Table of contents

The full text of this article is available in the PDF provided.

The full text of this article is available in the PDF provided.

The full text of this article is available in the PDF provided.

If a system undergoes symmetric dynamics, then the final state of the system can only break the symmetry in ways in which it was broken by the initial state, and its measure of asymmetry can be no greater than that of the initial state. It follows that for the purpose of understanding the consequences of symmetries of dynamics, in particular, complicated and open-system dynamics, it is useful to introduce the notion of a state's asymmetry properties, which includes the type and measure of its asymmetry. We demonstrate and exploit the fact that the asymmetry properties of a state can also be understood in terms of information-theoretic concepts, for instance in terms of the state's ability to encode information about an element of the symmetry group. We show that the asymmetry properties of a pure state ψ relative to the symmetry group G are completely specified by the characteristic function of the state, defined as χ_ψ(g) ≡ 〈ψ|U(g)|ψ〉 where g∈G and U is the unitary representation of interest. For a symmetry described by a compact Lie group G, we show that two pure states can be reversibly interconverted one to the other by symmetric operations if and only if their characteristic functions are equal up to a one-dimensional representation of the group. Characteristic functions also allow us to easily identify the conditions for one pure state to be converted to another by symmetric operations (in general irreversibly) for the various paradigms of single-copy transformations: deterministic, state-to-ensemble, stochastic and catalyzed.

Recent experiments in ultrafast physics have established the importance of above-threshold ionization (ATI) experiments in measuring and controlling the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of few-cycle laser pulses. We have performed an investigation of atomic hydrogen subjected to intense CEP-stable few-cycle laser pulses. The experimental ATI spectra have been compared to predictions from an ab initio numerical solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation in three dimensions. Good agreement between experiment and theory has been achieved without using any free fit parameters. Our results provide an important step towards obtaining calibrated reference data for a direct comparison of ATI electron yields for a range of gas species and experimental conditions.

Auger decay spectra of CO subsequent to O 1s ionization with 549.85 eV photons, i.e. close to the top of the shape resonance, are presented. Their comparison with the normal Auger spectrum recorded at a photon energy well above the shape resonance reveals distinct features. In particular, in the energy region of the O 1s⁻¹ → b¹Π and O 1s⁻¹ → a¹Σ⁺ Auger transitions which are well known to consist of vibrational progressions, additional narrow lines are revealed by the spectra recorded at 549.85 eV. In a detailed fit analysis of these Auger spectra it was possible to show that the newly found lines do not exhibit the expected distortions caused by post-collision interaction. This observation identifies these lines as caused by a different mechanism, such as resonant Auger decay processes of doubly excited states. The transitions are assigned using energy and intensity arguments in combination with complementary angular distribution measurements for the Auger electrons.

We report the design, fabrication and characterization of a microfabricated surface-electrode ion trap that supports controlled transport through the two-dimensional intersection of linear trapping zones arranged in a 90° cross. The trap is fabricated with very large scalable integration techniques which are compatible with scaling to a large quantum information processor. The shape of the radio-frequency electrodes is optimized with a genetic algorithm to reduce axial pseudopotential barriers and minimize ion heating during transport. Seventy-eight independent dc control electrodes enable fine control of the trapping potentials. We demonstrate reliable ion transport between junction legs and determine the rate of ion loss due to transport. Doppler-cooled ions survive more than 10⁵ round-trip transits between junction legs without loss and more than 65 consecutive round trips without laser cooling.

We propose a method of encoding a topologically protected qubit using Majorana fermions in a trapped-ion chain. This qubit is protected against major sources of decoherence, while local operations and measurements can be realized. Furthermore, we show that an efficient quantum interface and memory for arbitrary multiqubit photonic states can be built, encoding them into a set of entangled Majorana fermion qubits inside cavities.

Several properties of Eu³⁺:Y₂SiO₅ spectral holes are measured, to assess the suitability of broad-band hole-patterns for use as laser-frequency references. We measure frequency shifts due to magnetic fields, side-features of neighboring spectral holes and changing optical probe power. A precise calibration of a temperature insensitive point is also performed, where the temperature-induced frequency shift is canceled to first order by the pressure-induced shift from the crystal's helium-gas environment.

We present the first experimental realization of a two-dimensional quantum gas in a purely magnetic trap dressed by a radio frequency field in the presence of gravity. The resulting potential is extremely smooth and very close to harmonic in the two-dimensional plane of confinement. We fully characterize the trap and demonstrate the confinement of a quantum gas to two dimensions. The trap geometry can be modified to a large extent, in particular in a dynamical way. Taking advantage of this possibility, we study the monopole and the quadrupole modes of a two-dimensional Bose gas.

A novel approach to investigate the dynamics of indistinguishable particles in non-Hermitian lattice systems is presented, allowing an efficient calculation of quantum correlations between these particles in the presence of losses. Particular attention is paid to quasi-parity-time-symmetric systems, for which we numerically analyze two-particle quantum random walks for a variety of input states. Our results show how in some scenarios coherence is lost, inducing classical random walks, while in others the characteristic signatures of bosonic and fermionic exchange symmetry prevail.

Numerical evidence is presented that the canonical distribution for a subsystem of a closed classical system of a ring of coupled harmonic oscillators (integrable system) or magnetic moments (nonintegrable system) follows directly from the solution of the time-reversible Newtonian equation of motion in which the total energy is strictly conserved. Without performing ensemble averaging or introducing fictitious thermostats, it is shown that this observation holds even though the whole system may contain as little as a few thousand particles. In other words, we demonstrate that the canonical distribution holds for subsystems of experimentally relevant sizes and observation times.

We present a pulsed and integrated, highly non-degenerate parametric down-conversion (PDC) source of heralded single photons at telecom wavelengths, paired with heralding photons around 800 nm. The active PDC section is combined with a passive, integrated wavelength division demultiplexer on-chip, which allows for the spatial separation of signal and idler photons with efficiencies of more than 96.5%, as well as with multi-band reflection and anti-reflection coatings which facilitate low incoupling losses and a pump suppression at the output of the device of more than 99%. Our device is capable of preparing single photons with efficiencies of 60% with a coincidences-to-accidentals ratio exceeding 7400. Likewise, it shows practically no significant background noise compared to continuous wave realizations. For low pump powers, we measure a conditioned second-order correlation function of g⁽²⁾ = 3.8 × 10⁻³, which proves almost pure single-photon generation. In addition, our source can feature a high brightness of 〈n_pulse〉 = 0.24 generated photon pairs per pump pulse at pump power levels below 100 μW. The high quality of the pulsed PDC process in conjunction with the integration of highly efficient passive elements makes our device a promising candidate for future quantum networking applications, where an efficient miniaturization plays a crucial role.

Nanostructures defined in high-mobility two-dimensional electron systems offer a unique way of controlling the microscopic details of the investigated device. Quantum point contacts play a key role in these investigations, since they are not only a research topic themselves, but also turn out to serve as convenient and powerful detectors for their electrostatic environment. We investigate how the sensitivity of charge detectors can be further improved by reducing screening, increasing the capacitive coupling between charge and detector and by tuning the quantum point contacts' confinement potential into the shape of a localized state. We demonstrate the benefits of utilizing a localized state by performing fast and well-resolved charge detection of a large quantum dot in the quantum Hall regime.

In this study we have computed the pair correlation functions in the two-dimensional Hubbard model using a quantum Monte Carlo method. We employ a new diagonalization algorithm in the quantum Monte Carlo method which is free from the negative sign problem. We show that the d-wave pairing correlation function is indeed enhanced slightly for the positive on-site Coulomb interaction U when doping away from the half-filling. When the system size becomes large, the pair correlation function P_d increases for U > 0 compared to the non-interacting case, while P_d is suppressed for U > 0 when the system size is small. The enhancement ratio P_d[U]/P_d[U = 0] will give a criterion on the existence of superconductivity. The ratio P_d[U]/P_d[U = 0] increases almost linearly ∝L when the system size L × L is increased. This increase is a good indication of the existence of a superconducting phase in the two-dimensional Hubbard model. There is, however, no enhancement of pair correlation functions in the half-filled case, which indicates the absence of superconductivity without hole doping.

The intermediate state of a type-I superconductor Pb film is studied by a scanning Hall probe and scanning ac-susceptibility microscopies under static and oscillating applied magnetic fields. The structure of the typical flux patterns during magnetic field penetration/expulsion shows a strong hysteresis. Under the action of an ac field, the multiply quantized flux tubes in a type-I superconductor reveal a dynamical reordering similar to what is observed in the Campbell regime for vortices in a type-II superconductor. Most strikingly, after shaking, higher density flux tube patterns demonstrate a reorganization from a superheated metastable tubular pattern to a stable stripe pattern. We provide direct experimental evidence that the flux reorganization behavior is a dynamical transition. The local distribution of the potentials providing pinning to intermediate state patterns is mapped out, which is, as far as we know, the first direct visualization of confinement of intermediate state domains by pinning centers.

Based on first principles density functional calculations of the intrinsic anomalous and spin Hall conductivities, we predict that the charge Hall current in Co-based full Heusler compounds Co₂XZ (X = Cr and Mn; Z = Al, Si, Ga, Ge, In and Sn), except Co₂CrGa, would be almost fully spin polarized, even though Co₂MnAl, Co₂MnGa, Co₂MnIn and Co₂MnSn do not have a half-metallic band structure. Furthermore, the ratio of the associated spin current to the charge Hall current is slightly larger than 1.0. This suggests that these Co-based Heusler compounds, especially Co₂MnAl, Co₂MnGa and Co₂MnIn which are found to have large anomalous and spin Hall conductivities, might be called anomalous Hall half-metals and could have valuable applications in spintronics such as spin valves as well as magnetoresistive and spin-torque-driven nanodevices. These interesting findings are discussed in terms of the calculated electronic band structures, magnetic moments and also anomalous and spin Hall conductivities as a function of the Fermi level.

Circularly-polarized and angular-resolved magneto-photoluminescence spectroscopy was carried out to study the free A exciton 1S state in wurtzite ZnO at 5 K. The Γ ₇ symmetry of the top valence band symmetry is confirmed according to the unique selection rules of Zeeman splitting lines. The out-of-plane component B_∥ of the magnetic field, which is parallel to ZnO's c-axis, leads to linear Zeeman splitting of both the dipole-allowed Γ ₅ exciton state and the weakly allowed Γ ₁ /Γ ₂ exciton states. The in-plane field B_⊥, which is perpendicular to the c-axis, increases the oscillator strength of the weak Γ ₁ /Γ ₂ states by forming a mixed exciton state. For the Γ ₇ symmetry, the lower energy Zeeman splitting peak of the weak Γ ₁ /Γ ₂ can only be σ₊ polarization.

We detect the presence of frozen magnetic moments in an exchange biased NiFe ferromagnet at the NiFe/FeMn ferromagnet/antiferromagnet interface by magnetic circular dichroism in x-ray absorption and resonant reflectivity experiments. Frozen moments are detected by means of the element-specific hysteresis loops. A weak dichroic absorption with unidirectional anisotropy can be linked to frozen magnetic moments in the ferromagnet. A more pronounced exchange bias for increasing the thickness of the FeMn layer correlates with an increase in orbital moment for interface Ni atoms carrying a frozen moment. These atoms compose about a single monolayer, but only a fraction of the atoms contributes by means of a strongly enhanced orbital moment to the macroscopic exchange bias phenomenon. The microscopic spin–orbit energy associated with these few interface frozen moment atoms appears to be sufficient to account for the macroscopic exchange bias energy.

The compressed 3,4,9,10-perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) herringbone monolayer structure on Ag(110) is used as a model system to investigate the role of molecule–molecule interactions at metal–organic interfaces. By means of the orbital tomography technique, we can not only distinguish the two inequivalent molecules in the unit cell but also resolve their different energy positions for the highest occupied and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals. Density functional theory calculations of a freestanding PTCDA layer identify the electrostatic interaction between neighboring molecules, rather than the adsorption site, as the main reason for the molecular level splitting observed experimentally.

Double-slit diffraction is a corner stone of quantum mechanics. It illustrates key features of quantum mechanics: interference and the particle-wave duality of matter. In 1965, Richard Feynman presented a thought experiment to show these features. Here we demonstrate the full realization of his famous thought experiment. By placing a movable mask in front of a double-slit to control the transmission through the individual slits, probability distributions for single- and double-slit arrangements were observed. Also, by recording single electron detection events diffracting through a double-slit, a diffraction pattern was built up from individual events.

We report on a theoretical study of a d_z² surface state at the tungsten (110) surface, addressing in detail the spin-resolved electronic structure as well as photoemission spectroscopy. In agreement with recent experiments, this surface state shows a strongly anisotropic dispersion: in the $\overline{\mathrm{H}}$–$\overline{\Gamma }$–$\overline {\mathrm {H}}$ direction of the surface Brillouin zone, it disperses linearly but becomes flattened along the $\overline {\mathrm {N}}$–$\overline {\Gamma }$–$\overline {\mathrm {N}}$ direction. The ab initio calculated spin texture agrees with the one derived from a model Hamiltonian; due to twofold surface symmetry and time-reversal symmetry, the out-of-plane spin polarization vanishes. The photoemission intensities depend sensitively on the polarization of the incident light, because of the orbital composition of the surface state. The photoelectrons become spin-polarized out-of-plane, which is attributed to breaking the time-reversal symmetry by the excitation process.

We report the results of an experiment investigating coherence and correlation effects in a system of coupled donors. Two donors are strongly coupled to two leads in a parallel configuration within a nano-wire field effect transistor. By applying a magnetic field we observe interference between two donor-induced Kondo channels, which depends on the Aharonov–Bohm phase picked up by electrons traversing the structure. This results in a non-monotonic conductance as a function of magnetic field and clearly demonstrates that donors can be coupled through a many-body state in a coherent manner. We present a model which shows good qualitative agreement with our data. The presented results add to the general understanding of interference effects in a donor-based correlated system which may allow us to create artificial lattices that exhibit exotic many-body excitations.

Recent observations of the cosmic microwave background at smallest angular scales and updated abundances of primordial elements indicate an increase of the energy density and the helium-4 abundance with respect to standard big bang nucleosynthesis with three neutrino flavour. This calls for a reanalysis of the observational bounds on neutrino chemical potentials, which encode the number asymmetry between cosmic neutrinos and anti-neutrinos and thus measures the lepton asymmetry of the Universe. We compare recent data with a big bang nucleosynthesis code, assuming neutrino flavour equilibration via neutrino oscillations before the onset of big bang nucleosynthesis. We find a preference for negative neutrino chemical potentials, which would imply an excess of anti-neutrinos and thus a negative lepton number of the Universe. This lepton asymmetry could exceed the baryon asymmetry by orders of magnitude.

We define thermodynamic configurations and identify two primitives of discrete quantum processes between configurations for which heat and work can be defined in a natural way. This allows us to uncover a general second law for any discrete trajectory that consists of a sequence of these primitives, linking both equilibrium and non-equilibrium configurations. Moreover, in the limit of a discrete trajectory that passes through an infinite number of configurations, i.e. in the reversible limit, we recover the saturation of the second law. Finally, we show that for a discrete Carnot cycle operating between four configurations one recovers Carnot's thermal efficiency.

We study the effects of post-selection measurements on both the non-classicality of the state of a mechanical oscillator and the entanglement between two mechanical systems that are part of a distributed optomechanical network. We address the cases of both Gaussian and non-Gaussian measurements, identifying in which cases simple photon counting and Geiger-like measurements are effective in distilling a strongly non-classical mechanical state and enhancing the purely mechanical entanglement between two elements of the network.

We demonstrate a novel method to tune the energy gap ₁ between the localized states and the mobility edge of the valence band in chemically functionalized graphene by changing the coverage of fluorine adatoms via electron-beam irradiation. From the temperature dependence of the electrical transport properties we show that ₁ in partially fluorinated graphene CF_0.28 decreases upon electron irradiation up to a dose of 0.08 C cm⁻². For low irradiation doses (<0.1 C cm⁻²) partially fluorinated graphene behaves as a lightly doped semiconductor with impurity bands close to the conduction and valence band edges, whereas for high irradiation doses (>0.2 C cm⁻²) the electrical conduction takes place via Mott variable range hopping.

We address the question of whether there is a way of characterizing the quantum information transport properties of a medium or material. For this analysis, the special features of quantum information have to be taken into account. We find that quantum communication over an isotropic medium, as opposed to classical information transfer, requires the transmitter to direct the signal toward the receiver. Furthermore, for large classes of media there is a threshold, in the sense that 'sufficiently much' of the signal has to be collected. Therefore, the medium's capacity for quantum communication can be characterized in terms of how the sizes of the transmitter and receiver have to scale with the transmission distance to maintain quantum information transmission. To demonstrate the applicability of this concept, an n-dimensional spin lattice is considered, yielding a sufficient scaling of δ^n/3 with the distance δ.

The dual symmetry between electric and magnetic fields is an important intrinsic property of Maxwell equations in free space. This symmetry underlies the conservation of optical helicity and, as we show here, is closely related to the separation of spin and orbital degrees of freedom of light (the helicity flux coincides with the spin angular momentum). However, in the standard field-theory formulation of electromagnetism, the field Lagrangian is not dual symmetric. This leads to problematic dual-asymmetric forms of the canonical energy–momentum, spin and orbital angular-momentum tensors. Moreover, we show that the components of these tensors conflict with the helicity and energy conservation laws. To resolve this discrepancy between the symmetries of the Lagrangian and Maxwell equations, we put forward a dual-symmetric Lagrangian formulation of classical electromagnetism. This dual electromagnetism preserves the form of Maxwell equations, yields meaningful canonical energy–momentum and angular-momentum tensors, and ensures a self-consistent separation of the spin and orbital degrees of freedom. This provides a rigorous derivation of the results suggested in other recent approaches. We make the Noether analysis of the dual symmetry and all the Poincaré symmetries, examine both local and integral conserved quantities and show that only the dual electromagnetism naturally produces a complete self-consistent set of conservation laws. We also discuss the observability of physical quantities distinguishing the standard and dual theories, as well as relations to quantum weak measurements and various optical experiments.

Pulsed excitation of broad spectra requires very high field strengths if monochromatic pulses are used. If the corresponding high power is not available or not desirable, the pulses can be replaced by suitable low-power pulses that distribute the power over a wider bandwidth. As a simple case, we use microwave pulses with a linear frequency chirp. We use these pulses to excite spectra of single nitrogen–vacancy centres in a Ramsey experiment. Compared to the conventional Ramsey experiment, our approach increases the bandwidth by at least an order of magnitude. Compared to the conventional continuous wave-ODMR experiment, the chirped Ramsey experiment does not suffer from power broadening and increases the resolution by at least an order of magnitude. As an additional benefit, the chirped Ramsey spectrum contains not only 'allowed' single quantum transitions, but also 'forbidden' zero- and double quantum transitions, which can be distinguished from the single quantum transitions by phase-shifting the readout pulse with respect to the excitation pulse or by variation of the external magnetic field strength.

We theoretically study the adiabatic preparation of an antiferromagnetic phase in a mixed Mott insulator of two bosonic atom species in a one-dimensional optical lattice. In such a system one can engineer a tunable parabolic inhomogeneity by controlling the difference of the trapping potentials felt by the two species. Using numerical simulations we predict that a finite parabolic potential can assist the adiabatic preparation of the antiferromagnet. The optimal strength of the parabolic inhomogeneity depends sensitively on the number imbalance between the two species. We also find that during the preparation finite size effects will play a crucial role for a system of realistic size. The experiment that we propose can be realized, for example, using atomic mixtures of rubidium 87 with potassium 41, or ytterbium 168 with ytterbium 174.

We present low-temperature transport experiments on Aharonov–Bohm (AB) rings fabricated from two-dimensional hole gases in p-type GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures. Highly visible h/e (up to 15%) and h/2e oscillations, present for different gate voltages, prove the high quality of the fabricated devices. Like in previous work, a clear beating pattern of the h/e and h/2e oscillations is present in the magnetoresistance, producing split peaks in the Fourier spectrum. The magnetoresistance evolution is presented and discussed as a function of temperature and gate voltage. It is found that sample specific properties have a pronounced influence on the observed behaviour. For example, the interference of different transverse modes or the interplay between h/e oscillations and conductance fluctuations can produce the features mentioned above. In previous work they have occasionally been interpreted as signatures of spin–orbit interaction (SOI)-induced effects. In the light of these results, the unambiguous identification of SOI-induced phase effects in AB rings remains still an open and challenging experimental task.

Diamond nanocrystals containing nitrogen–vacancy (NV) color centers have been used in recent years as fluorescent probes for near-field and cellular imaging. In this work, we report that an infrared (IR) pulsed excitation beam can quench the photoluminescence of a NV color center in a diamond nanocrystal (size <50 nm) with an extinction ratio as high as ≈90%. We attribute this effect to the heating of the nanocrystal consecutive to multi-photon absorption by the diamond matrix. This quenching is reversible: the photoluminescence intensity goes back to its original value when the IR laser beam is turned off, with a typical response time of 100 ps, allowing for fast control of NV color center photoluminescence. We used this effect to achieve the sub-diffraction-limited imaging of fluorescent diamond nanocrystals on a coverglass. For that, as in the ground state depletion super-resolution technique, we combined the green excitation laser beam with the control IR depleting one after shaping its intensity profile in a doughnut form, so that the emission comes only from the sub-wavelength size central part.

Experimental results on the acceleration of protons and carbon ions from ultra-thin polymer foils at intensities of up to 6 × 10¹⁹ W cm⁻² are presented revealing quasi-monoenergetic spectral characteristics for different ion species at the same time. For carbon ions and protons, a linear correlation between the cutoff energy and the peak energy is observed when the laser intensity is increased. Particle-in-cell simulations supporting the experimental results imply an ion acceleration mechanism driven by the radiation pressure as predicted for multi-component foils at these intensities.

Using a simple quantum master equation approach, we calculate the full counting statistics of a single-electron transistor strongly coupled to vibrations. The full counting statistics contains both the statistics of integrated particle and energy currents associated with the transferred electrons and phonons. A universal as well as an effective fluctuation theorem are derived for the general case where the various reservoir temperatures and chemical potentials are different. The first relates to the entropy production generated in the junction, while the second reveals internal information of the system. The model recovers the Franck–Condon blockade, and potential applications to non-invasive molecular spectroscopy are discussed.

We propose a setup for which a power-law decay is predicted to be observable for generic and realistic conditions. The system we study is very simple: a quantum wave packet initially prepared in a potential well with (i) tails asymptotically decaying like ∼x⁻² and (ii) an eigenvalues spectrum that shows a continuous part attached to the ground or equilibrium state. We analytically derive the asymptotic decay law from the spectral properties for generic, confined initial states. Our findings are supported by realistic numerical simulations for state-of-the-art expansion experiments with cold atoms.

The indirect Ruderman–Kittel–Kasuya–Yosida (RKKY) interaction in iron pnictide and chalcogenide metals is calculated for a simplified four-band Fermi surface model. We investigate the specific multi-band features and show that distinct length scales of the RKKY oscillations appear. For the regular lattice of local moments, the generalized RKKY interaction is defined in momentum space. We consider its momentum dependence in paramagnetic and spin density wave phases, discuss its implications for the possible type of magnetic order and compare it with the results obtained from a more realistic tight-binding-type Fermi surface model. Our finding can give important clues to the magnetic ordering of 4f-iron-based superconductors.

We aim to establish the scaling laws for both the minimum rate of flow attainable in the steady cone–jet mode of electrospray, and the size of the resulting droplets in that limit. Use is made of a small body of literature on Taylor cone–jets reporting precise measurements of the transported electric current and droplet size as a function of the liquid properties and flow rate. The projection of the data onto an appropriate non-dimensional parameter space maps a region bounded by the minimum rate of flow attainable in the steady state. To explain these experimental results, we propose a theoretical model based on the generalized concept of physical symmetry, stemming from the system time invariance (steadiness). A group of symmetries rising at the cone-to-jet geometrical transition determines the scaling for the minimum flow rate and related variables. If the flow rate is decreased below that minimum value, those symmetries break down, which leads to dripping. We find that the system exhibits two instability mechanisms depending on the nature of the forces arising against the flow: one dominated by viscosity and the other by the liquid polarity. In the former case, full charge relaxation is guaranteed down to the minimum flow rate, while in the latter the instability condition becomes equivalent to the symmetry breakdown by charge relaxation or separation. When cone–jets are formed without artificially imposing a flow rate, a microjet is issued quasi-steadily. The flow rate naturally ejected this way coincides with the minimum flow rate studied here. This natural flow rate determines the minimum droplet size that can be steadily produced by any electrohydrodynamic means for a given set of liquid properties.

We apply our recently developed theory of frequency-filtered and time-resolved N-photon correlations (del Valle et al 2012 Phys. Rev. Lett.109 183601) to study the two-photon spectra of a variety of systems of increasing complexity: single-mode emitters with two limiting statistics (one harmonic oscillator or a two-level system) and the various combinations that arise from their coupling. We consider both the linear and nonlinear regimes under incoherent excitation. We find that even the simplest systems display a rich dynamics of emission, not accessible by simple single-photon spectroscopy. In the strong coupling regime, two-photon emission processes involving virtual states are revealed. Furthermore, two general results are unravelled by two-photon correlations with narrow linewidth detectors: (i) filtering-induced bunching and (ii) breakdown of the semi-classical theory. We show how to overcome the latter in a fully quantized picture.

We present the first experimental realization and verification of a three-dimensional stand-alone mantle cloak designed to suppress the total scattering of a finite-length dielectric rod of moderate cross-section. Mantle cloaking has been proposed to realize ultralow-profile conformal covers that may achieve substantial camouflage, transparency and high-performance non-invasive near-field sensing. Here, we realize and verify a mantle cloak for radio-waves. We report an extensive campaign of far- and near-field free-space measurements demonstrating that conformal cloaks can indeed produce strong scattering suppression in all directions and over a relatively broad bandwidth of operation.

The production of W bosons in association with two jets in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt {s} = 7\,{\mathrm {TeV}}$ has been analysed for the presence of double-parton interactions using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb⁻¹, collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The fraction of events arising from double-parton interactions, f^(D)_DP, has been measured through the p_T balance between the two jets and amounts to f^(D)_DP = 0.08 ± 0.01 (stat.) ± 0.02 (sys.) for jets with transverse momentum p_T > 20 GeV and rapidity |y| < 2.8. This corresponds to a measurement of the effective area parameter for hard double-parton interactions of σ_eff = 15 ± 3 (stat.) ⁺⁵₋₃ (sys.) mb.

Nonlinear dynamical systems involving small populations of individuals may sustain oscillations in the population densities arising from discrete changes in population numbers due to random events. By applying these ideas to nanolasers operating with small numbers of emitting dipoles and photons at threshold, we show that such lasers should display photon and dipole population cycles above threshold, which should be observable as a periodic modulation in the second-order correlation function of the nanolaser output. Such a modulation was recently reported in a single-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor laser.

The two-frequency problem of synchronization of the pulse train of a passively mode locked soliton laser to an externally injected pulse train is solved in the weak injection regime. The source and target frequency combs are distinguished by the spacing and offset frequency mismatches. Locking diagrams map the domain in the mismatch parameter space where stable locking of the combs is possible. We analyze the dependence of the locking behavior on the relative frequency and chirp of the source and target pulses, and the conditions where the relative offset frequency has to be actively stabilized. Locked steady states are characterized by a fixed source–target time and phase shifts that map the locking domain.

We performed angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy of the Bi(111) surface to demonstrate that this surface supports edge states of non-trivial topology. Along the $\bar{\Gamma }\skew3\bar{M}$-direction of the surface Brillouin zone, a surface-state band disperses from the projected bulk valence bands at $\bar{\Gamma }$ to the conduction bands at $\skew3\bar{M}$ continuously, indicating the non-trivial topological order of three-dimensional Bi bands. We ascribe this finding to the absence of band inversion at the L point of the bulk Bi Brillouin zone. According to our analysis, a modification of tight-binding parameters can account for the non-trivial band structure of Bi without any other significant change in other physical properties.

We predict unprecedentedly large values of the energy-transfer rate between an optical emitter and a layer of periodically doped graphene. The transfer exhibits divergences at photon frequencies corresponding to the Van Hove singularities of the plasmonic band structure of the graphene. In particular, we find flat bands associated with regions of vanishing doping charge, which appear in graphene when it is patterned through gates of spatially alternating signs, giving rise to intense transfer rate singularities. Graphene is thus shown to provide a unique platform for fast control of optical energy transfer via fast electrostatic inhomogeneous doping.

We study theoretically how energy and heat are transferred between the two-dimensional layers of bilayer carrier systems due to the near-field interlayer carrier interaction. We derive the general expressions for interlayer heat transfer and thermal conductance. Approximation formulae and detailed calculations for semiconductor- and graphene-based bilayers are presented. Our calculations for GaAs, Si and graphene bilayers show that the interlayer heat transfer can exceed the electron–phonon heat transfer below the (system-dependent) finite crossover temperature. We show that disorder strongly enhances the interlayer heat transport and pushes the threshold toward higher temperatures.

The acoustic emissions from single cavitation clouds at an early stage of development in 0.521 MHz focused ultrasound of varying intensity, are detected and directly correlated to high-speed microscopic observations, recorded at 1 × 10⁶ frames per second. At lower intensities, a stable regime of cloud response is identified whereby bubble-ensembles exhibit oscillations at half the driving frequency, which is also detected in the acoustic emission spectra. Higher intensities generate clouds that develop more rapidly, with increased nonlinearity evidenced by a bifurcation in the frequency of ensemble response, and in the acoustic emissions. A single bubble oscillation model is subject to equivalent ultrasound conditions and fitted to features in the hydrophone and high-speed spectral data, allowing an effective quiescent radius to be inferred for the clouds that evolve at each intensity. The approach indicates that the acoustic emissions originate from the ensemble dynamics and that the cloud acts as a single bubble of equivalent radius in terms of the scattered field. Jetting from component cavities on the periphery of clouds is regularly observed at higher intensities. The results may be of relevance for monitoring and controlling cavitation in therapeutic applications of focused ultrasound, where the phenomenon has the potential to mediate drug delivery from vasculature.

We study optical back-action effects associated with confined electromagnetic modes in silicon nanowire resonators interacting with a laser beam used for interferometric read-out of the nanowire vibrations. Our analysis describes the resonance frequency shift produced in the nanowires by two different mechanisms: the temperature dependence of the nanowire's Young's modulus and the effect of radiation pressure. We find different regimes in which each effect dominates depending on the nanowire morphology and dimensions, resulting in either positive or negative frequency shifts. Our results also show that in some cases bolometric and radiation pressure effects can have opposite contributions so that their overall effect is greatly reduced. We conclude that Si nanowire resonators can be engineered for harnessing back-action effects for either optimizing frequency stability or exploiting dynamic phenomena such as parametric amplification.

The same fundamental questions that have driven enquiry into cytoskeletal mechanics can be asked of the considerably less-studied, yet arguably just as important, biopolymer matrix in the plant cell wall. In this case, it is well-known that polysaccharides, rather than filamentous and tubular protein assemblies, play a major role in satisfying the mechanical requirements of a successful cell wall, but developing a clear structure–function understanding has been exacerbated by the familiar issue of biological complexity. Herein, in the spirit of the mesoscopic approaches that have proved so illuminating in the study of cytoskeletal networks, the linear microrheological and strain-stiffening responses of biopolymeric networks reconstituted from pectin, a crucial cell wall polysaccharide, are examined. These are found to be well-captured by the glassy worm-like chain (GWLC) model of self-assembled semi-flexible filaments. Strikingly, the nonlinear mechanical response of these pectin networks is found to be much more sensitive to temperature changes than their linear response, a property that is also observed in F-actin networks, and is well reproduced by the GWLC model. Additionally, microrheological measurements suggest that over long timescales (>10 s) internal stresses continue to redistribute facilitating low frequency motions of tracer particles.

A prime goal of quantum tomography is to provide quantitatively rigorous characterization of quantum systems, be they states, processes or measurements, particularly for the purposes of trouble-shooting and benchmarking experiments in quantum information science. A range of techniques exist to enable the calculation of errors, such as Monte-Carlo simulations, but their quantitative value is arguably fundamentally flawed without an equally rigorous way of authenticating the quality of a reconstruction to ensure it provides a reasonable representation of the data, given the known noise sources. A key motivation for developing such a tool is to enable experimentalists to rigorously diagnose the presence of technical noise in their tomographic data. In this work, I explore the performance of the chi-squared goodness-of-fit test statistic as a measure of reconstruction quality. I show that its behaviour deviates noticeably from expectations for states lying near the boundaries of physical state space, severely undermining its usefulness as a quantitative tool precisely in the region which is of most interest in quantum information processing tasks. I suggest a simple, heuristic approach to compensate for these effects and present numerical simulations showing that this approach provides substantially improved performance.

We studied regenerating bilayered tissue toroids dissected from Hydra vulgaris polyps and relate our macroscopic observations to the dynamics of force-generating mesoscopic cytoskeletal structures. Tissue fragments undergo a specific toroid–spheroid folding process leading to complete regeneration towards a new organism. The time scale of folding is too fast for biochemical signalling or morphogenetic gradients, which forced us to assume purely mechanical self-organization. The initial pattern selection dynamics was studied by embedding toroids into hydro-gels, allowing us to observe the deformation modes over longer periods of time. We found increasing mechanical fluctuations which break the toroidal symmetry, and discuss the evolution of their power spectra for various gel stiffnesses. Our observations are related to single-cell studies which explain the mechanical feasibility of the folding process. In addition, we observed switching of cells from a tissue bound to a migrating state after folding failure as well as in tissue injury. We found a supra-cellular actin ring assembled along the toroid's inner edge. Its contraction can lead to the observed folding dynamics as we could confirm by finite element simulations. This actin ring in the inner cell layer is assembled by myosin-driven length fluctuations of supra-cellular F-actin bundles (myonemes) in the outer cell layer.

We show that portions of an image written into a gradient echo memory can be individually retrieved or erased on demand, an important step toward processing a spatially multiplexed quantum signal. Targeted retrieval is achieved by locally addressing the transverse plane of the storage medium, a warm ⁸⁵Rb vapor, with a far-detuned control beam. Spatially addressable erasure is similarly implemented by imaging a bright beam tuned near the ⁸⁵Rb D₁ line in order to scatter photons and induce decoherence. Under our experimental conditions atomic diffusion is shown to impose an upper bound on the effective spatial capacity of the memory. The decoherence induced by the optical eraser is characterized and modeled as the response of a two-level atom in the presence of a strong driving field.

Propulsion by growing actin networks is a universal mechanism used in many different biological systems, ranging from the sheet-like lamellipodium of crawling animal cells to the actin comet tails induced by certain bacteria and viruses in order to move within their host cells. Although the core molecular machinery for actin network growth is well preserved in all of these cases, the geometry of the propelled obstacle varies considerably. During recent years, filament orientation distribution has emerged as an important observable characterizing the structure and dynamical state of the growing network. Here we derive several continuum equations for the orientation distribution of filaments growing behind stiff obstacles of various shapes and validate the predicted steady state orientation patterns by stochastic computer simulations based on discrete filaments. We use an ordinary differential equation approach to demonstrate that for flat obstacles of finite size, two fundamentally different orientation patterns peaked at either ±35° or +70°/0°/ − 70° exhibit mutually exclusive stability, in agreement with earlier results for flat obstacles of very large lateral extension. We calculate and validate phase diagrams as a function of model parameters and show how this approach can be extended to obstacles with piecewise straight contours. For curved obstacles, we arrive at a partial differential equation in the continuum limit, which again is in good agreement with the computer simulations. In all cases, we can identify the same two fundamentally different orientation patterns, but only within an appropriate reference frame, which is adjusted to the local orientation of the obstacle contour. Our results suggest that two fundamentally different network architectures compete with each other in growing actin networks, irrespective of obstacle geometry, and clarify how simulated and electron tomography data have to be analyzed for non-flat obstacle geometries.

We review and study the roles of quantum and classical fluctuations in recent cavity-optomechanical experiments which have now reached the quantum regime (mechanical phonon occupancy ≲1) using resolved sideband laser cooling. In particular, both the laser noise heating of the mechanical resonator and the form of the optically transduced mechanical spectra, modified by quantum and classical laser noise squashing, are derived under various measurement conditions. Using this theory, we analyze recent ground-state laser cooling and motional sideband asymmetry experiments with nanoscale optomechanical crystal resonators.

In the study of trapped two-component Bose gases, a widely used dynamical protocol is to start from the ground state of a one-component condensate and then switch half the atoms into another hyperfine state. The slightly different intra-component and inter-component interactions can then lead to highly non-trivial dynamics, especially in the density mismatch between the two components, commonly referred to as 'spin' density. We study and classify the possible subsequent dynamics, over a wide variety of parameters spanned by the trap strength and by the inter- to intra-component interaction ratio. A stability analysis suited to the trapped situation provides us with a framework to explain the various types of dynamics in different regimes.

In this work, we theoretically analyze a circuit quantum electrodynamics design where propagating quantum microwaves interact with a single artificial atom, a single Cooper-pair box. In particular, we derive a master equation in the so-called transmon regime, including coherent drives. Inspired by recent experiments, we then apply the master equation to describe the dynamics in both a two-level and a three-level approximation of the atom. In the two-level case, we also discuss how to measure photon antibunching in the reflected field and how it is affected by finite temperature and finite detection bandwidth.

This editorial provides a short overview of the focus issue on Bose condensation phenomena in atomic and solid state physics sponsored by the POLATOM ESF Research Networking Programme.

The effects of subgrid scale (SGS) motions on the dispersion of heavy particles raise a challenge to the large-eddy method of simulation (LES). As a necessary first step, we propose the use of a stochastic differential equation (SDE) to represent the SGS contributions to the relative dispersions of heavy particles in LES of isotropic turbulence. The main difficulty is in closing the SGS-SDE model whilst accounting for the effects of particle inertia, filter width and gravity. The physics of the interaction between heavy particles and SGS turbulence is explored using the filtered direct numerical simulation method. It is found in the present work that (i) the ratio of the SGS Lagrangian and Eulerian timescales is different from that of the full-scale Lagrangian and Eulerian timescales. The ratios are also dependent on filter widths. (ii) In the absence of gravity, the SGS timescale seen by heavy particles non-monotonically changes with particle Stokes number and has a maximum at particle Stokes number (St = τ_p/δT_E) near 0.5. (iii) In the presence of gravity, a similarity law exists between the SGS Lagrangian correlation function seen by a heavy particle within a time-delay τ and the SGS spatial correlation function with the displacement 〈w〉τ, where 〈w〉 is the average settling velocity of a heavy particle. The joint effects of particle inertia and gravity are accounted for using the elliptic model for pair correlation of SGS velocity seen by heavy particles. The SGS timescale seen by heavy particles is extracted from the elliptic model and used to close the SGS-SDE model. The validations of the model against direct numerical simulation show that the SGS-SDE model can improve the performance of LES on relative dispersions especially when their initial separations are in the inertial subrange. Furthermore, we assess the performance of the SGS-SDE model by comparing the results with the approximate deconvolution method. The results show that the SGS-SDE model is more suitable for particles with small Stokes numbers, St_K < 2. The model developed here provides a basis for the development of a more advanced SGS model for particles in non-homogeneous and anisotropic turbulent flows in pipes or channels.

Based on the concept of χ -matrix and Choi–Jamiólkowski states we develop the approach of quantum process reconstruction. The key part of the work is devoted to the adequacy of applied reconstruction models. The approach is tested with the statistical reconstruction of the polarization transformations in anisotropic and dispersive media realized by means of quartz plates and taking into account the spectral structure of input polarization states.

We study several dynamical properties of a recently proposed implementation of the quantum transverse-field Ising chain in the framework of circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED). Particular emphasis is placed on the effects of disorder on the nonequilibrium behavior of the system. We show that small amounts of fabrication-induced disorder in the system parameters do not jeopardize the observation of previously predicted phenomena. Based on a numerical extraction of the mean free path of a wave packet in the system, we also provide a simple quantitative estimate for certain disorder effects on the nonequilibrium dynamics of the circuit QED quantum simulator. We discuss the transition from weak to strong disorder, characterized by the onset of Anderson localization of the system's wave functions, and the qualitatively different dynamics it leads to.

Quantum error correction provides a fertile context for exploring the interplay of feedback control, microscopic physics and non-commutative probability. In this paper we deepen our understanding of this nexus through high-level analysis of a class of quantum memory models that we have previously proposed, which implement continuous-time versions of well-known stabilizer codes in autonomous nanophotonic circuits that require no external clocking or control. We demonstrate that the presence of the gauge subsystem in the nine-qubit Bacon–Shor code allows for a loss-tolerant layout of the corresponding nanophotonic circuit that substantially ameliorates the effects of optical propagation losses, argue that code separability allows for simplified restoration feedback protocols, and propose a modified fidelity metric for quantifying the performance of realistic quantum memories. Our treatment of these topics exploits the homogeneous modeling framework of autonomous nanophotonic circuits, but the key ideas translate to the traditional setting of discrete time, measurement-based quantum error correction.

We present a minimal continuum model of strongly adhering cells as active contractile isotropic media and use the model for studying the effect of the geometry of the adhesion patch in controlling the spatial distribution of traction and cellular stresses. Activity is introduced as a contractile, hence negative, spatially homogeneous contribution to the pressure. The model shows that patterning of adhesion regions can be used to control traction stress distribution and yields several results consistent with experimental observations. Specifically, the cell spread area is found to increase with substrate stiffness and an analytic expression of the dependence is obtained for circular cells. The correlation between the magnitude of traction stresses and cell boundary curvature is also demonstrated and analyzed.

A key goal of research into quantum information processing is the development of technologies that are scaleable in complexity while allowing the mass manufacture of devices that promise transformative effects on information science. The demonstration that integrated photonics circuits could be made to perform operations that exploit the quantum nature of the photon has turned them into leading candidates for practical quantum information processing technologies. To fully achieve their promise, however, requires research from diverse fields. This focus issue provides a snapshot of some of the areas in which key advances have been made. We are grateful for the contributions from leading teams based around the globe and hope that the degree of progress being made in a challenging and exciting field is apparent from the papers published here.

Ordinary fluids mix themselves through thermal motions, or can be even more efficiently mixed by stirring. In contrast, granular materials such as sand often unmix when they are stirred, shaken or sheared. This granular segregation is both a practical means to separate materials in industry, and a persistent challenge to uniformly mixing them. While segregation phenomena are ubiquitous, a large number of different mechanisms have been identified and the underlying physics remains the subject of much inquiry. Particle size, shape, density and even surface roughness can play significant roles. The aim of this focus issue is to provide a snapshot of the current state of the science, covering a wide range of packing densities and driving mechanisms, from thermal-like dilute systems to dense flows.

How a local perturbation affects a propagating wave traveling in a homogeneous medium is a general physics question widely investigated in condensed materials. Intuitively, one might expect that a perturbation would suppress the transport ability of the medium if it is quasi one dimensional. This is generically true as defects and impurities influence numerous non-excitable systems such as carbon nanotubes, nanowires and DNA double helixes. However, if the system is excitable, such as a neuron, a defect may generate a highly non-trivial dynamical behavior. In this paper, using the Hodgkin–Huxley model, we explored this diversity generated by locally non-uniform ion channel densities caused by toxins, diseases, environmental disorders or artificial manipulations. These channel density defects could induce several exotic behaviors, in contrast with the normal destructive role of defects in solid-state physics. They may behave as an electric signal generator exhibiting spontaneous or stimulated emissions, as well as trap, reflect, rectify, delay or extinguish propagating signals or be switched to different functions by a signal. Nonlinear analysis and phase diagrams were used to quantify this dynamical complexity. The results may contribute to research on signal manipulation in biotechnology, neuronal diseases and damages, channel distribution-related cell functions and defect dynamics in general excitable mathematical models.

The impact of non-resonant background emitters in semiconductor quantum-dot microcavity lasers is addressed within theoretical investigations based on the solution of the von Neumann equation. Off-resonant coupling between emitter resonances and the cavity mode is enabled via phonons, which are included in the von Neumann dynamics by an effective Lindblad contribution. The results show enhanced coherent emission from non-resonantly coupled quantum dots, while the frequently used phenomenological cavity feeding mechanism only enhances the thermal component of the emission.

Modern high-energy density facilities allow us to bring matter to extreme states of density, temperature and velocity. Rigorous scaling laws proved that the relevant regimes could be reached, and those regimes are reproducibly achievable. Using powerful lasers and adapted target designs, similarity experiments in the POLAR project aim at studying the formation and dynamics of accretion shocks as found in magnetic cataclysmic variables. At the astrophysical scale, the system we consider is a column of infalling plasma collimated by a magnetic field onto the surface of a white dwarf. As matter hits the surface with supersonic velocity, a shock forms at the basis of the column and propagates upstream. In this paper, numerical simulations are presented in order to describe the experience and to give expectations concerning physical regimes reachable for future experiments on a kilojoule facility. In particular, our target design is discussed and improvements are detailed.

Energy flux transport of a finite high current relativistic electron beam with the Gaussian profile in both the transverse and axial directions in a dense collisional background plasma is studied by means of three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Simulation results reveal the development of a needle-like super-filament formation in both homogeneous as well as inhomogeneous collisional background plasmas. However, in the case of an inhomogeneous background plasma, the beam suffers severe filamentation due to the lower plasma density encountered in the early stage, and only the head of the super-filament survives and travels further inside the plasma. This may not be desirable for the fast ignition fusion scheme.

We present here the first evidence of mechanical penetration by a metastatic cancer cell. During metastasis, the invasive cancer-cell penetrates tissue and extracellular matrix, changes shape and applies force. These applied forces, in turn, depend on substrate stiffness and degradability. The initial stage of metastatic penetration comprises substrate indentation, which, however, has not yet been studied. Hence, we evaluate the evolution of indentation, focusing on differences relating to the metastatic potential (MP) of the cells and substrate stiffness. We found that metastatic cells attain a mushroom-like morphology and then, over several hours, repeatedly indent the substrate in a manner suggestive of a special role for the nucleus. Cells with higher MP have previously been shown to be softer internally and externally than those with lower MP yet, paradoxically, applied stronger forces. Cells of higher MP develop stronger forces on gels stiff enough to provide grip handles yet soft enough to indent, whereas benign cells did not indent substrates at all. These findings provide insight into the central role of physical forces in the initial stages of metastatic penetration and reveal new targets for treatment.

Chiral symmetry, fundamental in the physics of graphene, guarantees the existence of topologically stable doubled Dirac cones and anomalous behaviors of the zero-energy Landau level in magnetic fields. Its crucial role, especially its manifestation in optical responses and many-body physics in graphene, is explained in this paper. We also give an overview of multilayer graphene from the viewpoint of the optical properties and their relation with chiral symmetry.

The scientific literature on grain boundaries (GBs) in graphene was reviewed. The review focuses mainly on the experimental findings on graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) under a very wide range of experimental conditions (temperature, pressure hydrogen/hydrocarbon ratio, gas flow velocity and substrates). Differences were found in the GBs depending on the origin of graphene: in micro-mechanically cleaved graphene (produced using graphite originating from high-temperature, high-pressure synthesis), rows of non-hexagonal rings separating two perfect graphene crystallites are found more frequently, while in graphene produced by CVD—despite the very wide range of growth conditions used in different laboratories—GBs with more pronounced disorder are more frequent. In connection with the observed disorder, the stability of two-dimensional amorphous carbon is discussed and the growth conditions that may impact on the structure of the GBs are reviewed. The most frequently used methods for the atomic scale characterization of the GB structures, their possibilities and limitations and the alterations of the GBs in CVD graphene during the investigation (e.g. under e-beam irradiation) are discussed. The effects of GB disorder on electric and thermal transport are reviewed and the relatively scarce data available on the chemical properties of the GBs are summarized. GBs are complex enough nanoobjects so that it may be unlikely that two experimentally produced GBs of several microns in length could be completely identical in all of their atomic scale details. Despite this, certain generalized conclusions may be formulated, which may be helpful for experimentalists in interpreting the results and in planning new experiments, leading to a more systematic picture of GBs in CVD graphene.

Cavity-assisted quantum memory storage has been proposed for creating efficient (close to unity) quantum memories using weakly absorbing materials. Using this approach, we experimentally demonstrate a significant (∼20-fold) enhancement in quantum memory efficiency compared to the no cavity case. A strong dispersion originating from absorption engineering inside the cavity was observed, which directly affects the cavity line width. A more than three orders of magnitude reduction of cavity mode spacing and cavity line width from GHz to MHz was observed. We are not aware of any previous observation of several orders of magnitude cavity mode spacing and cavity line width reduction due to slow light effects.

Micromagnetic properties of monopoles in artificial kagome spin ice systems are investigated using numerical simulations. We show that micromagnetics brings additional complexity into the physics of these monopoles that is, by essence, absent in spin models: in addition to a fractionalized classical magnetic charge, monopoles in the artificial kagome ice are chiral at remanence. Our simulations predict that the chirality of these monopoles can be controlled without altering their charge state. This chirality breaks the vertex symmetry and triggers a directional motion of the monopole under an applied magnetic field. Our results also show that the choice of the geometrical features of the lattice can be used to turn on and off this chirality, thus allowing the investigation of chiral and achiral monopoles.

A solid-state single-photon source emitting indistinguishable photons on-demand is an essential component of linear optics quantum computing schemes. However, the emitter will inevitably interact with the solid-state environment causing decoherence and loss of indistinguishability. In this paper, we present a comprehensive theoretical treatment of the influence of phonon scattering on the coherence properties of single photons emitted from semiconductor quantum dots. We model decoherence using a full microscopic theory and compare with standard Markovian approximations employing Lindblad-type relaxation terms. Significant differences between the two approaches are found.

Morphologic diversity is observed across all families of viruses. However, these supra-molecular assemblies are produced most of the time in a spontaneous way through complex molecular self-assembly scenarios. The modeling of these phenomena remains a challenging problem within the emerging field of physical virology. We present in this work a theoretical analysis aiming at highlighting the particular role of configuration entropy in the control of viral particle size distribution. Specializing this model to retroviruses such as HIV-1, we predict a new mechanism of entropic control of both RNA uptake into the viral particle and of the particle's size distribution. Evidence of this peculiar behavior has recently been reported experimentally.

In this paper we develop a continuum theory of clustering in ensembles of self-propelled inelastically colliding rods with applications to collective dynamics of common gliding bacteria Myxococcus xanthus. A multi-phase hydrodynamic model that couples densities of oriented and isotropic phases is described. This model is used for the analysis of an instability that leads to spontaneous formation of directionally moving dense clusters within initially dilute isotropic 'gas' of myxobacteria. Numerical simulations of this model confirm the existence of stationary dense moving clusters and also elucidate the properties of their collisions. The results are shown to be in a qualitative agreement with experiments.

The origin of matter in the Universe is a fascinating cosmological puzzle that has triggered a formidable intellectual enterprise, started in 1967 with the prescient paper by Andrej Sakharov (1967 Pisma Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz.5 32; 1967 JETP Lett.52 4; 1991 Sov. Phys.—Usp.34 392; 1991 Usp. Fiz. Nauk161 61) aimed at relating a cosmological observation to the fundamental laws of physics, the goal of baryogenesis. A successful model of baryogenesis should ultimately identify the required source of charge parity violation and the origin of the cosmological matter–antimatter asymmetry. This focus issue is not only a review of the main ideas that have been proposed in baryogenesis but should also bear witness to the great vitality of the field and to show how future experimental results could bring a breakthrough in baryogenesis during the coming years. For this reason we selected, out of the multitude of proposed baryogenesis models, those that will more likely experience a significant experimental test during the coming years.

Cells probe their environments by extending protrusions: this process is mediated by the polymerization of actin gels at the edge of cells. Although their molecular components have been widely studied, their mesoscopic properties remain to be characterized. In this paper, we show that cell adhesion modulates actin gel dynamics. By changing the grafting density of fibronectin on a surface, we changed the adhesion strength of a cell on this surface. We found that the length of filopodia, the speeds of their growth and the speeds of retrograde flows were non-monotonic functions of the grafting density of fibronectin. The minima of the length and speeds of filopodia and the maximum of the speeds of retrograde flows are found at the same fibronectin density; this implies that there are strong correlations between these parameters. We used a simple model to predict that retrograde flows show non-monotonic behaviors because integrin–fibronectin binding mediates actomyosin and friction forces applied to actin gels. This model also predicts that connectivity of actin gels is responsible for the strong correlations between retrograde flows and filopodial growth. Altogether, our study investigates how actomyosin forces and friction with the substrate influence actin gel dynamics in living cells.

Dirac particles, massless relativistic entities, obey linear energy dispersions and hold important implications in particle physics. The recent discovery of Dirac fermions in condensed matter systems including graphene and topological insulators has generated a great deal of interest in exploring the relativistic properties associated with Dirac physics in solid-state materials. In addition, there are stimulating research activities to engineer Dirac particles, elucidating their exotic physical properties in a controllable setting. One of the successful platforms is the ultracold atom–optical lattice system, whose dynamics can be manipulated and probed in a clean environment. A microcavity exciton–polariton–lattice system offers the advantage of forming high-orbital condensation in non-equilibrium conditions, which enables one to explore novel quantum orbital order in two dimensions. In this paper, we experimentally construct the band structures near Dirac points, the vertices of the first hexagonal Brillouin zone with exciton–polariton condensates trapped in a triangular lattice. Due to the finite spectral linewidth, the direct map of band structures at Dirac points is elusive; however, we identify the linear part above Dirac points and its associated velocity value is ∼0.9–2 × 10⁸ cm s⁻¹, consistent with the theoretical estimate 1 × 10⁸ cm s⁻¹ with a 2 μm lattice constant. We envision that the exciton–polariton condensates in lattices would be a promising solid-state platform, where the system order parameter can be accessed in both real and momentum spaces.

We study a general Majorana junction, where N helical nanowires are connected to a common s-wave superconductor proximity-inducing Majorana bound states in the wires. The normal part of each wire (j = 1,...,N) acts as connected lead, where electrons can tunnel into the respective Majorana state γ_A,j. The Majorana states at the other end, γ_B,j, are coupled to each other by an arbitrary tunnel matrix. We examine the conditions for even–odd parity effects in the tunnel conductance for various junction topologies.