Table of contents

In earlier work, we have developed a kinetic field theory (KFT) for cosmological structure formation and showed that the nonlinear density-fluctuation power spectrum known from numerical simulations can be reproduced quite well even if particle interactions are taken into account to first order only. Besides approximating gravitational interactions, we had to truncate the initial correlation hierarchy of particle momenta at the second order. Here, we substantially simplify KFT. We show that its central object, the free generating functional, can be factorised, taking the full hierarchy of momentum correlations into account. The factors appearing in the generating functional, which we identify as nonlinearly evolved density-fluctuation power spectra, have a universal form and can thus be tabulated for fast access in perturbation schemes. In this paper, we focus on a complete evaluation of the free generating functional of KFT, not including particle interactions yet. This implies that the nonlinearly evolved power spectra contain a damping term which reflects that structures are being wiped out at late times by free streaming. Once particle interactions will be taken into account, they will compensate this damping. If we suppress this damping in a way suggested by the fluctuation-dissipation relations of KFT, our results show that the complete hierarchy of initial momentum correlations is responsible for a large part of the characteristic nonlinear deformation and the mode transport in the density-fluctuation power spectrum. Without any adjustable parameters, KFT accurately reproduces the scale at which nonlinear evolution sets in. Finally, we further develop perturbation theory based on the factorisation of the generating functional and propose a diagrammatic scheme for the perturbation terms.

We present and implement a non-destructive detection scheme for the transition probability readout of an optical lattice clock. The scheme relies on a differential heterodyne measurement of the dispersive properties of lattice-trapped atoms enhanced by a high finesse cavity. By design, this scheme offers a 1st order rejection of the technical noise sources, an enhanced signal-to-noise ratio, and an homogeneous atom-cavity coupling. We theoretically show that this scheme is optimal with respect to the photon shot noise limit. We experimentally realise this detection scheme in an operational strontium optical lattice clock. The resolution is on the order of a few atoms with a photon scattering rate low enough to keep the atoms trapped after detection. This scheme opens the door to various different interrogations protocols, which reduce the frequency instability, including atom recycling, zero-dead time clocks with a fast repetition rate, and sub quantum projection noise frequency stability.

Edge modes in topological insulators are known to be robust against defects. We investigate if this also holds true when the defect is not static, but varies in time. We study the influence of defects with time-dependent coupling on the robustness of the transport along the edge in a Floquet system of helically curved waveguides. Waveguide arrays are fabricated via direct laser writing in a negative tone photoresist. We find that single dynamic defects do not destroy the chiral edge current, even when the temporal modulation is strong. Quantitative numerical simulation of the intensity in the bulk and edge waveguides confirms our observation.

We present here an adaptive control scheme with a feedback delay to achieve elimination of synchronization in a large population of coupled and synchronized oscillators. We validate the feasibility of this scheme not only in the coupled Kuramoto's oscillators with a unimodal or bimodal distribution of natural frequency, but also in two representative models of neuronal networks, namely, the FitzHugh–Nagumo spiking oscillators and the Hindmarsh–Rose bursting oscillators. More significantly, we analytically illustrate the feasibility of the proposed scheme with a feedback delay and reveal how the exact topological form of the bimodal natural frequency distribution influences the scheme performance. We anticipate that our developed scheme will deepen the understanding and refinement of those controllers, e.g. techniques of deep brain stimulation, which have been implemented in remedying some synchronization-induced mental disorders including Parkinson disease and epilepsy.

In dynamical systems, one may ask how long it takes for a trajectory to reach the attractor, i.e. how long it spends in the transient phase. Although for a single trajectory the mathematically precise answer may be infinity, it still makes sense to compare different trajectories and quantify which of them approaches the attractor earlier. In this article, we categorize several problems of quantifying such transient times. To treat them, we propose two metrics, area under distance curve and regularized reaching time, that capture two complementary aspects of transient dynamics. The first, area under distance curve, is the distance of the trajectory to the attractor integrated over time. It measures which trajectories are 'reluctant', i.e. stay distant from the attractor for long, or 'eager' to approach it right away. Regularized reaching time, on the other hand, quantifies the additional time (positive or negative) that a trajectory starting at a chosen initial condition needs to approach the attractor as compared to some reference trajectory. A positive or negative value means that it approaches the attractor by this much 'earlier' or 'later' than the reference, respectively. We demonstrated their substantial potential for application with multiple paradigmatic examples uncovering new features.

A two-dimensional electron system in the presence of a magnetic field and microwave irradiation can undergo a phase transition towards a zero-resistance state (ZRS). A widely used model predicts the ZRS to be a domain state, which responds to applied dc voltages or dc currents by slightly changing the domain structure. Here we propose an alternative response scenario, according to which the domain pattern remains unchanged. Surprisingly, a fixed domain pattern does not destroy zero-resistance, provided that the resistance is direction independent. Otherwise, if the symmetry of the domain pattern allows a direction dependence of the resistance, the domain state can be dissipative. We give examples for both situations and simulate the response behavior numerically.

We investigate the full-counting statistics (FCS) of energy transport carried by electrons in molecular junctions for the Anderson–Holstein model in the polaronic regime. Using the two-time quantum measurement scheme, the generating function (GF) for the energy transport is derived and expressed as a Fredholm determinant in terms of Keldysh nonequilibrium Green's function in the time domain. Dressed tunneling approximation is used in decoupling the phonon cloud operator in the polaronic regime. This formalism enables us to analyze the time evolution of energy transport dynamics after a sudden switch-on of the coupling between the dot and the leads towards the stationary state. The steady state energy current cumulant GF in the long time limit is obtained in the energy domain as well. Universal relations for steady state energy current FCS are derived under a finite temperature gradient with zero bias and this enabled us to express the equilibrium energy current cumulant by a linear combination of lower order cumulants. The behaviors of energy current cumulants in steady state under temperature gradient and external bias are numerically studied and explained. The transient dynamics of energy current cumulants is numerically calculated and analyzed. Universal scaling of normalized transient energy cumulants is found under both temperature gradient and external bias.

The effective manipulation of skyrmion motion introduces the technologically relevant possibility of skyrmion-based spintronics. Here we show how a magnetic skyrmion can be captured by a radially spatial gradient of the magnetic field. A theoretical model governed by the Thiele equation is employed to study the skyrmion motion. The analytical predictions are compared to micromagnetic simulations based on the Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation, showing that the dynamic behavior of skyrmions strongly depends on the gradient strength of magnetic fields as well as the radius of the skyrmion and the Gilbert damping factor. Moreover, we find that the skyrmions can also be dragged by a moving magnetic tip.

Yang–Lee edge singularities are the branch point of free energy on the complex plane of physical parameters and have been shown to be the simplest universality class of phase transitions. However, Yang–Lee edge singularities have not been regarded as experimentally observable since they occur at complex physical parameters which are unphysical. A recent discovery regarding the relation between partition functions and probe spin coherence makes it experimentally feasible to access the complex plane of physical parameters. However, how to extract the critical point and the critical exponent of Yang–Lee edge singularities in many-body systems, which occurs only at the thermodynamic limit, has still been elusive. Here we show that the quantum coherence of a probe spin coupled to finite-size Ising-type spin systems presents universal scaling behavior near the Yang–Lee edge singularity. The finite-size scaling behavior of the quantum coherence of the probe spin predicts that one can extract the critical point and the critical exponent of the Yang–Lee edge singularity of an Ising-type spin system in the thermodynamic limit from the spin coherence measurement of the probe spin coupled to finite-size Ising-type spin systems. This finding provides a practical approach to studying the nature of Yang–Lee edge singularities of many-body systems.

Absolutely separable states ϱ remain separable under arbitrary unitary transformations $U\varrho {U}^{\dagger }$. By example of a three qubit system we show that in a multipartite scenario neither full separability implies bipartite absolute separability nor the reverse statement holds. The main goal of the paper is to analyze quantum maps resulting in absolutely separable output states. Such absolutely separating maps affect the states in a way, when no Hamiltonian dynamics can make them entangled afterwards. We study the general properties of absolutely separating maps and channels with respect to bipartitions and multipartitions and show that absolutely separating maps are not necessarily entanglement breaking. We examine the stability of absolutely separating maps under a tensor product and show that ${{\rm{\Phi }}}^{\otimes N}$ is absolutely separating for any N if and only if Φ is the tracing map. Particular results are obtained for families of local unital multiqubit channels, global generalized Pauli channels, and combination of identity, transposition, and tracing maps acting on states of arbitrary dimension. We also study the interplay between local and global noise components in absolutely separating bipartite depolarizing maps and discuss the input states with high resistance to absolute separability.

When a periodically modulated many-body quantum system is weakly coupled to an environment, the combined action of these temporal modulations and dissipation steers the system towards a state characterized by a time-periodic density operator. To resolve this asymptotic non-equilibrium state at stroboscopic instants of time, we use the dissipative propagator over one period of modulations, 'Floquet map', and evaluate the stroboscopic density operator as its invariant. Particle interactions control properties of the map and thus the features of its invariant. In addition, the spectrum of the map provides insight into the system relaxation towards the asymptotic state and may help to understand whether it is possible (or not) to construct a stroboscopic time-independent Lindblad generator which mimics the action of the original time-dependent one. We illustrate the idea with a scalable many-body model, a periodically modulated Bose–Hubbard dimer. We contrast the relations between the interaction-induced bifurcations in a mean-field description with the numerically exact stroboscopic evolution and discuss the characteristics of the genuine quantum many-body state vs the characteristics of its mean-field counterpart.

The dependence of hydrogen coverage on the bulk doping concentration is investigated for the polar O-terminated (000) ZnO surface. We use hybrid density-functional theory in combination with ab initio thermodynamics to determine a doping-dependent phase diagram of this surface. For hydrogen coverages lower than 50% dangling oxygen bonds remain at the surface, where they subsequently become charged by bulk electrons. For such charged surfaces, a computational first-principles approach is presented, with which long-range band bending can now be included in first-principles supercell calculations. In this work, we use a modified and extended version of the recently introduced charge-reservoir electrostatic sheet technique (Sinai et al 2015 Phys.Rev.B91 075311) to incorporate band bending effects directly into our first-principles calculations. This allows us to investigate the effect of space charge layers and the resulting band bending on the hydrogen coverage of the ZnO (000) surface. After introducing a new implementation of CREST, we show that the structure and stability of polar ZnO surfaces are indeed sensitive to the amount of free charge carriers in the bulk. At low doping concentrations our results corroborate the previously reported (2 × 1) hydrogen phase, at higher doping concentrations the hydrogen coverage diminishes notably.

We demonstrate experimentally a new type of order in optical magnetism resembling the staggered structure of spins in antiferromagnetic ordered materials. We study hybrid electromagnetic metasurfaces created by assembling hybrid meta-atoms formed by metallic split-ring resonators and dielectric particles with a high refractive index, both supporting optically-induced magnetic dipole resonances of different origin. Each pair (or 'metamolecule') is characterized by two interacting magnetic dipole moments with the distance-dependent magnetization resembling the spin exchange interaction in magnetic materials. By directly mapping the structure of the electromagnetic fields, we demonstrate experimentally that strong coupling between the optically-induced magnetic moments of different origin can flip the magnetisation orientation in a metamolecule creating an antiferromagnetic lattice of staggered optically-induced magnetic moments in hybrid metasurfaces.

A major challenge facing existing sequential Monte Carlo methods for parameter estimation in physics stems from the inability of existing approaches to robustly deal with experiments that have different mechanisms that yield the results with equivalent probability. We address this problem here by proposing a form of particle filtering that clusters the particles that comprise the sequential Monte Carlo approximation to the posterior before applying a resampler. Through a new graphical approach to thinking about such models, we are able to devise an artificial-intelligence based strategy that automatically learns the shape and number of the clusters in the support of the posterior. We demonstrate the power of our approach by applying it to randomized gap estimation and a form of low circuit-depth phase estimation where existing methods from the physics literature either exhibit much worse performance or even fail completely.

In this work, we study strongly interacting spinor atoms in a lattice subject to a two dimensional (2d) anisotropic Rashba type of spin orbital coupling (SOC) and an Zeeman field. We find the interplay between the Zeeman field and the SOC provides a new platform to host rich and novel classes of quantum commensurate and in-commensurate phases, excitations and phase transitions. These commensurate phases include two collinear states at low and high Zeeman field, two co-planar canted states at mirror reflected SOC parameters respectively. Most importantly, there are non-coplanar incommensurate Skyrmion (IC-SkX) crystal phases surrounded by the four commensurate phases. New excitation spectra above all the five phases, especially on the IC-SKX phase are computed. Three different classes of quantum commensurate to in-commensurate transitions from the IC-SKX to its four neighboring commensurate phases are identified. Finite temperature behaviors and transitions are discussed. The critical temperatures of all the phases can be raised above that reachable by current cold atom cooling techniques simply by tuning the number of atoms N per site. In view of recent impressive experimental advances in generating 2d SOC for cold atoms in optical lattices, these new many-body phenomena can be explored in the current and near future cold atom experiments. Applications to various materials such as MnSi, ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{0.5}$${\mathrm{Co}}_{0.5}$Si, especially the complex incommensurate magnetic ordering in Li₂IrO₃ are given.

In Zeeman deceleration, time-varying spatially inhomogeneous magnetic fields are used to create packets of translationally cold, quantum-state-selected paramagnetic particles with a tuneable forward velocity, which are ideal for cold reaction dynamics studies. Here, the covariance matrix adaptation evolutionary strategy is adopted in order to optimise deceleration switching sequences for the operation of a Zeeman decelerator. Using the optimised sequences, a 40% increase in the number of decelerated particles is observed compared to standard sequences for the same final velocity, imposing the same experimental boundary conditions. Furthermore, we demonstrate that it is possible to remove up to 98% of the initial kinetic energy of particles in the incoming beam, compared to the removal of a maximum of 83% of kinetic energy with standard sequences. Three-dimensional particle trajectory simulations are employed to reproduce the experimental results and to investigate differences in the deceleration mechanism adopted by standard and optimised sequences. It is experimentally verified that the optimal solution uncovered by the evolutionary algorithm is not merely a local optimisation of the experimental parameters—it is a novel mode of operation that goes beyond the standard periodic phase stability approach typically adopted.

We investigate high-order harmonic generation (HHG) from noble gas clusters in a supersonic gas jet. To identify the contribution of harmonic generation from clusters versus that from gas monomers, we measure the high-order harmonic output over a broad range of the total atomic number density in the jet (from 3×10¹⁶ to 3 × 10¹⁸${\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$) at two different reservoir temperatures (303 and 363 K). For the first time in the evaluation of the harmonic yield in such measurements, the variation of the liquid mass fraction, g, versus pressure and temperature is taken into consideration, which we determine, reliably and consistently, to be below 20% within our range of experimental parameters. By comparing the measured harmonic yield from a thin jet with the calculated corresponding yield from monomers alone, we find an increased emission of the harmonics when the average cluster size is less than 3000. Using g, under the assumption that the emission from monomers and clusters add up coherently, we calculate the ratio of the average single-atom response of an atom within a cluster to that of a monomer and find an enhancement of around 100 for very small average cluster size (∼200). We do not find any dependence of the cut-off frequency on the composition of the cluster jet. This implies that HHG in clusters is based on electrons that return to their parent ions and not to neighboring ions in the cluster. To fully employ the enhanced average single-atom response found for small average cluster sizes (∼200), the nozzle producing the cluster jet must provide a large liquid mass fraction at these small cluster sizes for increasing the harmonic yield. Moreover, cluster jets may allow for quasi-phase matching, as the higher mass of clusters allows for a higher density contrast in spatially structuring the nonlinear medium.

We study the optical properties of an ensemble of two-level atoms coupled to a 1D photonic crystal waveguide (PCW), which mediates long-range coherent dipole–dipole interactions between the atoms. We show that the long-range interactions can dramatically alter the linear and nonlinear optical behavior, as compared to a typical atomic ensemble. In particular, in the linear regime, we find that the transmission spectrum contains multiple transmission dips, whose properties we characterize. Moreover, we show how the linear spectrum may be used to infer the number of atoms present in the system, constituting an important experimental tool in a regime where techniques for conventional ensembles break down. We also show that some of the transmission dips are associated with an effective 'two-level' resonance that forms due to the long-range interactions. In particular, under strong global driving and appropriate conditions, we find that the atomic ensemble is only capable of absorbing and emitting single collective excitations at a time. Our results are of direct relevance to atom-PCW experiments that should soon be realizable.

We study numerically the geometric entanglement in the Laughlin wave function, which is of great importance in condensed matter physics. The Slater determinant having the largest overlap with the Laughlin wave function is constructed by an iterative algorithm. The logarithm of the overlap, which is a geometric quantity, is then taken as a geometric measure of entanglement. It is found that the geometric entanglement is a linear function of the number of electrons to a good extent. This is especially the case for the lowest Laughlin wave function, namely the one with filling factor of 1/3. Surprisingly, the linear behavior extends well down to the smallest possible value of the electron number, namely, N = 2. The constant term does not agree with the expected topological entropy. In view of previous works, our result indicates that the relation between geometric entanglement and topological entropy is very subtle.

Topological superfluid is an exotic state of quantum matter that possesses a nodeless superfluid gap in the bulk and Andreev edge modes at the boundary of a finite system. Here, we study a multi-orbital superfluid driven by an attractive s-wave interaction in a rotating optical lattice. Interestingly, we find that the rotation induces the inter-orbital hybridization and drives the system into topological orbital superfluid in accordance with intrinsically chiral d-wave pairing characteristics. Thanks to the conservation of spin, the topological orbital superfluid supports four rather than two chiral Andreev edge modes at the boundary of the lattice. Moreover, we find that the intrinsic harmonic confining potential forms a circular spatial barrier which accumulates atoms and supports a mass current under the injection of small angular momentum as an external driving force. This feature provides an experimentally detectable phenomenon to verify the topological orbital superfluid with chiral d-wave order in a rotating optical lattice.

Novel ion traps that provide either a static or a dynamic magnetic gradient field allow for the use of radio-frequency radiation for coupling internal and motional states of ions, which is essential for conditional quantum logic. We show that the Hamiltonian describing this coupling in the presence of a resonant dynamic gradient, is identical, in a dressed state basis, to the Hamiltonian in the case of a static gradient. The coupling strength is in both cases described by the same effective Lamb-Dicke parameter. This insight can be used to overcome demanding experimental requirements when using a dynamic gradient field for state-of-the-art experiments with trapped ions, for example, in quantum information science. At the same time, this insight opens new experimental perspectives by way of using a single resonant or detuned dynamic gradient field, inducing long-range coupling, for conditional multi-qubit dynamics.

An optomechanical force sensor for a mechanical oscillator in a non-Markovian environment is presented. By performing homodyne detection, we obtain a general expression for the output signal. It is shown that the weak force detection is sensitive to the non-Markovian environment. The additional noise can be reduced and the mechanical sensitivity can be obviously amplified compared to the Markovian condition even in resolved sideband regimes without using assistant systems or squeezing. Our results provide a promising platform for improving the sensitivity of weak-force ultrasensitive detection.

Continuous monitoring of a cloud of antiprotons stored in a Penning trap for 405 days enables us to set an improved limit on the directly measured antiproton lifetime. From our measurements we extract a storage time of $3.15\times {10}^{8}$ equivalent antiproton-seconds, resulting in a lower lifetime limit of ${\tau }_{\bar{{\rm{p}}}}\gt 10.2\,{\rm{a}}$ with a confidence level of $68 \%$. This result improves the limit on charge-parity-time violation in antiproton decays based on direct observation by a factor of 7.

We present analytical studies of a trapped boson-fermion mixture at zero temperature with spin-polarized fermions. Using the Thomas–Fermi approximation for bosons and the local-density approximation for fermions, we find a large variety of different density shapes. In the case of continuous density, we obtain analytic conditions for each configuration for attractive as well as repulsive boson-fermion interaction. Furthermore, we analytically show that all the scenarios we describe are minima of the grand-canonical energy functional. Finally, we provide a full classification of all possible ground states in the interpenetrative regime. Our results also apply to binary mixtures of bosons.

We demonstrate that the introduction of an elemental beam of Mn during the molecular beam epitaxial growth of Bi₂Se₃ results in the formation of layers of Bi₂MnSe₄ that intersperse between layers of pure Bi₂Se₃. This study revises the assumption held by many who study magnetic topological insulators (TIs) that Mn incorporates randomly at Bi-substitutional sites during epitaxial growth of Mn:Bi₂Se₃. Here, we report the formation of thin film magnetic TI Bi₂MnSe₄ with stoichiometric composition that grows in a self-assembled multilayer heterostructure with layers of Bi₂Se₃, where the number of Bi₂Se₃ layers separating the single Bi₂MnSe₄ layers is approximately defined by the relative arrival rate of Mn ions to Bi and Se ions during growth, and we present its compositional, structural, and electronic properties. We support a model for the epitaxial growth of Bi₂MnSe₄ in a near-periodic self-assembled layered heterostructure with Bi₂Se₃ with corresponding theoretical calculations of the energetics of this material and those of similar compositions. Computationally derived electronic structure of these heterostructures demonstrates the existence of topologically nontrivial surface states at sufficient thickness.

We consider a model of the exciton-polariton condensate based on a system of two Gross–Pitaevskii equations coupled by the second-order differential operator, which represents the spin–orbit coupling in the system. Also included are the linear gain, effective diffusion, nonlinear loss, and the standard harmonic-oscillator trapping potential, as well as the Zeeman splitting. By means of combined analytical and numerical methods, we identify stable two-dimensional modes supported by the nonlinear system. In the absence of the Zeeman splitting, these are mixed modes, which combine zero and nonzero vorticities in each of the two spinor components, and vortex–antivortex complexes. We have also found a range of parameters where the mixed-mode and vortex–antivortex states coexist and are stable. Sufficiently strong Zeeman splitting creates stable semi-vortex states, with vorticities 0 in one component and 2 in the other.

The ITER Neutral Beam Test Facility (NBTF), called PRIMA (Padova Research on ITER Megavolt Accelerator), is hosted in Padova, Italy and includes two experiments: MITICA, the full-scale prototype of the ITER heating neutral beam injector, and SPIDER, the full-size radio frequency negative-ions source. The NBTF realization and the exploitation of SPIDER and MITICA have been recognized as necessary to make the future operation of the ITER heating neutral beam injectors efficient and reliable, fundamental to the achievement of thermonuclear-relevant plasma parameters in ITER. This paper reports on design and R&D carried out to construct PRIMA, SPIDER and MITICA, and highlights the huge progress made in just a few years, from the signature of the agreement for the NBTF realization in 2011, up to now—when the buildings and relevant infrastructures have been completed, SPIDER is entering the integrated commissioning phase and the procurements of several MITICA components are at a well advanced stage.

Beams of short-lived radioactive nuclei are needed for frontier experimental research in nuclear structure, reactions, and astrophysics. Negatively charged radioactive ion beams have unique advantages and allow for the use of a tandem accelerator for post-acceleration, which can provide the highest beam quality and continuously variable energies. Negative ion beams can be obtained with high intensity and some unique beam purification techniques based on differences in electronegativity and chemical reactivity can be used to provide beams with high purity. This article describes the production of negative radioactive ion beams at the former holifield radioactive ion beam facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and at the CERN ISOLDE facility with emphasis on the development of the negative ion sources employed at these two facilities.

By developing a hydrodynamic formalism, we investigate the expansion dynamics of the single-minimum phase of a binary spin–orbit coupled Bose–Einstein condensate, after releasing from an external harmonic trap. We find that the expansion of the condensate along the direction of the spin–orbit coupling is dramatically slowed down near the transition between the single-minimum phase and the plane-wave phase. Such a slow expansion, resembling a form of an effective localization, is due to the quenching of the superfluid motion which results in a strong increase of the effective mass. In the single-minimum phase the anisotropic expansion of the Bose gas, which is spin balanced at equilibrium, is accompanied by the emergence of a local spin polarization. Our analytic scaling solutions emerging from hydrodynamic picture are compared with a full numerical simulation based on the coupled Gross–Pitaevskii equations.