Table of contents

The magnetic properties of a β-Mn-type alloy Co₇Zn₈Mn₅, which is a chiral magnet hosting skyrmion phase, are comprehensively investigated, exhibiting a ferromagnetic transition around 184 K and a spin freezing near 20 K. The generated Rhodes–Wolfarth ratio equals 1.10, which indicates a weak itinerant character of the ferromagnetism in Co₇Zn₈Mn₅. The spin dynamics of the spin freezing agrees with the universal scaling law of critical slowing down with τ₀ = 1.7 × 10⁻⁵ s, T_g = 20.2 K, and zν = 3.92. Critical exponents β = 0.423(1) and γ = 1.366(4) are deduced by the modified Arrott plot, whereas δ = 4.22(2) is obtained by a critical isotherm analysis. The validity of the deduced critical exponents is verified by the Widom scaling relation and the scaling hypothesis. The boundary between the first-order and the second-order phase transition is evaluated by a scaling analysis. The magnetic interaction, obtained by a renormalization group theory, decays with distance r as J(r) ≈ r^−4.9, lying between the mean-field model and the 3D Heisenberg model. The analyses on critical behavior could shed new light on the origin of ferromagnetism and topological Hall effect. Moreover, the magnetic entropy change −ΔS_M exhibits a maximal value around T_C, and the peak position gradually raises with an increasing fields, eliminating the mean-field model. The $-{\Delta}{S}_{\mathrm{M}}^{\mathrm{max}}\enspace$ features a power-law behavior with n > 2/3, excluding any universal standard models of ferromagnetism. The −ΔS_M(T, H) plots can be scaled into a universal curve, further verifying the reliability and accuracy of the yielded critical exponents.

We consider classical dynamics of a one-dimensional system of N particles bouncing on an oscillating mirror in the presence of gravitational field. The particles behave like hard balls and they are resonantly driven by the mirror. We identify the manifolds the particles move on and derive the effective secular Hamiltonian for resonant motion of the particles. Proper choice of time periodic oscillations of the mirror allows for engineering of the effective behaviour of the particles. In particular, the system can behave like an N-dimensional fictitious particle moving in an N-dimensional crystalline structure. Our classical analysis constitutes a basis for quantum research of novel time crystal phenomena in ultra-cold atoms bouncing on an oscillating atom mirror.

Nonlinear normal modes are periodic orbits that survive in nonlinear chains, whose instability plays a crucial role in the dynamics of many-body Hamiltonian systems toward thermalization. Here we focus on how the stability of nonlinear modes depends on the perturbation strength and the system size to observe whether they have the same behavior in different models. To this end, as illustrating examples, the instability dynamics of the N/2 mode in both the Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou-α and -β chains under fixed boundary conditions are studied systematically. Applying the Floquet theory, we show that for both models the stability time T as a function of the perturbation strength λ follows the same behavior; i.e., $T\propto {(\lambda -{\lambda }_{\mathrm{c}})}^{-\frac{1}{2}}$, where λ_c is the instability threshold. The dependence of λ_c on N is also obtained. The results of T and λ_c agree well with those obtained by the direct molecular dynamics simulations. Finally, the effect of instability dynamics on the thermalization properties of a system is briefly discussed.

Tunable slow light systems have gained much interests recently due to their efficient control of strong light–matter interactions as well as their huge potential for realizing tunable device applications. Here, a dynamically tunable polarization independent slow light system is experimentally demonstrated via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a terahertz (THz) metasurface constituted by plus and dimer-shaped resonators. Optical pump-power dependent THz transmissions through the metasurface samples are studied using the optical pump THz probe technique. Under various photoexcitations, the EIT spectra undergo significant modulations in terms of its resonance line shapes (amplitude and intensity contrast) leading to dynamic tailoring of the slow light characteristics. Group delay and delay bandwidth product values are modulated from 0.915 ps to 0.42 ps and 0.059 to 0.025 as the pump fluence increases from 0 to 62.5 nJ cm⁻². This results in tunable slow THz light with group velocities ranging from 2.18 × 10⁵ m s⁻¹ to 4.76 × 10⁵ m s⁻¹, almost 54% change in group velocity. The observed tuning is attributed to the photo-induced modifications of the optoelectronic properties of the substrate layer. The demonstrated slow light scheme can provide opportunities for realizing dynamically tunable slow light devices, delay lines, and other ultrafast devices for THz domain.

It is a central tenet of quantum mechanics that spatial resolution is limited by the wave nature of particles. Energies of stationary states reflect delocalized wave functions and cannot be ascribed to any single point. Yet, electrons confined in nanostructures become localized against the boundary by strong electric fields. Energies then reflect the local curvature of the nanostructure surface rather than entire volume. We propose using spectroscopy of Stark-localized states to map nanostructure surface curvature. By varying field direction, local curvatures are extracted from absorption spectra. Moreover, the required field strength is shown to be feasible experimentally. We use nanowires with elliptic cross section as a detailed benchmark providing quantitative error estimates and practical guide lines.

This study proposes a nanophotonic structure that supports quantum interference (QI) between orthogonal decay channels in multilevel quantum emitters within the framework of the quantum master equation. The Green functions of the electric field are obtained by applying boundary conditions in the presence of two-dimensional metasurfaces. We demonstrate distinct in-plane excitation features of the surface plasmon modes (SPMs) with the anisotropic metasurfaces tailored to conductivity components. In particular, we observed that the Purcell factor of transitions with orthogonal polarizations experiences unequal enhancements, owing to the anisotropic propagation of the SPMs. This property depends only on the anisotropy of the metasurfaces; thus, it is easily manipulated. Using this platform and considering experimentally achievable material parameters, we predict a strong interference effect in three-level quantum emitters. In principle, this enables the generation of maximum QI. Our study provides a method for realizing QI systems and has potential applications in highly integrated, tuneable quantum devices.

Self-propelled particulate systems manifest certain collective behavior of living matter, which have been the subject of intense research over the past decades. One of the elegant methods for realizing such active motions is by means of custom synthesized Janus particles suspended in a catalytic medium that can be triggered upon illumination by ultraviolet light. In this work, the evolution of the particle dynamics from passive diffusive to active ballistic behavior upon light illumination was probed by multispeckle x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS). This technique enables not only studying the emergence of active motions in three dimensions (3D) but also deciphering different contributions to the overall dynamics. Using a combination of homodyne and heterodyne analysis, the ensemble averaged mean velocity, velocity fluctuations and diffusion coefficient of particles were determined in the thermodynamic limit. Results revealed a gradual transition from diffusive to ballistic dynamics with systematic increase of the catalytic activity. At the intermediate region, the dynamics is dominated by Gaussian velocity fluctuations and an enhanced relaxation rate with a weaker wave vector dependence similar to superdiffusive behavior. For the highest activity, the dynamics became purely ballistic with Lorentzian-like distribution of velocity fluctuations. Presented results demonstrate that different aspects of active dynamics can be investigated in 3D over a broad range of Péclet numbers and other control parameters by means of multispeckle XPCS.

Resistivity, ρ(T), and magnetoresistance (MR) are investigated in the Cu₂Zn_1−xCd_xSnS₄ single crystals for compositions x ≡ Cd/(Zn + Cd) = 0.15–0.24, in the temperature range of T ∼ 50–300 K in pulsed magnetic fields of B up to 20 T. The Mott variable-range hopping (VRH) conductivity is established within wide temperature intervals lying inside ΔT_M ∼ 60–190 K for different x. The deviations from the VRH conduction, observable above and below ΔT_M, are connected to the nearest-neighbor hopping regime and to the activation on the mobility threshold of the acceptor band (AB) with width W ≈ 16–46 meV. The joint analysis of ρ(T) and positive MR permitted determination of other important electronic parameters. These include the localization radius, α ≈ 19–30 Å, the density of the localized states, g(μ) ≈ (1.6–21) × 10¹⁷ meV⁻¹ cm⁻³ at the Fermi level μ, and the acceptor concentration, N_A ∼ (6–8) × 10¹⁹ cm⁻³, for various x and in conditions of different vicinity of the investigated samples to the metal–insulator transition. In addition, details of the AB structure, including positions of μ and of the mobility threshold, E_c, are found depending on the alloy composition.

Based on an exact formulation, we present a master equation approach to transport through Majorana zero modes (MZMs). Within the master equation treatment, the occupation dynamics of the regular fermion associated with the MZMs holds a quite different picture from the Bogoliubov–de Gennes (BdG) S-matrix scattering process, in which the 'positive' and 'negative' energy states are employed, while the master equation treatment does not involve them at all. Via careful analysis for the structure of the rates and the rate processes governed by the master equation, we reveal the intrinsic connection between both approaches. This connection enables us to better understand the confusing issue of teleportation when the Majorana coupling vanishes. We illustrate the behaviors of transient rates, occupation dynamics and currents. Through the bias voltage dependence, we also show the Markovian condition for the rates, which can extremely simplify the applications in practice. As future perspective, the master equation approach developed in this work can be applied to study important time-dependent phenomena such as photon-assisted tunneling through the MZMs and modulation effect of the Majorana coupling energy.

Soft smooth particles in silo discharge show peculiar characteristics, including, for example, non-permanent clogging and intermittent flow. This paper describes a study of soft, low-frictional hydrogel spheres in a quasi-2D silo. We enforce a more competitive behavior of these spheres during their discharge by placing an obstacle in front of the outlet of the silo. High-speed optical imaging is used to capture the process of discharge. All particles in the field of view are identified and tracked by means of machine learning software using a mask region-based convolutional neural network algorithm. With particle tracking velocimetry, the fields of velocity, egress time, packing fraction, and kinetic stress are analyzed in this study. In pedestrian dynamics, it is known that the placement of an obstacle in front of a narrow gate may reduce the stress near the exit and enable a more efficient egress. The effect is opposite for our soft grains. Placing an obstacle above the orifice always led to a reduction of the flow rates, in some cases even to increased clogging probabilities.

Strong nonlinear interactions between single photons have important applications in optical quantum information processing. Demonstrations of these interactions in cold atomic ensembles have largely been limited to exploiting slow light generated using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). However, these EIT implementations have limited achievable phase shifts due to spontaneous emission. Here, we demonstrate and characterize a scheme free from these limitations using gradient echo memory with inferred single photon phase shifts of 0.07 ± 0.02 μrad. Excellent agreement with theoretical modelling was observed. Degradation of memory efficiency was observed for large phase shifts but strategies to overcome that are presented.

We introduce CircuitQ, an open-source toolbox for the analysis of superconducting circuits implemented in Python. It features the automated construction of a symbolic Hamiltonian of the input circuit and a dynamic numerical representation of the Hamiltonian with a variable basis choice. The software implementation is capable of choosing the basis in a fully automated fashion based on the potential energy landscape. Additional features include the estimation of the T₁ lifetimes of the circuit states under various noise mechanisms. We review previously established circuit quantization methods and formulate them in a way that facilitates the software implementation. The toolbox is then showcased by applying it to practically relevant qubit circuits and comparing it to specialized circuit solvers. Our circuit quantization is applicable to circuit inputs from a large design space, and the software is open-sourced. We thereby add an important resource for the design of new quantum circuits for quantum information processing applications.

We study interacting active Brownian particles (ABPs) with a space-dependent swim velocity via simulation and theory. We find that, although an equation of state exists, a mechanical equilibrium does not apply to ABPs in activity landscapes. The pressure imbalance originates in the flux of polar order and the gradient of swim velocity across the interface between regions of different activity. An active–passive patch system is mainly controlled by the smallest global density for which the passive patch can be close packed. Below this density a critical point does not exist and the system splits continuously into a dense passive and a dilute active phase with increasing activity. Above this density and for sufficiently high activity the active phase may start to phase separate into a gas and a liquid phase caused by the same mechanism as motility-induced phase separation of ABPs with a homogeneous swim velocity.

Metalens with broadband and high-efficiency focusing functionality is desired in various underwater acoustic applications such as sonar and oceanography. Here we design and demonstrate a metagrating-based lens consisting of spatially sparse and wavelength-scale meta-atoms with optimized structures. With the help of grating diffraction analysis and intelligent optimization algorithm, the reflective metalens enables broadband and high-numerical-aperture focusing for waterborne sound over a 40 kHz-bandwidth for working frequency at 200 kHz. Full-wave numerical simulations unambiguously verify a sharp and high-efficiency focusing of sound wave intensity, with the full width at half maximum at the focal spot being smaller than 0.5λ and thus beating the Rayleigh–Abbe diffraction limit. Our work not only provides an intelligent design paradigm of high-performance metalens, but also presents a potential solution for the development of planar acoustic devices for high-resolution applications.

We propose an optical-acoustic means to excite broadband terahertz antiferromagnetic (AFM) spin wave in a metal/insulator/antiferromagnet heterostructure. The AFM spin wave is excited by an ultrafast strain wave triggered by a femtosecond pulsed laser based on photoacoustic conversion. This spin wave comprises an AFM exchange spin wave and a magnetoelastic spin wave. Their dispersion curves are overlapped in a wide frequency range by manipulating the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction, which is accompanied by lifting the degeneration of the spin-wave modes with opposite chirality. This optical-acoustic excitation of spin waves exploits the laser-induced ultrafast strain waves and avoids the thermal effect from the laser. It paves a way to develop novel AFM devices that can apply for ultrafast information processing and communication.

Given a communication system using quantum key distribution (QKD), the receiver can be seen as one who tries to guess the sender's information just as potential eavesdroppers do. The receiver-eavesdropper similarity thus implies a simple relation in terms of guessing probability and correctness of sifted keys, related with the distance-based, information-theoretic security. The tolerable regions of error rates determined by such a guessing-probability-based relation are shown to be close to those determined by security criteria. Thus, an alternative perspective on applying guessing probability in analyzing QKD issues is here provided. Examples of two specific protocols are illustrated. Our results contribute to evaluating an important element in communication study, and may provide useful reference for the security analysis of QKD protocols.

Simulating quantum systems is believed to be one of the first applications for which quantum computers may demonstrate a useful advantage. For many problems in physics, we are interested in studying the evolution of the electron–phonon Hamiltonian, for which efficient digital quantum computing schemes exist. Yet to date, no accurate simulation of this system has been produced on real quantum hardware. In this work, we consider the absolute resource cost for gate-based quantum simulation of small electron–phonon systems as dictated by the number of Trotter steps and bosonic energy levels necessary for the convergence of dynamics. We then apply these findings to perform experiments on IBM quantum hardware for both weak and strong electron–phonon coupling. Despite significant device noise, through the use of approximate circuit recompilation we obtain electron–phonon dynamics on current quantum computers comparable to exact diagonalisation. Our results represent a significant step in utilising near term quantum computers for simulation of quantum dynamics and highlight the novelty of approximate circuit recompilation as a tool for reducing noise.

We study orbital diamagnetism at zero temperature in (2 + 1)-dimensional Dirac fermions with a short-range interaction which exhibits a quantum phase transition to a charge density wave (CDW) phase. We introduce orbital magnetic fields into spinless Dirac fermions on the π-flux square lattice, and analyze them by using infinite density matrix renormalization group. It is found that the diamagnetism remains intact in the Dirac semimetal regime, while it is monotonically suppressed in the CDW regime. Around the quantum critical point of the CDW phase transition, we find a scaling behavior of the diamagnetism characteristic of the chiral Ising universality class. Besides, the scaling analysis implies that the robust orbital diamagnetism at weak magnetic fields in a Dirac semimetal regime would hold not only in our model but also in other interacting Dirac fermion systems as long as scaling regions are wide enough. The scaling behavior may also be regarded as a quantum, magnetic analogue of the critical Casimir effect which has been widely studied for classical phase transitions.

The angular distributions of the photoelectrons in ionization of hydrogen atom by both circularly and linearly polarized intense extreme ultraviolet (XUV) attosecond pulse are investigated by numerically solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. We clearly identify nonperturbative features in studying the asymmetrical photoelectron angular distributions in the polarization plane for the XUV photon energy (16.3 eV) close to the ionization threshold, while such nonperturbative features are absent for higher photon energy (36 eV) in the same pulse intensity region. In addition to the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) dependence, the ejection asymmetry of the photoelectron is also sensitive to the relative phases of transition amplitudes in absorbing one photon and two photons. As a consequence, the CEPs corresponding to the maximal (or zero) asymmetry obviously vary as the pulse intensity increases in a moderately large region from 1 × 10¹⁵ W cm⁻² to 30 × 10¹⁵ W cm⁻². We attribute the intensity dependence of the transition amplitude phases to a consequence of the depletion of population as well as the Stark energy shift of the initial state. We show that the relative phases of transition amplitudes can be precisely decoded from the pulse intensity dependence of the ejection asymmetry and those phases are insensitive to the ellipticity of the laser pulse.

In crowded systems, particle currents can be mediated by propagating collective excitations which are generated as rare events, are localized, and have a finite lifetime. The theoretical description of such excitations is hampered by the problem of identifying complex many-particle transition states, calculation of their free energies, and the evaluation of propagation mechanisms and velocities. Here we show that these problems can be tackled for a highly jammed system of hard spheres in a periodic potential. We derive generation rates of collective excitations, their anomalously high velocities, and explain the occurrence of an apparent jamming transition and its strong dependence on the system size. The particle currents follow a scaling behavior, where for small systems the current is proportional to the generation rate and for large systems given by the geometric mean of the generation rate and velocity. Our theoretical approach is widely applicable to dense nonequilibrium systems in confined geometries. It provides new perspectives for studying dynamics of collective excitations in experiments.

We studied the effects of multiband electronic structure on the thermoelectric and electrical transport properties in the normal state of kagome superconductors AV₃Sb₅ (A = K, Rb, Cs). In all three members, the multiband nature is manifested by sign changes in the temperature dependence of the Seebeck and Hall resistivity, together with sublinear response of the isothermal Nernst and Hall effects to external magnetic fields in the charge ordered state. Moreover, ambipolar transport effects appear ubiquitously in all three systems, giving rise to sizable Nernst signal. Finally, possible origins of the sign reversal in the temperature dependence of the Hall effect are discussed.

We report the quantum correlated triple beams via cascaded four-wave mixing (CFWM) amplified in single hot atomic vapor. Experimentally, we show that strong quantum correlation of three light beams, among them any two's quantum correlation is characterized by the maximum value of intensity-difference squeezing (IDS) about −7.8 ± 0.3 dB. We found there is IDS between two idler beams, because two pairs of Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen injections potentially exist in our system. Besides, CFWM can emit three-mode beams at three different frequencies, in which these beams can be well separated in the spatial domain. Moreover, much difference with other methods, the injecting probe field can manipulate the gain and IDS of output three-mode light beams, which is resulting from competition relationship between cascaded two four-wave mixing processes. More interestingly, Autler–Townes splitting of gain peaks of output signals due to dressing effect of pumping fields, will lead to the evolution of measured two- and three-mode IDS from single-mode to multi-mode at frequency domain. This result will provide a multimode quantum resource which can potentially realize multimode entanglement and quantum networks.

We study the role of stimulated Brillouin scattering in a fiber cavity by numerical simulations and a simple theoretical model and find good agreement between experiment, simulation and theory. We also investigate an optomechanical system based on a fiber cavity in the presence of the nonlinear Brillouin scattering. Using simulation and theory, we show that this hybrid optomechanical system increases optomechanical damping for low mechanical resonance frequencies in the unresolved sideband regime. Furthermore, optimal damping occurs for blue detuning in stark contrast to standard optomechanics. We investigate whether this hybrid optomechanical system is capable of cooling a mechanical oscillator to the quantum ground state.

The zigzag graphene nanoribbon (ZR) is characterized by the distinct pseudoparity combined with valley-selection rule, which could feature exotic transport phenomena, especially in ZR-based superconducting spintronic devices. However, the ZR with superconductivity induced by proximity of a bulk superconductor (SC) on it still keeps original band properties. Herein, we present a superconducting heterostructure with an SC directly coupling to two ZRs, which is characteristic of pseudoparity-mixing, resulting in pseudoparity nonconservation elastic cotunneling (EC) and crossed Andreev reflection (CAR) processes. It is shown that the mixing leads to the switch effect of the EC and CAR processes manipulated by the SC length, particularly the full spin polarization. In the context of only one magnetized ZR lead, a novel bipolar spin diode behavior on a scale of small SC length and unipolar spin entanglement pairing at some large SC lengths, are both exhibited on a large scale of forward and/or reverse bias voltages. More importantly, the spin-diode can be combined with the quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulator to provide smoking gun evidence for the helical spin texture of the (QSH) insulator, which is still lacking.

We investigate the effects of the sign of the Rashba spin–orbit coupling (RSOC) on electron transmission through a single-channel nanowire (NW) in the quantum coherent regime. We show that, while for a finite length NW with homogeneous RSOC contacted to two electrodes the sign of its RSOC does not affect electron transport, the situation can be quite different in the presence of an inhomogeneous RSOC and a magnetic field applied along the NW axis. By analyzing transport across an interface between two regions of different RSOC we find that, if the two regions have equal RSOC signs, the transmission within the magnetic gap energy range is almost perfect, regardless of the ratio of the spin–orbit energies to the Zeeman energy. In contrast, when the two regions have opposite RSOC signs and are Rashba-dominated, the transmission gets suppressed. Furthermore, we discuss the implementation on a realistic NW setup where two RSOC regions are realized with suitably coupled gates separated by a finite distance. We find that the low-temperature NW conductance exhibits a crossover from a short distance behavior that strongly depends on the relative RSOC sign of the two regions to a large distance oscillatory behavior that is independent of such relative sign. We are thus able to identify the conditions where the NW conductance mainly depends on the sign of the RSOC and the ones where only the RSOC magnitude matters.

Recent observation of diminishing superfluid phase stiffness upon increasing carrier density in cuprate high-temperature superconductors is unexpected from the quantum density-phase conjugation of superfluidity. Here, through analytic estimation and verified via variational Monte Carlo calculation of an emergent Bose liquid, we point out that Mottness of the underlying carriers can cause a stronger phase fluctuation of the superfluid with increasing carrier density. This effect turns the expected density-increased phase stiffness into a dome shape, in good agreement with the recent observation. Specifically, the effective mass divergence due to 'jamming' of the low-energy bosons reproduces the observed nonlinear relation between phase stiffness and transition temperature. Our results suggest a new paradigm, in which unconventional superconductivity in some strongly correlated materials is described by physics of bosonic superfluidity, as opposed to pairing-strength limited Cooper pairing.

Starting from a quantum description of multiple Λ-type three-level atoms driven with a coherent microwave field and incoherent optical pumping, we derive a microscopic model of lasing from which we move towards a consistent macroscopic picture. Our analysis applies across the range of system sizes from nanolasers to the thermodynamic limit of conventional lasing. We explore the necessary conditions to achieve lasing without inversion in certain regimes by calculating the non-equilibrium steady state solutions of the model at, and between, its microscopic and macroscopic limits. For the macroscopic picture, we use mean-field theory to present a thorough analysis of the lasing phase transition. In the microscopic case, we exploit the underlying permutation symmetry of the density matrix to calculate exact solutions for N three-level systems. This allows us to show that the steady state solutions approach the thermodynamic limit as N increases, restoring the sharp non-equilibrium phase transition in this limit. We demonstrate how the lasing phase transition and degree of population inversion can be adjusted by simply varying the phase of the coherent driving field. The high level of quantum control presented by this microscopic model and the framework outlined here have applications to further understanding and developing nanophotonic technology.

Optically trapped laser-cooled polar molecules hold promise for new science and technology in quantum information and quantum simulation. Large numerical aperture optical access and long trap lifetimes are needed for many studies, but these requirements are challenging to achieve in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) vacuum chamber that is connected to a cryogenic buffer gas beam source, as is the case for all molecule laser cooling experiments so far. Long distance transport of molecules greatly eases fulfilling these requirements as molecules are placed into a region separate from the MOT chamber. We realize a fast transport method for ultracold molecules based on an electronically focus-tunable lens combined with an optical lattice. The high transport speed is achieved by the 1D red-detuned optical lattice, which is generated by interference of a focus-tunable laser beam and a focus-fixed laser beam. Efficiency of 48(8)% is realized in the transport of ultracold calcium monofluoride (CaF) molecules over 46 cm distance in 50 ms, with a moderate heating from 32(2) μK to 53(4) μK. Positional stability of the molecular cloud allows for stable loading of an optical tweezer array with single molecules.

The topological phases with time-reversal symmetry (TRS) breaking have always attracted intense studies due to their potential applications to spintronics. The previous studies mainly focused on the exploration of quantum anomalous Hall effects, but another typical TRS-broken two-dimensional topological phase, i.e., the TRS-broken quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect, has rarely been proposed in realistic materials. Here, based on first-principles calculations and topology analysis, we show that the van der Waals heterostructure ZrTe₅/Cr₂Ge₂Te₆ can realize the robust TRS-broken QSH state. We utilize the topological edge states and spin Hall conductance, which can be measured in experiments directly, to confirm the appearance of TRS-broken QSH phase. Moreover, we uncover that the built-in electric field is essential to realize such topological state and an external electric field can effectively tune the nontrivial band gap. Our findings not only provide a reliable candidate to obtain the TRS-broken QSH phase with a high tunability but also can facilitate further applications to topological quantum transport.

By numerically solving the non-Born–Oppenheimer time-dependent Schrödinger equation of H₂ exposed to an isolated EUV laser pulse, we demonstrate the photoionization associated with the 2sσ_g and 3pσ_u dissociative states of ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}^{+}$. The two asymptotically degenerate pathways with opposite parities may interfere and end up with the same kinetic energy release, resulting in the asymmetric electron localization on two nuclei. Due to dipole selection rule, the emitted photoelectron has the opposite parity with the associated ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}^{+}$, and thus is also on the coherent superposition of states with odd and even parities, leading to the asymmetric directional emission of the photoelectron. The asymmetry is fundamentally determined by the phase difference of the 2sσ_g and 3pσ_u dissociation channels.

We investigate the stochastic behavior of the single-trajectory spectral density $S(\omega ,\mathcal{T})$ of several Gaussian stochastic processes, i.e., Brownian motion, the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process, the Brownian gyrator model and fractional Brownian motion, as a function of the frequency ω and the observation time $\mathcal{T}$. We evaluate in particular the variance and the frequency–frequency correlation of $S(\omega ,\mathcal{T})$ for different values of ω. We show that these properties exhibit different behaviors for different physical cases and can therefore be used as a sensitive probe discriminating between different kinds of random motion. These results may prove quite useful in the analysis of experimental and numerical data.

Modeling the α–γ isostructural phase transition of cerium (Ce) within the framework of density functional theory is challenging because the 4f electron in Ce is difficult to characterize. The use of a fraction of exact exchange in the hybrid functional (2012 Phys. Rev. Lett.109 146402) predicts the existence of the α and γ phases but their relative energy is inconsistent with the experiments. In fact, the role of exact exchange in affecting properties of the α and γ phases has not been well investigated. In this regard, we choose a variable amount of exact exchange (0.05–0.4) and systematically explore the properties of the α and γ phases of Ce including cohesive energies, lattice constants, bulk moduli, magnetic moments, and 4f electron numbers. Notably, a small portion of exact exchange close to 0.1 yields an accurate description of these properties, in particular the predicted relative energy between the α and γ phases agrees with the experiment. We further analyze the density of states, partial density of states, band structures and electron densities of the two phases. We observe that the exact exchange substantially affects the γ phase by localizing the 4f electrons, while it tends to delocalize the electrons in the α phase. Our work provides deep insights into the structural and electronic properties of the α and γ phases of Ce by elucidating the role of exact exchange in hybrid functional calculations.

We propose the quaternary-compounds CsNb₃SBr₇ is a nodal-straight-line semimetal candidate based on the first-principles calculations and symmetry analyses. There are a pair of nodal straight lines locate in the k_z = 0 plane of Brillouin zone, which is protected by the crystal symmetry. The topological properties of nodal-straight-line state are characterized by the nontrivial Berry phase and Berry curvature. On the (001) surface of CsNb₃SBr₇, Fermi arcs form the belt-like surface state, connecting the nodal straight lines with opposite chirality. Furthermore, the Hofstadter's butterfly and optical conductivity are investigated using a slab sample. These results not only reveal the symmetric protection mechanism of nodal straight lines, but also pave a way for exploring the electronic and optical properties of CsNb₃SBr₇ in further condensed matter physics experiments.

The influence of gravitational field on entanglement of bipartite states is investigated based on the recent idea of superposition states of gravitational field. Different from earlier considerations, we study the case where the gravitational field cannot be separated unitarily from the bipartite system in the final stage of the interaction. When the different gravitational field states are orthogonal, entanglement cannot be generated for an initial product state. If the different gravitational field states are non-orthogonal, entanglement can be generated and the amount of generated entanglement depends on an overlap parameter between different gravitational field states. The influence of gravitational field on the transfer of the state through quantum teleportation is also studied, which might lead to an observable effect since the quantum teleportation can be performed using macroscopic object.

Non-Hermitian systems with exceptional points lead to many intriguing phenomena due to the coalescence of both eigenvalues and corresponding eigenvectors, in comparison to Hermitian systems where only eigenvalues degenerate. In this paper, we propose an alternative and accurate proposal based on the entropy uncertainty relation (EUR) to detect the exceptional points and identify different phases of the non-Hermitian systems. In particular, we reveal a general connection between the EUR and the exceptional points of non-Hermitian system. Compared to the unitary Hermitian dynamics, the behaviors of EUR in the non-Hermitian system are well defined into two different ways depending on whether the system is located in unbroken or broken phase regimes. In the unbroken phase regime where EUR undergoes an oscillatory behavior, while in the broken phase regime where the oscillation of EUR breaks down. Moreover, we identify the critical phenomena of non-Hermitian systems in terms of the EUR in the dynamical limit. It is found that the EUR can detect exactly the critical points of non-Hermitian systems beyond (anti-)PT symmetric systems. Finally, we comment on the prospective experimental situation.

We consider recently introduced self-focusing fields that carry orbital angular momentum (OAM) [2021 Opt. Lett.46 2384–87] and in particular, their propagation properties through a turbulent ocean. We show that this type of field is especially robust against turbulence induced degradation, when compared to a completely coherent beam. In moderately strong oceanic turbulence, the self-focusing OAM beam features over five orders of magnitude higher peak intensities at the receiver plane, an ∼80% detection probability for the signal mode, as well as an energy transmission efficiency in excess of 70% over a link of ∼100 m. Counter-intuitively, the focusing properties of such fields may be enhanced with increasing turbulence, causing the mean squared waist to become smaller with greater turbulence strength. Our results demonstrate that certain types of partial coherence may be highly desirable for optical telecommunication employing OAM.

We design new navigation strategies for travel time optimization of microscopic self-propelled particles in complex and noisy environments. In contrast to strategies relying on the results of optimal control theory or machine learning approaches, implementation of these protocols can be done in a semi-autonomous fashion, as it does not require control over the microswimmer motion via external feedback loops. Although the strategies we propose rely on simple principles, they show arrival time statistics strikingly close to optimality, as well as performances that are robust to environmental changes and strong fluctuations. These features, as well as their applicability to more general optimization problems, make these strategies promising candidates for the realization of optimized semi-autonomous navigation.

The ability to know and verifiably demonstrate the origins of messages can often be as important as encrypting the message itself. Here we present an experimental demonstration of an unconditionally secure digital signature (USS) protocol implemented for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, on a fully connected quantum network without trusted nodes. We choose a USS protocol which is secure against forging, repudiation and messages are transferrable. We show the feasibility of unconditionally secure signatures using only bi-partite entangled states distributed throughout the network and experimentally evaluate the performance of the protocol in real world scenarios with varying message lengths.

We consider a moving target and an active pursing agent, modeled as an intelligent active Brownian particle capable of sensing the instantaneous target location and adjusting its direction of motion accordingly. An analytical and simulation study in two spatial dimensions reveals that pursuit performance depends on the interplay between self-propulsion, active reorientation, limited maneuverability, and random noise. Noise is found to have two opposing effects: (i) it is necessary to disturb regular, quasi-elliptical orbits around the target, and (ii) slows down pursuit by increasing the traveled distance of the pursuer. For a stationary target, we predict a universal scaling behavior of the mean pursuer–target distance and of the mean first-passage time as a function of Pe²/Ω, where the Péclet number Pe characterizes the activity and Ω the maneuverability. Importantly, the scaling variable Pe²/Ω depends implicitly on the level of thermal or active noise. A similar behavior is found for a moving target, but modified by the velocity ratio α = u₀/v₀ of target and pursuer velocities u₀ and v₀, respectively. We also propose a strategy to sort active pursuers according to their motility by circular target trajectories.

We report the observation of the controlled expansion of a two-dimensional (2D) quantum gas confined onto a curved shell-shaped surface. We start from the ellipsoidal geometry of a dressed quadrupole trap and introduce a novel gravity compensation mechanism enabling to explore the full ellipsoid. The zero-point energy of the transverse confinement manifests itself by the spontaneous emergence of an annular shape in the atomic distribution. The experimental results are compared with the solution of the three-dimensional Gross–Pitaevskii equation and with a 2D semi-analytical model. This work evidences how a hidden dimension can affect dramatically the embedded low-dimensional system by inducing a change of topology.

Supersymmetry allows one to build a hierarchy of Hamiltonians that share the same spectral properties and which are pairwise connected through common super-potentials. The iso-spectral properties of these Hamiltonians imply that the dynamics and therefore control of different eigenstates are connected through supersymmetric intertwining relations. In this work we explore how this enables one to study general dynamics, shortcuts to adiabaticity and quantum speed limits for distinct states of different supersymmetric partner potentials by using the infinite box as an example.

High-dimensional entanglement is significant for the fundamental studies of quantum physics and offers unique advantages in various quantum information processing tasks. Integrated quantum devices have recently emerged as a promising platform for creating, processing, and detecting complex high-dimensional entangled states. A crucial step toward practical quantum technologies is to verify that these devices work reliably with an optimal strategy. In this work, we experimentally implement an optimal quantum verification strategy on a three-dimensional maximally entangled state using local projective measurements on a silicon photonic chip. A 95% confidence is achieved from 1190 copies to verify the target quantum state. The obtained scaling of infidelity as a function of the number of copies is −0.5497 ± 0.0002, exceeding the standard quantum limit of −0.5 with 248 standard deviations. Our results indicate that quantum state verification could serve as an efficient tool for complex quantum measurement tasks.

Hybrid photonic structures of plasmonic metasurfaces coupled to atomically thin semiconductors have emerged as a versatile platform for strong light–matter interaction, supporting both strong coupling and parametric nonlinearities. However, designing optimized nonlinear hybrid metasurfaces is a complex task, as the multiple parameters' contribution to the nonlinear response is elusive. Here we present a simple yet powerful strategy for maximizing the nonlinear response of the hybrid structures based on evolutionary inverse design of the metasurface's near-field enhancement around the excitonic frequency. We show that the strong coupling greatly enhances the nonlinear signal, and that its magnitude is mainly determined by the Rabi splitting, making it robust to geometrical variations of the metasurface. Furthermore, the large Rabi splitting attained by these hybrid structures enables broadband operation over the frequencies of the hybridized modes. Our results constitute a significant step toward achieving flexible nonlinear control, which can benefit applications in nonlinear frequency conversion, all-optical switching, and phase-controlled nonlinear metasurfaces.

We investigate the speed limit of the state transformation in open quantum systems described by the Lindblad type quantum master equation. We obtain universal bounds of the total entropy production described by the trace distance between the initial and final states in the interaction picture. Our bounds can be tighter than the bound of Vu and Hasegawa (2021 Phys. Rev. Lett.126 010601) which measures the distance by the eigenvalues of the initial and final states: this distance is less than or equal to the trace distance. For this reason, our results can significantly improve Vu–Hasegawa's bound. The trace distance in the Schrödinger picture is bounded by a sum of the trace distance in the interaction picture and the trace distance for unitary dynamics described by only the Hamiltonian in the quantum master equation.

Recently Dragan and Ekert (2020 New. J. Phys. 22 033038) presented arguments that probabilistic dynamics inherent in the realm of quantum physics is related to the propagation of superluminal particles. Moreover they argue that existence of such particles is a natural consequence of the principle of relativity. We show that the proposed extension of the Lorentz transformation can be interpreted in a natural way without invoking superluminal phenomena.