to $70\:^\circ {\rm{C}}$. In contrast, we found a sudden loss of cell nuclei integrity at relatively moderate temperatures ranging from 45 to $55\:^\circ {\rm{C}}$. In our study, suspended cells held in an optical double beam trap were heated under controlled conditions while monitoring the nuclear shape. At specific critical temperatures, an irreversible sudden shape transition of the nuclei was observed. These temperature induced transitions differ in abundance and intensity for various normal and cancerous epithelial breast cells, which clearly characterizes different cell types. Our results show that temperatures slightly higher than physiological conditions are able to induce instabilities of nuclear structures, eventually leading to cell death. This is a surprising finding since recent thermorheological cell studies have shown that cells have a lower viscosity and are thus more deformable upon temperature increase. Since the nucleus is tightly coupled to the outer cell shape via the cytoskeleton, the force propagation of nuclear reshaping to the cell membrane was investigated in combination with the application of cytoskeletal drugs.

A new measure of non-classical correlations is introduced and characterized. It tests the ability of using a state ρ of a composite system AB as a probe for a quantum illumination task (e.g. see Lloyd 2008 Science321 1463), in which one is asked to remotely discriminate between the two following scenarios: (i) either nothing happens to the probe, or (ii) the subsystem A is transformed via a local unitary ${{R}_{A}}$ whose properties are partially unspecified when producing ρ. This new measure can be seen as the discrete version of the recently introduced interferometric power measure (Girolami et al 2013 e-print arXiv:1309.1472) and, at least for the case in which A is a qubit, it is shown to coincide (up to an irrelevant scaling factor) with the local quantum uncertainty measure of Girolami, Tufarelli and Adesso (2013 Phys. Rev. Lett.110 240402). Analytical expressions are derived which allow us to formally prove that, within the set of separable configurations, the maximum value of our non-classicality measure is achieved over the set of quantum-classical states (i.e. states ρ which admit a statistical unravelling where each element of the associated ensemble is distinguishable via local measures on B).

The effect of giant dielectric permittivity due to phase separation accompanied by charged inhomogeneities in low-doped manganites is discussed. The effect appears in the vicinity of the second-order magnetic phase transition and is caused by long-range Coulomb forces. The long-range Coulomb interaction is responsible for the formation of inhomogeneous charged states and determines their characteristic length scales. We derive the phase diagram of the inhomogeneous charged states in the framework of the phenomenological theory of phase transitions. The large value of the static dielectric function reduces the characteristic value of the Coulomb energy of the inhomogeneous state and makes the appearance of the magnetoelectric effect possible. We discuss the formation of a state with giant dielectric permittivity and magneto-capacitance effects in that case.

We theoretically investigate the process of splitting two-ion crystals in segmented Paul traps, i.e. the structural transition from two ions confined in a common well to ions confined in separate wells. The precise control of this process by application of suitable voltage ramps to the trap segments is non-trivial, as the harmonic confinement transiently vanishes during the process. This makes the ions strongly susceptible to background electric field noise, and to static offset fields in the direction of the trap axis. We analyze the reasons why large energy transfers can occur, which are impulsive acceleration, the presence of residual background fields and enhanced anomalous heating. For the impulsive acceleration, we identify the diabatic and adiabatic regimes, which are characterized by different scaling behavior of the energy transfer with respect to time. We propose a suitable control scheme based on experimentally accessible parameters. Simulations are used to verify both the high sensitivity of the splitting result and the performance of our control scheme. Finally, we analyze the impact of trap geometry parameters on the crystal splitting process.

The framework of measurement-based quantum computation (MBQC) allows us to view the ground states of local Hamiltonians as potential resources for universal quantum computation. A central goal in this field is to find models with ground states that are universal for MBQC and that are also natural in the sense that they involve only two-body interactions and have a small local Hilbert space dimension. Graph states are the original resource states for MBQC, and while it is not possible to obtain graph states as exact ground states of two-body Hamiltonians, here we construct two-body frustration-free Hamiltonians that have arbitrarily good approximations of graph states as unique ground states. The construction involves taking a two-body frustration-free model that has a ground state convertible to a graph state with stochastic local operations, then deforming the model such that its ground state is close to a graph state. Each  graph state qubit resides in a subspace of a higher dimensional particle. This  deformation can be applied to two-body frustration-free Affleck–Kennedy–Lieb–Tasaki (AKLT) models, yielding Hamiltonians that are exactly solvable with exact tensor network expressions for ground states. For the star-lattice AKLT model, the ground state of which is not expected to be a universal resource for MBQC, applying such a deformation appears to enhance the computational power of the ground state, promoting it to a universal resource for MBQC. Transitions in computational power, similar to percolation phase transitions, can be observed when Hamiltonians are deformed in this way. Improving the fidelity of the ground state comes at the cost of a shrinking gap. While analytically proving gap properties for these types of models is difficult in general, we provide a detailed analysis of the deformation of a spin-1 AKLT state to a linear graph state.

A hybrid reduced model for relativistic electron beam transport based on the angular moments of the relativistic kinetic equation with a special closure is presented. It takes into account collective effects with the self-generated electromagnetic fields as well as collisional effects with the slowing down of the relativistic electrons by plasmons, bound and free electrons and their angular scattering on both ions and electrons. This model allows for fast computations of relativistic electron beam transport while describing their energy distribution evolution. Despite the loss of information concerning the angular distribution of the electron beam, the model reproduces analytical estimates in the academic case of a monodirectional and monoenergetic electron beam propagating through a warm and dense plasma and hybrid particle-in-cell simulation results in a realistic laser-generated electron beam transport case.

We review a calculation of the quantum corrections to electrical transport in graphene, using the trajectory-based semiclassical method. Compared to conventional metals, for graphene the semiclassical propagator contains an additional pseudospin structure that influences the results for weak localization, and interaction-induced effects, such as the Altshuler–Aronov correction and dephasing. Our results apply to a sample of graphene that is doped away from the Dirac point and subject to a smooth disorder potential, such that electrons follow classical trajectories. In such a system, the Ehrenfest time enters as an additional timescale.

We propose and construct a numerical algorithm to calculate the Berry conductivity in topological band insulators. The method is applicable to cold atom systems as well as solid state setups, both for the insulating case where the Fermi energy lies in the gap between two bulk bands as well as in the metallic regime. This method interpolates smoothly between both regimes. The algorithm is gauge-invariant by construction, efficient, and yields the Berry conductivity with known and controllable statistical error bars. We apply the algorithm to several paradigmatic models in the field of topological insulators, including Haldaneʼs model on the honeycomb lattice, the multi-band Hofstadter model, and the BHZ model, which describes the 2D spin Hall effect observed in CdTe/HgTe/CdTe quantum well heterostructures.

We propose a method for quantum algorithm design assisted by machine learning. The method uses a quantum–classical hybrid simulator, where a 'quantum student' is being taught by a 'classical teacher'. In other words, in our method, the learning system is supposed to evolve into a quantum algorithm for a given problem, assisted by a classical main-feedback system. Our method is applicable for designing quantum oracle-based algorithms. We chose, as a case study, an oracle decision problem, called a Deutsch–Jozsa problem. We showed by using Monte Carlo simulations that our simulator can faithfully learn a quantum algorithm for solving the problem for a given oracle. Remarkably, the learning time is proportional to the square root of the total number of parameters, rather than showing the exponential dependence found in the classical machine learning-based method.

A systematic diagrammatic expansion for Gutzwiller wavefunctions (DE-GWFs) proposed very recently is used for the description of the superconducting (SC) ground state in the two-dimensional square-lattice t–J model with the hopping electron amplitudes t (and $t^{\prime}$) between nearest (and next-nearest) neighbors. For the example of the SC state analysis we provide a detailed comparison of the methodʼs results with those of other approaches. Namely, (i) the truncated DE-GWF method reproduces the variational Monte Carlo (VMC) results and (ii) in the lowest (zeroth) order of the expansion the method can reproduce the analytical results of the standard Gutzwiller approximation (GA), as well as of the recently proposed 'grand-canonical Gutzwiller approximation' (called either GCGA or SGA). We obtain important features of the SC state. First, the SC gap at the Fermi surface resembles a ${{d}_{{{x}^{2}}-{{y}^{2}}}}$ wave only for optimally and overdoped systems, being diminished in the antinodal regions for the underdoped case in a qualitative agreement with experiment. Corrections to the gap structure are shown to arise from the longer range of the real-space pairing. Second, the nodal Fermi velocity is almost constant as a function of doping and agrees semi-quantitatively with experimental results. Third, we compare the doping dependence of the gap magnitude with experimental data. Fourth, we analyze the k-space properties of the model: Fermi surface topology and effective dispersion. The DE-GWF method opens up new perspectives for studying strongly correlated systems, as it (i) works in the thermodynamic limit, (ii) is comparable in accuracy to VMC, and (iii) has numerical complexity comparable to that of the GA (i.e., it provides the results much faster than the VMC approach).

Quantum approaches relying on entangled photons have been recently proposed to increase the efficiency of optical measurements. We demonstrate here that, surprisingly, the use of classical light with entangled degrees of freedom can also bring outstanding advantages over conventional measurements in polarization metrology. Specifically, we show that radially polarized beams of light allow to perform real-time single-shot Mueller matrix polarimetry. Our results also indicate that quantum optical procedures requiring entanglement without nonlocality can be actually achieved in the classical optics regime.

We theoretically study the phase sensitivity of an SU(1,1) interferometer with a coherent state in one input port and a squeezed-vacuum state in the other input port using the method of homodyne detection. In this interferometer, beam splitting and recombination are generated by the parametric amplifiers instead of the beam splitters. Compared with the traditional Mach–Zehnder interferometer, the phase sensitivity of this interferometer can be improved due to the amplification process of the parametric amplifiers. Combined with the squeezed state input, the sensitivity can be improved further due to the noise reduction. The phase sensitivity of our scheme can approach the Heisenberg limit and the associated optimal condition is analyzed. The scheme can be implemented with current experimental technology.

We demonstrate boundary spin polarization at the surface of a Cr₂O₃ single crystal using spin-polarized low-energy electron microscopy (SPLEEM), complementing prior spin polarized photoemission, spin polarized inverse photoemission, and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism photoemission electron microscopy measurements. This work shows that placing a Cr₂O₃ single crystal into a single domain state will result in net Cr₂O₃ spin polarization at the boundary, even in the presence of a gold overlayer. There are indications that the SPLEEM contrast for the two polarization states may be different, consistent with scanning tunneling microscopy spectroscopy results obtained from ultrathin films of Cr₂O₃.

Resonant Auger spectra of the ethene molecule excited at energies across the C1s $\to \;{{\pi }^{*}}$ energy band are reported. Our measurements address the unexpected variation of the intensity of the A state with respect to the other singly ionized valence states. An approach, based on group theory and calculations using Coulomb 4-center integrals, is proposed to explain the behaviour of the intensity of the ground state and excited states of the ion upon resonant excitation. The new method provides a calculationally inexpensive route to predict relative intensities of different resonant Auger bands in polyatomic molecules, without the need for an exhaustive knowledge of the potential energy surfaces of the electronic states involved.

We have measured the absolute frequency of the optical lattice clock based on ⁸⁷Sr at PTB with an uncertainty of $3.9\times {{10}^{-16}}$ using two caesium fountain clocks. This is close to the accuracy of todayʼs best realizations of the SI second. The absolute frequency of the 5 s^{2 1}S₀ – 5s5p ³P₀ transition in ⁸⁷Sr is $429\;228\;004\;229\;873$.13(17) Hz. Our result is in excellent agreement with recent measurements performed in different laboratories worldwide. We improved the total systematic uncertainty of our Sr frequency standard by a factor of five and reach $3\times {{10}^{-17}}$, opening new prospects for frequency ratio measurements between optical clocks for fundamental research, geodesy or optical clock evaluation.

We report on stress induced changes in the dispersion relations of acoustic phonons propagating in 27 nm thick single crystalline Si membranes. The static tensile stress (up to 0.3 GPa) acting on the Si membranes was achieved using an additional strain compensating silicon nitride frame. Dispersion relations of thermally activated hypersonic phonons were measured by means of Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy. The theory of Lamb wave propagation is developed for anisotropic materials subjected to an external static stress field. The dispersion relations were calculated using the elastic continuum approximation and taking into account the acousto-elastic effect. We find an excellent agreement between the theoretical and the experimental dispersion relations.

The Brownian motion of colloidal particles in quasi-two-dimensional (q2D) confinement displays a distinct kinetic character from that in bulk. Here we experimentally report dynamic coupling motion of Brownian particles in a relatively long process (∼100 h), which displays a quasi-equilibrium state in the q2D system. In the quasi-equilibrium state, the q2D confinement results in the coupling of particle motions, which slowly damps the motion and interaction of particles until the final equilibrium state is reached. The process of approaching the equilibrium is a random relaxation of a many-body interaction system of Brownian particles. As the relaxation proceeds for ∼100 h, the system reaches the equilibrium state in which the energy gained by the particles from the stochastic collision in the whole system is counteracted by the dissipative energy resulting from the collision. The relaxation time of this stochastic q2D system is 17.7 h. The theory is developed to explain coupling motions of Brownian particles in q2D confinement.

In this work we present theoretical calculations and analysis of the vibronic structure of the spin-triplet optical transition in diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centres. The electronic structure of the defect is described using accurate first-principles methods based on hybrid functionals. We devise a computational methodology to determine the coupling between electrons and phonons during an optical transition in the dilute limit. As a result, our approach yields a smooth spectral function of electron–phonon coupling and includes both quasi-localized and bulk phonons on equal footings. The luminescence lineshape is determined via the generating function approach. We obtain a highly accurate description of the luminescence band, including all key parameters such as the Huang–Rhys factor, the Debye–Waller factor, and the frequency of the dominant phonon mode. More importantly, our work provides insight into the vibrational structure of NV centres, in particular the role of local modes and vibrational resonances. In particular, we find that the pronounced mode at 65 meV is a vibrational resonance, and we quantify localization properties of this mode. These excellent results for the benchmark diamond (NV) centre provide confidence that the procedure can be applied to other defects, including alternative systems that are being considered for applications in quantum information processing.

We apply spin-squeezing techniques to identify and quantify highly multi-partite photonic entanglement in polarization-squeezed light. We consider a practical single-mode scenario, and find that Wineland-criterion polarization squeezing implies entanglement of a macroscopic fraction of the total photons. A Glauber-theory computation of the observable N-photon density matrix, with N up to 100, finds that N-partite entanglement is observable despite losses and without post-selection. Genuine multi-partite entanglement up to at least $N=10$ is similarly confirmed. The preparation method can be made intrinsically permutation-invariant, allowing highly efficient state reconstruction. In this scenario, generation plus detection requires $O({{N}^{0}})$ experimental resources, in stark contrast to the typical exponential scaling. We estimate existing detectors could observe 1000-partite entanglement from a few dB of polarization squeezing.

The anharmonic component of the electric field of a Penning–Malmberg trap is exploited to manipulate a subset of the radial (r) distribution of trapped positrons, using a dipole field made to rotate about the long-axis (z) of the trap. This 'rotating wall' technique (RW) induces inward transport at frequencies associated with the motion of trapped particles, although similarly it causes heating. The motional frequencies vary spatially within a non-ideal trap, thus resonant interaction with the rotating field may be restricted to a region selected to lie away from the trap centre, thereby forming a pseudo-potential barrier and reducing losses due to both heating and expansion. We demonstrate this effect for improved accumulation of positrons and further outline a technique to achieve strong compression with low RW amplitudes by chirping the drive frequency.

We experimentally demonstrated that the stability of an atomic clock improves at its fastest rate τ⁻¹ (where τ is the averaging time) when the phase of a local oscillator is genuinely compared to the continuous phase of many atoms in a single trap (an atomic phase lock). For this demonstration, we developed a simple method that repeatedly monitors the atomic phase while retaining its coherence by observing only a portion of the whole ion cloud. Using this new method, we measured the continuous phase over three measurement cycles, and thereby improved the stability scaling from ${{\tau }^{-1/2}}$ to τ⁻¹ during the three measurement cycles. This simple method provides a path by which atomic clocks can approach a quantum projection noise limit, even when the measurement noise is dominated by the technical noise.

The electrical transport characteristics and anomalous Hall effect (AHE) were investigated for a hydrogen-injected Co-doped ZnO thin film. Based on the measurements of resistivity and the Hall effect between 5 K and 300 K, the existence of Co-H-Co complexes was observed to introduce the AHE and enable the AHE to persist up to room temperature. The observed H-induced AHE originates from the asymmetric scattering of carrier hopping between the localized states driven by ferromagnetic Co-H-Co complexes, and a theoretical study using first-principle calculations supports the experimental results well. This large ferromagnetic response of charge carriers by the hydrogen-induced AHE on semiconducting oxides will stimulate the further investigation of room-temperature spintronic applications.

We develop a formalism to describe the particle production out of equilibrium in terms of dynamical spectral functions, i.e. Wigner transformed Pauli–Jordanʼs and Hadamardʼs functions. We take an explicit example of a spatially homogeneous scalar theory under pulsed electric fields and investigate the time evolution of the spectral functions. In the out-state we find an oscillatory peak in Hadamardʼs function as a result of the mixing between positive- and negative-energy waves. The strength of this peak is of the linear order of the Bogoliubov mixing coefficient, whereas the peak corresponding to the Schwinger mechanism is of the quadratic order. Between the in- and the out-states we observe a continuous flow of the spectral peaks together with two transient oscillatory peaks. We also discuss the medium effect at finite temperature and density. We emphasize that the entire structure of the spectral functions conveys rich information on real-time dynamics including the particle production.

In this paper, we study a general linear networked system that contains a tunable memory subsystem; that is, it is decoupled from an optical field for state transportation during the storage process, while it couples to the field during the writing or reading process. The input is given by a single photon state or a coherent state in a pulsed light field. We then completely and explicitly characterize the condition required on the pulse shape achieving the perfect state transfer from the light field to the memory subsystem. The key idea to obtain this result is the use of zero-dynamics principle, which in our case means that, for perfect state transfer, the output field during the writing process must be a vacuum. A useful interpretation of the result in terms of the transfer function is also given. Moreover, a four-node network composed of atomic ensembles is studied as an example, demonstrating how the input field state is transferred to the memory subsystem and what the input pulse shape to be engineered for perfect memory looks like.

We investigate the problem of quantum searching on a noisy quantum computer. Taking a fault-ignorant approach, we analyze quantum algorithms that solve the task for various different noise strengths, which are possibly unknown beforehand. We prove lower bounds on the runtime of such algorithms and thereby find that the quadratic speedup is necessarily lost (in our noise models). However, for low but constant noise levels the algorithms we provide (based on Groverʼs algorithm) still outperform the best noiseless classical search algorithm.

We perform kinematic simulations of dynamo action driven by a helical small scale flow of a conducting fluid in order to deduce mean-field properties of the combined induction action of small scale eddies. We examine two different flow patterns in the style of the G O Roberts flow but with a mean vertical component and with internal fixtures that are modelled by regions with vanishing flow. These fixtures represent either rods that lie in the center of individual eddies, or internal dividing walls that provide a separation of the eddies from each other. The fixtures can be made of magnetic material with a relative permeability larger than one which can alter the dynamo behavior. The investigations are motivated by the widely unknown induction effects of the forced helical flow that is used in the core of liquid sodium cooled fast reactors, and from the key role of soft iron impellers in the von-Kármán-sodium dynamo. For both examined flow configurations the consideration of magnetic material within the fluid flow causes a reduction of the critical magnetic Reynolds number of up to 25%. The development of the growth-rate in the limit of the largest achievable permeabilities suggests no further significant reduction for even larger values of the permeability. In order to study the dynamo behavior of systems that consist of tens of thousands of helical cells we resort to the mean-field dynamo theory (Krause and Rädler 1980 Mean-field Magnetohydrodynamics and Dynamo Theory (Oxford: Pergamon)) in which the action of the small scale flow is parameterized in terms of an α- and β-effect. We compute the relevant elements of the α- and the β-tensor using the so called testfield method. We find a reasonable agreement between the fully resolved models and the corresponding mean-field models for wall or rod materials in the considered range $1\leqslant {{\mu }_{{\rm r}}}\leqslant 20$. Our results may be used for the development of global large scale models with recirculation flow and realistic boundary conditions.

This paper presents the first realization of a simultaneous ⁸⁷Rb–⁸⁵Rb Mach–Zehnder atom interferometer with Bose-condensed atoms. A number of ambitious proposals for precise terrestrial and space based tests of the weak equivalence principle rely on such a system. This implementation utilizes hybrid magnetic-optical trapping to produce spatially overlapped condensates with a repetition rate of 20 s. A horizontal optical waveguide with co-linear Bragg beamsplitters and mirrors is used to simultaneously address both isotopes in the interferometer. We observe a non–linear phase shift on a non-interacting ⁸⁵Rb interferometer as a function of interferometer time, T, which we show arises from inter-isotope scattering with the co-incident ⁸⁵Rb interferometer. A discussion of implications for future experiments is given.

We show that when the speed of control is bounded, there is a widely applicable minimal-time control problem for which a coherent feedback protocol is optimal, and is faster than all measurement-based feedback protocols, where the latter are defined in a strict sense. The superiority of the coherent protocol is due to the fact that it can exploit a geodesic path in Hilbert space, a path that measurement-based protocols cannot follow.

Spreading on networks is influenced by a number of factors, including different parts of the inter-event time distribution (IETD), the topology of the network and non-stationarity. In order to understand the role of these factors we study the SI model on temporal networks with different aggregated topologies and different IETDs. Based on analytic calculations and numerical simulations, we show that if the stationary bursty process is governed by power-law IETD, the spreading can be slowed down or accelerated as compared to a Poisson process; the speed is determined by the short time behaviour, which in our model is controlled by the exponent. We demonstrate that finite, so called 'locally tree-like' networks, like the Barabási–Albert networks behave very differently from real tree graphs if the IETD is strongly fat-tailed, as the lack or presence of rare alternative paths modifies the spreading. A further important result is that the non-stationarity of the dynamics has a significant effect on the spreading speed for strongly fat-tailed power-law IETDs, thus bursty processes characterized by small power-law exponents can cause slow spreading in the stationary state but also very rapid spreading, with this heavily dependent on the age of the processes.

We introduce a quantum teleportation scheme that transfers a spin coherent state between two locations using entanglement. In the scheme an unknown spin coherent state lying on the equator of the Bloch sphere, such as realized in a coherent two-component Bose–Einstein condensate, is teleported onto a distant spin coherent state using only elementary operations and measurements. The scheme works in the regime beyond the standard continuous variables approximation based on the Holstein–Primakoff transformation. We analyze the error of the protocol with the number of particles N in the spin coherent state under decoherence and find that it scales favorably with N. The simplicity of the operations involved and the robustness under decoherence should make the protocol suitable under realistic experimental conditions.

Environmental noise can hinder the metrological capabilities of entangled states. While the use of entanglement allows for Heisenberg-limited resolution, the largest permitted by quantum mechanics, deviations from strictly unitary dynamics quickly restore the standard scaling dictated by the central limit theorem. Product and maximally entangled states become asymptotically equivalent when the noisy evolution is both local and strictly Markovian. However, temporal correlations in the noise have been shown to lift this equivalence while fully (spatially) correlated noise allows for the identification of decoherence-free subspaces. Here we analyze precision limits in the presence of noise with finite correlation length and show that there exist robust entangled state preparations which display persistent Heisenberg scaling despite the environmental decoherence, even for small correlation length. Our results emphasize the relevance of noise correlations in the study of quantum advantage and could be relevant beyond metrological applications.

We formulate and solve a physically-based, phase space kinetic equation for transport in the presence of trapping. Trapping is incorporated through a waiting time distribution function. From the phase-space analysis, we obtain a generalized diffusion equation in configuration space. We analyse the impact of the waiting time distribution, and give examples that lead to dispersive or non-dispersive transport. With an appropriate choice of the waiting time distribution, our model is related to fractional diffusion in the sense that fractional equations can be obtained in the limit of long times. Finally, we demonstrate the application of this theory to disordered semiconductors.

We propose an experimental scheme to effectively assemble chains of dipolar gases with a uniform length in a multi-layer system. The obtained dipolar chains can form a chain crystal with the system temperature easily controlled by the initial lattice potential and the external field strength during processing. When the density of chains increases, we further observe a second order quantum phase transition for the chain crystal to be dissociated toward layers of 2D crystal, where the quantum fluctuation dominates the classical energy and the compressibility diverges at the phase boundary. The experimental implication of such a dipolar chain crystal and its quantum phase transition is also discussed.

Imaging of the structure of single proteins or other biomolecules with atomic resolution would be enormously beneficial to structural biology. X-ray free-electron lasers generate highly intense and ultrashort x-ray pulses, providing a route towards imaging of single molecules with atomic resolution. The information on molecular structure is encoded in the coherent x-ray scattering signal. In contrast to crystallography there are no Bragg reflections in single molecule imaging, which means the coherent scattering is not enhanced. Consequently, a background signal from incoherent scattering deteriorates the quality of the coherent scattering signal. This background signal cannot be easily eliminated because the spectrum of incoherently scattered photons cannot be resolved by usual scattering detectors. We present an ab initio study of incoherent x-ray scattering from individual carbon atoms, including the electronic radiation damage caused by a highly intense x-ray pulse. We find that the coherent scattering pattern suffers from a significant incoherent background signal at high resolution. For high x-ray fluence the background signal becomes even dominating. Finally, based on the atomic scattering patterns, we present an estimation for the average photon count in single molecule imaging at high resolution. By varying the photon energy from 3.5 keV to 15 keV, we find that imaging at higher photon energies may improve the coherent scattering signal quality.

The presence of giant diamagnetism in Au nanorods, NRs, is shown to be a possible consequence of field induced currents in the surface electrons. The distance, Δ, between quantum surface energy levels has been calculated as a function of the NRs radius. Note that those electrons occupying states for which Δ > k_BT are steadily orbiting with constant orbital moment. The diamagnetic response induced when a field is turned on remains constant during the time the field is acting. As the NRs radius increases, Δ decreases and accordingly the electron fraction available to generate constant currents decreases, consequently the surface diamagnetic susceptibility decreases towards its bulk value. The surface electronic motion induced by the axial applied field on electrons confined into a cylindrical surface accounts with extremely good quantitative agreement for the giant diamagnetism recently measured and reported.

We studied the charge-orbital ordering in the superlattice of charge-ordered insulating Pr_0.5Ca_0.5MnO₃ and ferromagnetic metallic La_0.5Sr_0.5MnO₃ by resonant soft x-ray diffraction (RSXD) and hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HXPES). A temperature-dependent incommensurability is found in the orbital ordering by RSXD. In addition, a large hysteresis is observed that is caused by phase competition between the insulating charge ordered and metallic ferromagnetic states. No magnetic phase transitions are observed in contrast to pure Pr_0.5Ca_0.5MnO₃ thin films, confirming the unique character of the superlattice. Mn $2p$ HXPES spectra revealed a hysteresis in the metalicity, supporting the picture of phase competition. The deviation from the commensurate orbital order can be directly related to the decrease of ordered-layer thickness that leads to dimensional crossover from three-dimensional to two-dimensional orbital ordering.

We investigate the Majorana fermions in a semiconductor nanostructure with two wires connected through a ring. The nanostructure is mirror symmetric and in the proximity of a superconductor. The Rashba spin–orbit coupling and a magnetic field parallel to the wires or perpendicular to the ring are included. Moreover, a magnetic flux is applied through the center of the ring, which makes the phase difference of the superconducting order parameters in the two wires being zero or π due to the fluxoid quantization and the thermodynamic equilibrium of the supercurrent in the superconducting ring. If the phase difference is π, two Majorana modes are shown to appear around the ring without interacting with each other. In contrast, if the phase difference is zero, these Majorana modes disappear and the states localized around the ring have finite energies. These states can be detected via the conductance measurement by connecting two normal leads to the wires and a third one directly to the ring. It is shown in the bias dependence of the differential conductance from one of the leads connected to the wire to the one connected directly to the ring that the tunnelings through the Majorana modes (i.e., in the case with π phase difference) leads to two peaks very close to the zero bias, while the tunneling through the states with finite energies (i.e., in the case with zero phase difference) leads to peaks far away from the zero bias if the ring radius is small. This difference for the cases with and without the Majorana modes in small ring radius is distinct and hence can be used to identify the Majorana modes.

Amplified spontaneous emission is usually treated as an incoherent noise process. Recent theoretical and experimental work using rephasing optical pulses has shown that rephased amplified spontaneous emission (RASE) is a potential source of wide bandwidth time-delayed entanglement. Due to poor echo efficiency the plain RASE protocol does not in theory achieve perfect entanglement. Experiments done to date show a very small amount of entanglement at best. Here we show that RASE can, in principle, produce perfect multimode time-delayed two mode squeezing when the active medium is placed inside a Q-switched cavity.

We demonstrate second-order interferometric autocorrelation of a pulse in the vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) spectral range using an optical arrangement equivalent to a Michelson interferometer. In an all-reflective design, wavefront splitting is realized with two moveable interdigitated reflective gratings forming a diffraction pattern with well separated orders and an intensity distribution depending on the precisely adjustable path-length difference. An imaging time-of-flight spectrometer is able to spatially select ions created by nonlinear two-photon absorption in the focus of the zeroth diffraction order. This arrangement is used to demonstrate interferometric autocorrelation in krypton with femtosecond VUV pulses at 160 nm wavelength. In addition to the pulse duration, which is already accessible with non-collinear intensity autocorrelation, the full interferometric contrast of the presented approach enables us to extract also information on temporal phases.

The full retarded electromagnetic force experienced by swift electrons moving parallel to planar boundaries is revisited, for both metallic and dielectric targets, with special emphasis on the consequences in electron microscopy experiments. The focus is placed on the sign of the transverse force experienced by the electron beam as a function of the impact parameter. For point probes, the force is found to be always attractive. The contribution of the induced magnetic field and the causality requirements of the target dielectric response, given by the Kramers–Kronig (K–K) relations, prove to be crucial issues at small impact parameters. For spatially extended probes, repulsive forces are predicted for close trajectories, in agreement with previous works. The force experienced by the target is also explored, with the finding that in insulators, the momentum associated to Cherenkov radiation (CR) is relevant at large impact parameters.

Implementing a scalable quantum information processor using polar molecules in optical lattices requires precise control over the long-range dipole–dipole interaction between molecules in selected lattice sites. We present here a scheme using trapped open-shell $^{2}\Sigma$ polar molecules that allows dipolar exchange processes between nearest and next-nearest neighbors to be controlled in order to construct a generalized transverse Ising spin Hamiltonian with tunable XX, YY and XY couplings in the rotating frame of the driving lasers. The scheme requires a moderately strong bias magnetic field together with near-infrared light to provide local tuning of the qubit energy gap, and mid-infrared pulses to perform rotational state transfer via stimulated Raman adiabatic passage. No interaction between qubits occurs in the absence of the infrared driving. We analyze the fidelity of the resulting two-qubit matchgate, and demonstrate its robustness as a function of the driving parameters. We discuss a realistic application of the system for universal matchgate quantum computing in optical lattices.

Many cell types, including neurons, astrocytes and other cells of the central nervous system, respond to changes in the extracellular matrix or substrate viscoelasticity, and increased tissue stiffness is a hallmark of several disease states, including fibrosis and some types of cancers. Whether the malignant tissue in brain, an organ that lacks the protein-based filamentous extracellular matrix of other organs, exhibits the same macroscopic stiffening characteristic of breast, colon, pancreatic and other tumors is not known. In this study we show that glioma cells, like normal astrocytes, respond strongly in vitro to substrate stiffness in the range of 100 to 2000 Pa, but that macroscopic (mm to cm) tissue samples isolated from human glioma tumors have elastic moduli in the order of 200 Pa that are indistinguishable from those of normal brain. However, both normal brain and glioma tissues increase their shear elastic moduli under modest uniaxial compression, and glioma tissue stiffens more strongly under compression than normal brain. These findings suggest that local tissue stiffness has the potential to alter glial cell function, and that stiffness changes in brain tumors might arise not from increased deposition or crosslinking of the collagen-rich extracellular matrix, but from pressure gradients that form within the tumors in vivo.

It is possible to construct artificial spacetime geometries for light by using intense laser pulses that modify the spatiotemporal properties of an optical medium. Here we theoretically investigate experimental possibilities for studying spacetime metrics of the form ${\rm d}{{s}^{2}}={{c}^{2}}{\rm d}{{t}^{2}}-\eta {{\left( t \right)}^{2}}{\rm d}{{x}^{2}}$. By tailoring the laser pulse shape and medium properties, it is possible to create a refractive index variation $n=n\left( t \right)$ that can be identified with $\eta \left( t \right)$. Starting from a perturbative solution to a generalized Hopfield model for the medium described by an $n=n\left( t \right)$, we provide estimates for the number of photons generated by the time-dependent spacetime. The simplest example is that of a uniformly varying $\eta \left( t \right)$ that therefore describes the Robertson–Walker metric, i.e. a cosmological expansion. The number of photon pairs generated in experimentally feasible conditions appears to be extremely small. However, large photon production can be obtained by periodically modulating the medium and thus resorting to a resonant enhancement similar to that observed in the dynamical Casimir effect. Curiously, the spacetime metric in this case closely resembles that of a gravitational wave. Motivated by this analogy, we show that a periodic gravitational wave can indeed act as an amplifier for photons. The emission for an actual gravitational wave will be very weak but should be readily observable in the laboratory analogue.

The deposition of silicene on several metals is investigated. For fcc crystals the (111) surfaces while for hexagonal ones the (0001) surfaces are used. The Ca(111)1 × 1 substrate is found to be the most promising candidate. The silicene adsorption on Ca-functionalized Si(111)1 × 1 and 2 × 1 surfaces is also studied. The 1 × 1 substrates lead to overlayer silicene with hexagonal symmetry and Dirac cones. However, the Dirac points are below the Fermi level, and small energy gaps are opened. In the case of 2 × 1 surfaces, strong lattice relaxation occurs. Only rudiments of conical linear bands remain visible.

We investigate the implication of the nonlinear and non-local multi-particle Schrödinger–Newton equation for the motion of the mass centre of an extended multi-particle object, giving self-contained and comprehensible derivations. In particular, we discuss two opposite limiting cases. In the first case, the width of the centre-of-mass wave packet is assumed much larger than the actual extent of the object, in the second case it is assumed much smaller. Both cases result in nonlinear deviations from ordinary free Schrödinger evolution for the centre of mass. On a general conceptual level we include some discussion in order to clarify the physical basis and intention for studying the Schrödinger–Newton equation.

Silicene, a monolayer of silicon atoms arranged in honeycomb lattices, can be synthesized on the Ag(111) surface, where it forms several superstructures with different buckling patterns and periodicity. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we obtained high-resolution images of silicene grown on Ag(111) and revealed its five phases, i.e., 4 × 4 − α, 4 × 4 − β, $\sqrt{13}\times \sqrt{13}$ − α, $\sqrt{13}\times \sqrt{13}$ − β and $\sqrt{13}\times \sqrt{13}$ − γ, some observed for the first time. For each of the phases, we have determined its atomic structure by comparing the atomic-resolution STM images with theoretical simulation results previously reported. We thus eliminate the contradictions of previous studies on the structural models of various silicene phases supported by the Ag(111) surface.

The accurate transport of an ion over macroscopic distances represents a challenging control problem due to the different length and time scales that enter and the experimental limitations on the controls that need to be accounted for. Here, we investigate the performance of different control techniques for ion transport in state-of-the-art segmented miniaturized ion traps. We employ numerical optimization of classical trajectories and quantum wavepacket propagation as well as analytical solutions derived from invariant based inverse engineering and geometric optimal control. The applicability of each of the control methods depends on the length and time scales of the transport. Our comprehensive set of tools allows us make a number of observations. We find that accurate shuttling can be performed with operation times below the trap oscillation period. The maximum speed is limited by the maximum acceleration that can be exerted on the ion. When using controls obtained from classical dynamics for wavepacket propagation, wavepacket squeezing is the only quantum effect that comes into play for a large range of trapping parameters. We show that this can be corrected by a compensating force derived from invariant based inverse engineering, without a significant increase in the operation time.

We introduce a new class of continuous matrix product (CMP) states and establish the stochastic master equations (quantum filters) for an arbitrary quantum system probed by a bosonic input field in this class of states. We show that this class of CMP states arise naturally as outputs of a Markovian model, and that input fields in these states lead to master and filtering (quantum trajectory) equations which are matrix-valued. Furthermore, it is shown that this class of CMP states include the (continuous-mode) single photon and time-ordered multi-photon states.

Via computer simulations, we investigate the linear and nonlinear viscoelastic response of polymer grafted nanoparticle networks subject to oscillatory shear at different amplitudes and frequencies. The individual nanoparticles are composed of a rigid spherical core and a corona of grafted polymers that encompass reactive end groups. With the overlap of the coronas on adjacent particles, the reactive end groups form permanent or labile bonds, and thus form a 'dual cross-linked' network. The existing labile bonds between particles can break and reform depending on the bond rupture rate, extent of deformation and the frequency of oscillation. We study how the viscoelastic behavior of the material depends on the energy of the labile bonds and identify the network characteristics that give rise to the observed viscoelastic response. We observe that with an increase in labile bond energy, the storage modulus increases while the loss modulus shows a more complex response depending on the labile bond energy. Specifically, in the case of the samples with the weaker labile bonds, the loss modulus increases monotonically, while for the samples with the stronger labile bonds, the loss modulus exhibits a minimum with an increase in frequency. We show that an increase in the storage modulus corresponds to an enhancement in the average number of bonds in the samples and the characteristics of the loss modulus depend on both the bond kinetics and the mobility of the particles in the network. Furthermore, we determine that the effective contribution of the bonds to the storage modulus decreases with increase in strain amplitude. In particular, while bond formation at small amplitude drives an increase in storage modulus, at large amplitudes it promotes clustering and formation of voids leading to strain softening. Our simulations provide a mesoscopic picture of how the nature of labile bonds affects the performance of cross-linked polymer-grafted nanoparticle networks.

Living cells constitute an extraordinary state of matter since they are inherently out of thermal equilibrium due to internal metabolic processes. Indeed, measurements of particle motion in the cytoplasm of animal cells have revealed clear signatures of nonthermal fluctuations superposed on passive thermal motion. However, it has been difficult to pinpoint the exact molecular origin of this activity. Here, we employ time-resolved microrheology based on particle tracking to measure nonequilibrium fluctuations produced by myosin motor proteins in a minimal model system composed of purified actin filaments and myosin motors. We show that the motors generate spatially heterogeneous contractile fluctuations, which become less frequent with time as a consequence of motor-driven network remodeling. We analyze the particle tracking data on different length scales, combining particle image velocimetry, an ensemble analysis of the particle trajectories, and finally a kymograph analysis of individual particle trajectories to quantify the length and time scales associated with active particle displacements. All analyses show clear signatures of nonequilibrium activity: the particles exhibit random motion with an enhanced amplitude compared to passive samples, and they exhibit sporadic contractile fluctuations with ballistic motion over large (up to 30 μm) distances. This nonequilibrium activity diminishes with sample age, even though the adenosine triphosphate level is held constant. We propose that network coarsening concentrates motors in large clusters and depletes them from the network, thus reducing the occurrence of contractile fluctuations. Our data provide valuable insight into the physical processes underlying stress generation within motor-driven actin networks and the analysis framework may prove useful for future microrheology studies in cells and model organisms.

We study the dissipation of moving magnets in levitation above a superconductor. The rotation motion is analyzed using optical tracking techniques. It displays a remarkable regularity together with long damping time up to several hours. The magnetic contribution to the damping is investigated in detail by comparing 14 distinct magnetic configurations and points towards amplitude-dependent dissipation mechanisms. The non-linear dynamics of the mechanical rotation motion is also revealed and described with an effective Duffing model. The magnetic mechanical damping is consistent with measured hysteretic cycles M(H) that are discussed within a modified critical state model. The obtained picture of the coupling of levitating magnets to their environment sheds light on their potential as ultra-low dissipation mechanical oscillators for high precision physics.

Cell migration processes are controlled by sensitive interaction with external cues such as topographic structures of the cell's environment. Here, we present systematically controlled assays to investigate the specific effects of spatial density and local geometry of topographic structure on amoeboid migration of Dictyostelium discoideum cells. This is realized by well-controlled fabrication of quasi-3D pillar fields exhibiting a systematic variation of inter-pillar distance and pillar lattice geometry. By time-resolved local mean-squared displacement analysis of amoeboid migration, we can extract motility parameters in order to elucidate the details of amoeboid migration mechanisms and consolidate them in a two-state contact-controlled motility model, distinguishing directed and random phases. Specifically, we find that directed pillar-to-pillar runs are found preferably in high pillar density regions, and cells in directed motion states sense pillars as attractive topographic stimuli. In contrast, cell motion in random probing states is inhibited by high pillar density, where pillars act as obstacles for cell motion. In a gradient spatial density, these mechanisms lead to topographic guidance of cells, with a general trend towards a regime of inter-pillar spacing close to the cell diameter. In locally anisotropic pillar environments, cell migration is often found to be damped due to competing attraction by different pillars in close proximity and due to lack of other potential stimuli in the vicinity of the cell. Further, we demonstrate topographic cell guidance reflecting the lattice geometry of the quasi-3D environment by distinct preferences in migration direction. Our findings allow to specifically control amoeboid cell migration by purely topographic effects and thus, to induce active cell guidance. These tools hold prospects for medical applications like improved wound treatment, or invasion assays for immune cells.

The surface electronic structure of the narrow-gap seminconductor BiTeI exhibits a large Rashba-splitting which strongly depends on the surface termination. Here we report on a detailed investigation of the surface morphology and electronic properties of cleaved BiTeI single crystals by scanning tunneling microscopy, photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES, XPS), electron diffraction (SPA-LEED) and density functional theory calculations. Our measurements confirm a previously reported coexistence of Te- and I-terminated surface areas originating from bulk stacking faults and find a characteristic length scale of ∼100 nm for these areas. We show that the two terminations exhibit distinct types of atomic defects in the surface and subsurface layers. For electronic states resided on the I terminations we observe an energy shift depending on the time after cleavage. This aging effect is successfully mimicked by depositon of Cs adatoms found to accumulate on top of the I terminations. As shown theoretically on a microscopic scale, this preferential adsorbing behaviour results from considerably different energetics and surface diffusion lengths at the two terminations. Our investigations provide insight into the importance of structural imperfections as well as intrinsic and extrinsic defects on the electronic properties of BiTeI surfaces and their temporal stability.

The evolution of a Taylor–Green forced magnetohydrodynamic system showing dynamo activity is analyzed via direct numerical simulations. The statistical properties of the velocity and magnetic fields in Eulerian and Lagrangian coordinates are found to change between the kinematic, nonlinear and saturated regime. Fluid element (tracer) trajectories change from chaotic quasi-isotropic (kinematic phase) to mean magnetic field aligned (saturated phase). The probability density functions (PDFs) of the magnetic field change from strongly non-Gaussian in the kinematic to quasi-Gaussian PDFs in the saturated regime so that their flatness give a precise handle on the definition of the limiting points of the three regimes. Also the statistics of the kinetic and magnetic fluctuations along fluid trajectories changes. All this goes along with a dramatic increase of the correlation time of the velocity and magnetic fields experienced by tracers, significantly exceeding one turbulent large-eddy turn-over time. A remarkable consequence is an intermittent scaling regime of the Lagrangian magnetic field structure functions at unusually long time scales.

New and more precise measurements of neutrino cross sections have renewed interest in a better understanding of electroweak interactions on nucleons and nuclei. This effort is crucial to achieving the precision goals of the neutrino oscillation program, making new discoveries, like the CP violation in the leptonic sector, possible. We review the recent progress in the physics of neutrino cross sections, putting emphasis on the open questions that arise in the comparison with new experimental data. Following an overview of recent neutrino experiments and future plans, we present some details about the theoretical development in the description of (anti)neutrino-induced quasielastic (QE) scattering and the role of multi-nucleon QE-like mechanisms. We cover not only pion production in nucleons and nuclei but also other inelastic channels including strangeness production and photon emission. Coherent reaction channels on nuclear targets are also discussed. Finally, we briefly describe some of the Monte Carlo event generators, which are at the core of all neutrino oscillation and cross-section measurements.

Frustration in physics is the inability of a system to simultaneously satisfy all the competing pairwise interactions within it. The past decade has seen an explosion of activity involving engineering frustration in artificial systems built using nanotechnology. The most common are the artificial spin ices that comprise arrays of nanomagnets with competing magnetostatic interactions. As well as being physical embodiments of idealized statistical mechanical models in which properties can be tuned by design, artificial spin ices can be studied using magnetic microscopy, allowing all the details of the microstates of these systems to be interrogated, both in equilibrium and when perturbed away from it. This 'focus on' collection brings together reports on the latest results from leading groups around the globe in this fascinating and fast-moving field.