Table of contents

Numerical techniques to efficiently model out-of-equilibrium dynamics in interacting quantum many-body systems are key for advancing our capability to harness and understand complex quantum matter. Here we propose a new numerical approach which we refer to as generalized discrete truncated Wigner approximation (GDTWA). It is based on a discrete semi-classical phase space sampling and allows to investigate quantum dynamics in lattice spin systems with arbitrary S ≥ 1/2. We show that the GDTWA can accurately simulate dynamics of large ensembles in arbitrary dimensions. We apply it for S > 1/2 spin-models with dipolar long-range interactions, a scenario arising in recent experiments with magnetic atoms. We show that the method can capture beyond mean-field effects, not only at short times, but it also can correctly reproduce long time quantum-thermalization dynamics. We benchmark the method with exact diagonalization in small systems, with perturbation theory for short times, and with analytical predictions made for models which feature quantum-thermalization at long times. We apply our method to study dynamics in large S > 1/2 spin-models and compute experimentally accessible observables such as Zeeman level populations, contrast of spin coherence, spin squeezing, and entanglement quantified by single-spin Renyi entropies. We reveal that large S systems can feature larger entanglement than corresponding S = 1/2 systems. Our analyses demonstrate that the GDTWA can be a powerful tool for modeling complex spin dynamics in regimes where other state-of-the art numerical methods fail.

Mesoscopic irregularly ordered and even amorphous self-assembled electronic structures were recently reported in two-dimensional metallic dichalcogenides (TMDs), created and manipulated with short light pulses or by charge injection. Apart from promising new all-electronic memory devices, such states are of great fundamental importance, since such aperiodic states cannot be described in terms of conventional charge-density-wave (CDW) physics. In this paper, we address the problem of metastable mesoscopic configurational charge ordering in TMDs with a sparsely filled charged lattice gas model in which electrons are subject only to screened Coulomb repulsion. The model correctly predicts commensurate CDW states corresponding to different TMDs at magic filling fractions ${f}_{m}=1/3,1/4,1/9,1/13,1/16.$ Doping away from ${f}_{m}$ results either in multiple near-degenerate configurational states, or an amorphous state at the correct density observed by scanning tunnelling microscopy. Quantum fluctuations between degenerate states predict a quantum charge liquid at low temperatures, revealing a new generalized viewpoint on both regular, irregular and amorphous charge ordering in transition metal dichalcogenides.

The exceptional points (EPs) of non-Hermitian systems, where n different energy eigenstates merge into an identical one, have many intriguing properties that have no counterparts in Hermitian systems. In particular, the ${\epsilon }^{1/n}$ dependence of the energy level splitting on a perturbative parameter near an nth order EP stimulates the idea of metrology with arbitrarily high sensitivity, since the susceptibility d^1/n/d diverges at the EP. Here we theoretically study the sensitivity of parameter estimation near the EPs, using the exact formalism of quantum Fisher information (QFI). The QFI formalism allows the highest sensitivity to be determined without specifying a specific measurement approach. We find that the EP bears no dramatic enhancement of the sensitivity. Instead, the coalescence of the eigenstates exactly counteracts the eigenvalue susceptibility divergence and makes the sensitivity a smooth function of the perturbative parameter.

An all-optical method for generating ultra-intense high-order-mode light pulse is investigated with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. We find that the conversion from a short intense circularly polarized incident Gaussian laser pulse into a transverse magnetic (TM) mode occurs as it propagates into a micro plasma waveguide. The strength of the longitudinal electric field of the excited TM modes can be almost two orders of magnitude higher than that of the original laser. The simulation results show that, for the lower-order modes, the trapped electrons lead to their revolving transverse structures. A linear plasma waveguide model is presented to predict the mode pattern and intensity of the longitudinal electric fields, which are in excellent agreement with those in the simulations. Relativistic-intense high-order-mode light can be useful for many applications, including accelerating charged particles to high energies.

The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation time T₁ of the ν = 2 quantum Hall ferromagnet (QHF) formed in a gate-controlled InSb two-dimensional electron gas has been characterized using a pump-probe technique. In contrast to a long T₁ of quantum Hall states around ν = 1 that possesses a Korringa-type temperature dependence, the temperature-independent short T₁ of the ν = 2 QHF suggests the presence of low energy collective spin excitations in a domain wall. Furthermore, T₁ of this ferromagnetic state is also found to be filling- and current-independent. The interpretation of these results as compared to the T₁ properties of other QHFs is discussed in terms of the domain wall skyrmion, which will lead to a better understanding of the QHF.

Symmetry breaking in graphene has profound impacts on its physical properties. Here we emulate symmetry breaking in artificial graphene systems by assembling coronene molecules on a Cu(111) surface. We apply two strategies: (1) differentiating the on-site energy of two sublattices of a honeycomb lattice and (2) uniaxially compressing a honeycomb lattice. The first one breaks the inversion symmetry while the second one merges the Dirac cones. The scanning tunneling spectroscopy shows that in both cases the local density of states undergo characteristic changes. Muffin-tin simulations reveal that the observed changes are associated with a band gap opened at the Dirac point. Furthermore, we propose that using larger molecules or molecules strongly scattering the surface state electrons can induce an indirect gap.

We study spin wave excitation modes of kπ skyrmion (k = 1, 2, 3) in a magnetic nanodot under an external magnetic field along the z direction using micromagnetic simulations based on the Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation. We find that a transition of kπ skyrmion to other skyrmion-like structures appears under some critical external fields, the corresponding spin wave excitations are simulated for each state under magnetic field. For skyrmion, the frequencies of excitation modes increases and then decreases with the low frequency mode splitting at a critical magnetic field. In addition to the well-known two in-plane rotation modes and an out-of-plane breathing mode of skyrmion, more excitation modes are found with a higher k (k = 2, 3). The excitation modes vary as a function of magnetic field, and the excitation frequencies for different modes exhibit a rapid or slight change depending on the field-induced change of magnetization profile. Our study indicates the rich spin wave excitations for kπ skyrmion and opens up the possibility for theoretical or experimental investigation of magnonics application.

One mode of atomic force microscopy (AFM) is frequency-modulation AFM, in which the tip is driven to oscillate at its resonance frequency which changes as the tip interacts with the surface. Frequency-modulation lateral force microscopy (FM-LFM) is the variant of this technique in which the tip is oscillated along the surface. For an isolated adsorbate on a flat surface, the only signal in FM-LFM is caused by the short-range interaction with the adsorbate. Various deconvolution methods exist to convert the observed frequency shift into the more physically relevant parameters of force and energy. While these methods are often used for FM-AFM data, the high number of inflection points of FM-LFM data make standard deconvolution methods less reliable. In this article, we present a method based on Fourier decomposition of FM-LFM data and apply it to data taken of an isolated CO molecule on the Pt(111) surface. We probe the potential energy landscape past the potential energy minimum and show how over an adsorbate, the potential energy can be evaluated with a single FM-LFM image.

We study the angular dynamics of small non-spherical particles settling in a turbulent flow, such as ice crystals in clouds, aggregates of organic material in the oceans, or fibres settling in turbulent pipe flow. Most solid particles encountered in Nature are not spherical, and their orientations affect their settling speeds, as well as their collision and aggregation rates in suspensions. Whereas the random action of turbulent eddies favours an isotropic distribution of orientations, gravitational settling breaks the rotational symmetry. The precise nature of the symmetry breaking, however, is subtle. We demonstrate here that the fluid-inertia torque plays a dominant role in the problem. As a consequence rod-like particles tend to settle in turbulence with horizontal orientation, the more so the larger the settling number $\mathrm{Sv}$ (a dimensionless measure of the settling speed). For large $\mathrm{Sv}$ we determine the fluctuations around this preferential horizontal orientation for prolate particles with arbitrary aspect ratios, assuming small Stokes number $\mathrm{St}$ (a dimensionless measure of particle inertia). Our theory is based on a statistical model representing the turbulent velocity fluctuations by Gaussian random functions. This overdamped theory predicts that the orientation distribution is very narrow at large $\mathrm{Sv}$, with a variance proportional to ${\mathrm{Sv}}^{-4}$. By considering the role of particle inertia, we analyse the limitations of the overdamped theory, and determine its range of applicability. Our predictions are in excellent agreement with numerical simulations of simplified models of turbulent flows. Finally we contrast our results with those of an alternative theory predicting that the orientation variance is proportional to ${\mathrm{Sv}}^{-2}$ at large $\mathrm{Sv}$.

Recent realization of Bose–Einstein condensation of light in 2D provides a new platform for studying novel phases and phase transitions. The combination of low effective mass of the confined light and the presence of the dye molecules with randomly oriented directions of the dipolar transition engages a competition between disorder and the tendency to forming algebraic off-diagonal order. The phase diagram of possible phases is constructed at the mean field level. One of the phases is the condensate of photon pairs induced solely by the orientational disorder. Such a geometrical mechanism of pairing has no analogy in other systems.

Kane fermion is the counterpart of the Dirac fermion with pseudospin-1. Due to the existence of a bunch of gapless modes associated with Landau levels, the magnetic transport property of Kane fermion gas is very different from that of the Dirac semimetal. We calculate the magneto-optical conductance of the Kane fermion gas. We find that these gapless modes will contribute to a series of resonant peaks in low frequencies. We find that these peaks can explain the low frequency absorbance spectrum in a recent experiment for the Kane fermion material Hg_1−x Cd_xTe.

Photoelectron momentum distributions from strong-field ionization of carbonyl sulfide with 800 nm central-wavelength laser pulses at various peak intensities from 4.6 to 13 × 10¹³ W cm⁻² were recorded and analyzed regarding resonant Rydberg states and photoelectron orbital angular momentum. The evaluation of the differentials of the momentum distributions with respect to the peak intensity highly suppressed the impact of focal volume averaging and allowed for the unambiguous recognition of Freeman resonances. As a result, previously made assignments of photoelectron lines could be reassigned. An earlier reported empirical rule, which relates the initial state's orbital momentum and the minimum photon expense to ionize an ac Stark shifted atomic system to the observable dominant photoelectron orbital momentum, was confirmed for the molecular target.

Single photon sources are necessary for optical quantum technology. The nonclassicality of emitted single photons manifests itself in diverse experiments and applications. The applications already require different nonclassical aspects of single photons, however, a suitable hierarchy of criteria is missing. We propose variable experimental tests, based on adjustable linear optical networks and single photon detectors, giving a hierarchy of such nonclassicality criteria. The hierarchy goes beyond Hanbury–Brown–Twiss test of photon antibunching and allows us to compare faithfully quality and performance of single photon sources via their nonclassical properties.

Established methods for characterizing quantum information processes do not capture non-Markovian (history-dependent) behaviors that occur in real systems. These methods model a quantum process as a fixed map on the state space of a predefined system of interest. Such a map averages over the system's environment, which may retain some effect of its past interactions with the system and thus have a history-dependent influence on the system. Although the theory of non-Markovian quantum dynamics is currently an active area of research, a systematic characterization method based on a general representation of non-Markovian dynamics has been lacking. In this article we present a systematic method for experimentally characterizing the dynamics of open quantum systems. Our method, which we call quantum process identification (QPI), is based on a general theoretical framework which relates the (non-Markovian) evolution of a system over an extended period of time to a time-local (Markovian) process involving the system and an effective environment. In practical terms, QPI uses time-resolved tomographic measurements of a quantum system to construct a dynamical model with as many dynamical variables as are necessary to reproduce the evolution of the system. Through numerical simulations, we demonstrate that QPI can be used to characterize qubit operations with non-Markovian errors arising from realistic dynamics including control drift, coherent leakage, and coherent interaction with material impurities.

With the rapid advent of biomedical and biotechnological innovations, a deep understanding of the nature of interaction between nanomaterials and cell membranes, tissues, and organs, has become increasingly important. Active penetration of nanoparticles through cell membranes is a fascinating phenomenon that may have important implications in various biomedical and clinical applications. Using a fully analytical theory supplemented by particle-based computer simulations, the penetration process of an active particle through a planar two-dimensional elastic membrane is studied. The membrane is modeled as a self-assembled sheet of particles, uniformly arranged on a square lattice. A coarse-grained model is introduced to describe the mutual interactions between the membrane particles. The active penetrating particle is assumed to interact sterically with the membrane particles. State diagrams are presented to fully characterize the system behavior as functions of the relevant control parameters governing the transition between different dynamical states. Three distinct scenarios are identified. These compromise trapping of the active particle, penetration through the membrane with subsequent self-healing, in addition to penetration with permanent disruption of the membrane. The latter scenario may be accompanied by a partial fragmentation of the membrane into bunches of isolated or clustered particles and creation of a hole of a size exceeding the interaction range of the membrane components. It is further demonstrated that the capability of penetration is strongly influenced by the size of the approaching particle relative to that of the membrane particles. Accordingly, active particles with larger size are more likely to remain trapped at the membrane for the same propulsion speed. Such behavior is in line with experimental observations. Our analytical theory is based on a combination of a perturbative expansion technique and a discrete-to-continuum formulation. It well describes the system behavior in the small-deformation regime. Particularly, the theory allows to determine the membrane displacement of the particles in the trapping state. Our approach might be helpful for the prediction of the transition threshold between the trapping and penetration in real-space experiments involving motile swimming bacteria or artificial active particles.

Magnetic interactions underpin a plethora of magnetic states of matter, hence playing a central role both in fundamental physics and for future spintronic and quantum computation devices. The Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction, ${{\bf{D}}}_{{ij}}\cdot ({{\bf{S}}}_{i}\times {{\bf{S}}}_{j})$, being chiral and driven by relativistic effects, leads to the stabilization of highly-noncollinear spin textures such as skyrmions, which thanks to their topological nature are promising building blocks for magnetic data storage and processing elements. Here, we reveal and study a new chiral pair interaction, ${{\bf{C}}}_{{ij}}\cdot ({{\bf{S}}}_{i}\times {{\bf{S}}}_{j})({{\bf{S}}}_{i}\cdot {{\bf{S}}}_{j})$, which is the biquadratic equivalent of the DMI. First, we derive this interaction and its guiding principles from a microscopic model, and we connect the atomistic form to the micromagnetic one. Second, we study its properties in the simplest prototypical systems, magnetic 3d transition metal dimers deposited on the Pt(111), Pt(100), Ir(111), and Re(0001) surfaces, resorting to systematic first-principles calculations. Lastly, we discuss its importance and implications not only for magnetic dimers but also for extended systems, namely one-dimensional spin spirals and complex two-dimensional magnetic structures, such as a nanoskyrmion lattice found in an Fe monolayer on Ir(111).

The extra-cellular microenvironment has a fundamental role in tumor growth and progression, strongly affecting the migration strategies adopted by single cancer cells during metastatic invasion. In this study, we use a novel microfluidic device to investigate the ability of mesenchymal and epithelial breast tumor cells to fluidize and migrate through narrowing microstructures upon chemoattractant stimulation. We compare the migration behavior of two mesenchymal breast cancer cell lines and one epithelial cell line, and find that the epithelial cells are able to migrate through the narrowest microconstrictions as the more invasive mesenchymal cells. In addition, we demonstrate that migration of epithelial cells through a highly compressive environment can occur in absence of a chemoattractive stimulus, thus evidencing that they are just as prone to react to mechanical cues as invasive cells.

We theoretically perform a comprehensive analysis about the influences of the space-inversion symmetry breaking in graphene-based materials on the Andreev reflections (AR) in the normal-metal/superconductor (NS) and NSN heterojunctions. It is found that in the NS junction, the AR can be suppressed or be enhanced by the enhancement of space-inversion symmetry breaking, depending on the relationship among the coherence parameters. Following this result, the AR properties in the NSN structure are evaluated. It is readily observed that the local AR can be weakened for low space-inversion symmetry breaking, and can be enhanced for high space-inversion symmetry breaking. Alternatively, the efficiency of the crossed AR can be improved to a great degree, with the increase of space-inversion symmetry breaking. One can therefore understand the special role of space-inversion symmetry in modulating the AR, especially for the enhancement of crossed AR.

We developed a high-throughput screening scheme to acquire candidate coating materials for hybrid perovskites. From more than 1.8 million entries of an inorganic compound database, we collected 93 binary and ternary materials with promising properties for protectively coating halide-perovskite photoabsorbers in perovskite solar cells. These candidates fulfill a series of criteria, including wide band gaps, abundant and non-toxic elements, water-insoluble, and small lattice mismatch with surface models of halide perovskites.

Local thermal equilibrium (LTE) is a general presumption of many theoretical analyses in nonequilibrium statistical physics. It describes a situation that although the system is not in global thermal equilibrium, each small portion of the system may still be described approximately by the laws of thermal equilibrium. The validity of LTE has however seldom been investigated carefully. Here, by studying the ensemble velocity distribution and its spatial correlation, we present strong evidences for the lack of LTE in anomalous heat diffusion processes in one dimensional harmonic lattices and the Fermi–Pasta–Ulam-β lattices. In particular, clear nonzero excess kurtosis and long range correlations have been observed, with values scaling linearly with the initial temperature difference. Therefore near thermal equilibrium is not sufficient to achieve LTE. Some existing studies that are based on the existence of LTE should be revisited. Using the same methods, we also show that LTE is still valid in the ϕ⁴ lattice, in which heat diffuses following Fourier's law.

Rogue waves, i.e. high amplitude fluctuations in random wave fields, have been studied in several contexts, ranging from optics via acoustics to the propagation of ocean waves. Scattering by disorder, like current fields and wind fluctuations in the ocean, as well as nonlinearities in the wave equations provide widely studied mechanisms for their creation. However, the interaction of these mechanisms is largely unexplored. Hence, we study wave propagation under the concurrent influence of geometrical (disorder) and nonlinear focusing in the (current-modified) nonlinear Schrödinger equation. We show how nonlinearity shifts the onset distance of geometrical (disorder) focusing and alters the peak intensities of the fluctuations. We find an intricate interplay of both mechanisms that is reflected in the observation of optimal ratios of nonlinearity and disorder strength for the generation of rogue waves.

Motivated by recent experimental reports of significant spin–orbit coupling (SOC) and a sign-changing order-parameter in the Li_1−xFe_x(OHFe)_1−yZn_ySe superconductor with only electron pockets present, we study the possible Cooper-pairing symmetries and their quasiparticle interference (QPI) signatures. We find that each of the resulting states—s-wave, d-wave and helical p-wave—can have a fully gapped density of states consistent with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy experiments and, due to SOC, are a mixture of spin singlet and triplet components leading to intra- and inter-band features in the QPI signal. Analyzing predicted QPI patterns we find that only the spin-triplet dominated even parity A_1g (s-wave) and B_2g (d-wave) pairing states are consistent with the experimental data. Additionally, we show that these states can indeed be realized in a microscopic model with atomic-like interactions and study their possible signatures in spin-resolved STM experiments.

We present a feasibility study with several magnetic field configurations for creating spin-dependent forces that can split a low-energy ion beam by the Stern–Gerlach (SG) effect. To the best of our knowledge, coherent spin-splittings of charged particles have yet to be realised. Our proposal is based on ion source parameters taken from a recent experiment that demonstrated single-ion implantation from a high-brightness ion source combined with a radio-frequency Paul trap. The inhomogeneous magnetic fields can be created by permanently magnetised microstructures or from current-carrying wires with sizes in the micron range, such as those recently used in a successful implementation of the SG effect with neutral atoms. All relevant forces (Lorentz force and image charges) are taken into account, and measurable splittings are found by analytical and numerical calculations.

We consider work extraction from N copies of a quantum system. When the same work-extraction process is implemented on each copy, the relative size of fluctuations is expected to decay as $1/\sqrt{N}$. Here, we consider protocols where the copies can be processed collectively, and show that in this case work fluctuations can disappear exponentially fast in N. As a consequence, a considerable proportion of the average extractable work ${ \mathcal W }$ can be obtained almost deterministically by globally processing a few copies of the state. This is derived in the two canonical scenarios for work extraction: (i) in thermally isolated systems, where ${ \mathcal W }$ corresponds to the energy difference between initial and passive states, known as the ergotropy, and (ii) in the presence of a thermal bath, where ${ \mathcal W }$ is given by the free energy difference between initial and thermal states.

The computational cost of preparing a quantum state can be substantial depending on the structure of data to be encoded. Many quantum algorithms require repeated sampling to find the answer, mandating reconstruction of the same input state for every execution of an algorithm. Thus, the advantage of quantum computation can diminish due to redundant state initialization. We present a framework based on quantum forking that bypasses this fundamental issue and expedites a family of tasks that require sampling from independent quantum processes. Quantum forking propagates an input state to multiple quantum trajectories in superposition, and a weighted power sum of individual results from each trajectories is obtained in one measurement via quantum interference. The significance of our work is demonstrated via applications to implementing non-unitary quantum channels, studying entanglement and benchmarking quantum control. A proof-of-principle experiment is implemented on the IBM and Rigetti quantum cloud platforms.

We propose a method to investigate the vibrational dynamics of single polyatomic molecular ions confined in a Paul trap. Quantum logic techniques are employed to detect the recoil of single photon absorption events on the molecule via a co-trapped atomic ion. In particular, the recoil is mapped onto the electronic state of the atom which can be read out with high fidelity. This recoil detection serves as the basis for a pump-probe scheme to investigate ultrafast molecular dynamics, such as intra-molecular vibrational redistribution. The total recoil from the interaction with a sequence of ultrafast laser pulses with the molecular vibration is measured. This work discusses the experimental requirements and expected performance for multiple molecular ions with masses ranging from 17 to 165 Dalton.

Non-trivial Bloch band overlaps endow rich phenomena to a wide variety of quantum materials. The most prominent example is a transverse current in the absence of a magnetic field (i.e. the anomalous Hall effect). Here we show that, in addition to a dc Hall effect, anomalous Hall materials possess circulating currents and cyclotron motion without magnetic field. These are generated from the intricate wavefunction dynamics within the unit cell. Curiously, anomalous cyclotron motion exhibits an intrinsic decay in time (even in pristine materials) displaying a characteristic power law decay. This reveals an intrinsic dephasing similar to that of inhomogeneous broadening of spins. Circulating currents can manifest as the emission of circularly polarized light pulses in response to an incident linearly polarized (pulsed) electric field, and provide a direct means of interrogating a type of Zitterbewegung of quantum materials with broken time reversal symmetry.

A colloidal particle is driven across a temporally oscillating one-dimensional optical potential energy landscape and its particle motion is analysed. Different modes of dynamic mode locking are observed and are confirmed with the use of phase portraits. The effect of the oscillation frequency on the mode locked step width is addressed and the results are discussed in light of a high-frequency theory and compared to simulations. Furthermore, the influence of the coupling between the particle and the optical landscape on mode locking is probed by increasing the maximum depth of the optical landscape. Stronger coupling is seen to increase the width of mode locked steps. Finally, transport across the temporally oscillating landscape is studied by measuring the effective diffusion coefficient of a mobile particle, which is seen to be highly sensitive to the driving velocity and mode locking.

We address the problem of finding the optimal common resource for an arbitrary family of target states in quantum resource theories based on majorization, that is, theories whose conversion law between resources is determined by a majorization relationship, such as it happens with entanglement, coherence or purity. We provide a conclusive answer to this problem by appealing to the completeness property of the majorization lattice. We give a proof of this property that relies heavily on the more geometric construction provided by the Lorenz curves, which allows to explicitly obtain the corresponding infimum and supremum. Our framework includes the case of possibly non-denumerable sets of target states (i.e. targets sets described by continuous parameters). In addition, we show that a notion of approximate majorization, which has recently found application in quantum thermodynamics, is in close relation with the completeness of this lattice. Finally, we provide some examples of optimal common resources within the resource theory of quantum coherence.

Using extensive numerical studies we demonstrate that absolute negative mobility of a Brownian particle (i.e. the net motion into the direction opposite to a constant biasing force acting around zero bias) does coexist with anomalous diffusion (AD). The latter is characterised in terms of a nonlinear scaling with time of the mean-square deviation of the particle position. Such AD covers 'coherent' motion (i.e. the position dynamics x(t) approaches in evolving time a constant dispersion), ballistic diffusion, subdiffusion, superdiffusion and hyperdiffusion. In providing evidence for this coexistence we consider a paradigmatic model of an inertial Brownian particle moving in a one-dimensional symmetric periodic potential being driven by both an unbiased time-periodic force and a constant bias. This very setup allows for various sorts of different physical realisations.

Beating is a simple physical phenomenon known for long in the context of sound waves but remained surprisingly unexplored for light waves. When two monochromatic optical beams of different frequencies and states of polarization interfere, the polarization state of the superposition field exhibits temporal periodic variation—polarization beating. In this work, we reveal a foundational and elegant phase structure underlying such polarization beating. We show that the phase difference over a single beating period decomposes into the Pancharatnam–Berry geometric phase and a dynamical phase of which the former depends exclusively on the intensities and polarization states of the interfering beams whereas the sum of the phases is determined solely by the beam frequencies. Varying the intensity and polarization characteristics of the beams, the relative contributions of the geometric and dynamical phases can be adjusted. The geometric phase inherent in polarization beating is governed by a compact expression containing only the Stokes parameters of the interfering waves and can alternatively be obtained from the individual beam intensities and the amplitude of the intensity beats. We demonstrate both approaches experimentally by using an interferometer with a fast detector and a specific polarimetric arrangement. Polarization beating has a unique character that the geometric and dynamical phases are entangled, i.e. variation in one unavoidably leads to a change in the other. Our work expands geometric phases into a new domain and offers important novel insight into the role of polarization in interference of electromagnetic waves.

The discovery of topological phases of matter, initially driven by theoretical advances in quantum condensed matter physics, has been recently extended to classical wave systems, reaching out to a wealth of novel potential applications in signal manipulation and energy concentration. Despite the fact that wave propagation in many realistic media (metals at optical frequencies, polymers at ultrasonic frequencies) is inherently dispersive, topological wave transport in photonic and phononic crystals has so far been limited to ideal situations and proof-of-concept experiments involving dispersionless media. Here, we report the first experimental demonstration of topological edge states in a classical water wave system supporting highly dispersive wave propagation, in the intermediate regime of gravity-capillary waves. We use a stochastic method to rigorously take into account the inherent dispersion and devise a water wave crystal insulator supporting valley-selective transport at topological domain walls. Our measurements, performed with a high-speed camera under stroboscopic illumination, unambiguously demonstrate the possibility of valley-locked transport of water waves.

In this paper, we present the fault-tolerant conversion between quantum Reed–Muller (QRM)(2, 5) and QRM(2, 7), and also the conversion between QBCH(15, 7) and QRM(2, 7). Either of the two schemes provides a method to realize universal fault-tolerant quantum computation. In particular, the gate overhead and logical error rate of a logical T gate are provided, as well as the comparison with magic state distillation scheme. In addition, we propose two other fault-tolerant conversion schemes based on $({\boldsymbol{u}}| {\boldsymbol{u}}+{\boldsymbol{v}})$ and $({\boldsymbol{a}}+{\boldsymbol{x}}| {\boldsymbol{b}}+{\boldsymbol{x}}| {\boldsymbol{a}}+{\boldsymbol{b}}-{\boldsymbol{x}})$ constructions.

The generation and manipulation of hybrid entanglement of light involving discrete- and continuous-variable states have recently appeared as essential resources towards the realization of heterogeneous quantum networks. Here we investigate a scheme for the remote generation of hybrid entanglement between particle-like and wave-like optical qubits based on a non-local heralding photon detection. We also extend this scheme with additional local or non-local detections. An additional local heralding allows the resulting state to exhibit a higher fidelity with the targeted entangled qubits while a two-photon non-local heralding detection gives access to a higher dimensionality in the discrete-variable subspace, resulting thereby in the generation of hybrid entangled qutrits. The implementation of the presented schemes, in combination with ongoing works on high-fidelity quantum state engineering, will provide novel non-classical light sources for the development of optical hybrid architectures.

Quantum random access codes (QRACs) are key tools for a variety of protocols in quantum information theory. These are commonly studied in prepare-and-measure scenarios in which a sender prepares states and a receiver measures them. Here, we consider a three-party prepare-transform-measure scenario in which the simplest QRAC is implemented twice in sequence based on the same physical system. We derive optimal trade-off relations between the two QRACs. We apply our results to construct semi-device independent self-tests of quantum instruments, i.e. measurement channels with both a classical and quantum output. Finally, we show how sequential QRACs enable inference of upper and lower bounds on the sharpness parameter of a quantum instrument.

The creation of particle–antiparticle pairs from vacuum by a large electric field is at the core of quantum electrodynamics. Despite the wide acceptance that this phenomenon occurs naturally when electric field strengths exceed E_c ≈ 10¹⁸ V m⁻¹, it has yet to be experimentally observed due to the limitations imposed by producing electric fields at this scale. The high degree of experimental control present in ultracold atomic systems allow experimentalists to create laboratory analogs to high-field phenomena. Here we emulated massive relativistic particles subject to large electric field strengths, thereby quantum-simulated particle–antiparticle pair creation, and experimentally explored particle creation from 'the Dirac vacuum'. Data collected from our analog system spans the full parameter regime from low applied field (negligible pair creation) below the Sauter–Schwinger limit, to high field (maximum rate of pair creation) far in excess of the Sauter–Schwinger limit. In our experiment, we perform direct measurements on an analog atomic system and show that this high-field phenomenon is well-characterized by Landau–Zener tunneling, well known in the atomic physics context, and we find full quantitative agreement with theory with no adjustable parameters.

Fluctuation dissipation theorems (FDTs) connect the linear response of a physical system to a perturbation to the steady-state correlation functions. Until now, most of these theorems have been derived for finite-dimensional systems. However, many relevant physical processes are described by systems of infinite dimension in the Gaussian regime. In this work, we find a linear response theory for quantum Gaussian systems subject to time dependent Gaussian channels. In particular, we establish a FDT for the covariance matrix that connects its linear response at any time to the steady state two-time correlations. The theorem covers non-equilibrium scenarios as it does not require the steady state to be at thermal equilibrium. We further show how our results simplify the study of Gaussian systems subject to a time dependent Lindbladian master equation. Finally, we illustrate the usage of our new scheme through some examples. Due to broad generality of the Gaussian formalism, we expect our results to find an application in many physical platforms, such as opto-mechanical systems in the presence of external noise or driven quantum heat devices.

We investigate the heat transport and the control of heat current among two spatially separated trapped Bose–Einstein Condensates (BECs), each of them at a different temperature. To allow for heat transport among the two independent BECs we consider a link made of two harmonically trapped impurities, each of them interacting with one of the BECs. Since the impurities are spatially separated, we consider long-range interactions between them, namely a dipole–dipole coupling. We study this system under theoretically suitable and experimentally feasible assumptions/parameters. The dynamics of these impurities is treated within the framework of the quantum Brownian motion model, where the excitation modes of the BECs play the role of the heat bath. We address the dependence of heat current and current–current correlations on the physical parameters of the system. Interestingly, we show that heat rectification, i.e. the unidirectional flow of heat, can occur in our system, when a periodic driving on the trapping frequencies of the impurities is considered. Therefore, our system is a possible setup for the implementation of a phononic circuit. Motivated by recent developments on the usage of BECs as platforms for quantum information processing, our work offers an alternative possibility to use this versatile setting for information transfer and processing, within the context of phononics, and more generally in quantum thermodynamics.

In this manuscript we examine an accelerated charged particle moving through an optical medium, and explore the emission of accelerated-Cherenkov radiation. The particle's reaction to acceleration creates a low-frequency spectral cutoff in the Cherenkov emission that has a sharp resonance at the superluminal threshold. Moreover, the effect of recoil on the radiation is incorporated kinematically through the use of an Unruh-DeWitt detector by setting an energy gap, i.e. the change in electron energy, to the recoil energy of the emitted photon. The simultaneous presence of recoil and acceleration conspire to produce a localized resonance peak in the emission. These theoretical considerations could be used to construct high precision tests of radiation reaction using Cherenkov emission under acceleration.

We investigate the estimation technique called quantum state smoothing introduced in (Guevara and Wiseman 2015 Phys. Rev. Lett.115 180407), which offers a valid quantum state estimate for a partially monitored system, conditioned on the observed record both prior and posterior to an estimation time. The technique was shown to give a better estimate of the underlying true quantum states than the usual quantum filtering approach. However, the improvement in estimation fidelity, originally examined for a resonantly driven qubit coupled to two vacuum baths, was also shown to vary depending on the types of detection used for the qubit's fluorescence. In this work, we analyse this variation in a systematic way for the first time. We first define smoothing power using an average purity recovery and a relative average purity recovery, of smoothing over filtering. Then, we explore the power for various combinations of fluorescence detection for both observed and unobserved channels. We next propose a method to explain the variation of the smoothing power, based on multi-time correlation strength between fluorescence detection records. The method gives a prediction of smoothing power for different combinations, which is remarkably successful in comparison with numerically simulated qubit trajectories.

We present a novel method for engineering an optical clock transition that is robust against external field fluctuations and is able to overcome limits resulting from field inhomogeneities. The technique is based on the application of continuous driving fields to form a pair of dressed states essentially free of all relevant shifts. Specifically, the clock transition is robust to magnetic field shifts, quadrupole and other tensor shifts, and amplitude fluctuations of the driving fields. The scheme is applicable to either a single ion or an ensemble of ions, and is relevant for several types of ions, such as ${}^{40}{\mathrm{Ca}}^{+}$ , ${}^{88}{\mathrm{Sr}}^{+}$ , ${}^{138}{\mathrm{Ba}}^{+}$ and ${}^{176}{\mathrm{Lu}}^{+}$ . Taking a spherically symmetric Coulomb crystal formed by 400 ${}^{40}{\mathrm{Ca}}^{+}$ ions as an example, we show through numerical simulations that the inhomogeneous linewidth of tens of Hertz in such a crystal together with linear Zeeman shifts of order 10 MHz are reduced to form a linewidth of around 1 Hz. We estimate a two-order-of-magnitude reduction in averaging time compared to state-of-the art single ion frequency references, assuming a probe laser fractional instability of ${10}^{-15}$. Furthermore, a statistical uncertainty reaching 2.9 × 10⁻¹⁶ in 1 s is estimated for a cascaded clock scheme in which the dynamically decoupled Coulomb crystal clock stabilizes the interrogation laser for an ${}^{27}{\mathrm{Al}}^{+}$ clock.

The estimation of some parameters with super-Heisenberg (SH) sensitivity, i.e. beyond Heisenberg limit, is one of the principal problems for current quantum metrology. We propose to use Bose–Einstein condensate quantum bright solitons for this purpose. We have shown that solitons, as quantum nonlinear structured field objects, allow SH phase estimation even with coherent probes in the framework of a nonlinear metrology approach. To achieve ultimate scaling in nonlinear phase estimation, which is 1/N³, we examine soliton phase shift occurring due to interaction of weakly coupled 1D solitons. We have shown that steady states of coupled solitons can be used for the formation of maximally path-entangled N00N-state providing minimal propagation error of solitons' relative distance, momentum, and atom–atom scattering length parameter.

We present a scheme to entangle two magnon modes in a cavity magnomechanical system. The two magnon modes are embodied by collective motions of a large number of spins in two macroscopic ferrimagnets, and couple to a single microwave cavity mode via magnetic dipole interaction. We show that by activating the nonlinear magnetostrictive interaction in one ferrimagnet, realized by driving the magnon mode with a strong red-detuned microwave field, the two magnon modes can be prepared in an entangled state. The entanglement is achieved by exploiting the nonlinear magnon-phonon coupling and the linear magnon-cavity coupling, and is in the steady state and robust against temperature. The entangled magnon modes in two massive ferrimagnets represent genuinely macroscopic quantum states, and may find applications in the study of macroscopic quantum mechanics and quantum information processing based on magnonics.