We present a theoretical model to investigate double-core-hole-state formation in molecules through sequential absorption of two x-ray photons from a femtosecond laser pulse. A complete time-dependent quantum description taking into account x-ray absorption and nuclear dynamics explicitly and Auger decay phenomenologically is established within the local approximation. Using this model, we assess the impact of the nuclear dynamics on double-core photoionization processes in the case of the carbon monoxide molecule. We show that sequential absorption of two x-ray photons modifies significantly the vibrational distribution of the photoelectron spectra of the double-core-hole states compared to direct single x-ray photon absorption. Depending on the shape of the potential energy curves involved in the sequential absorption processes, lower or higher vibrational levels may be favored. Furthermore, in the case where the final state is dissociative, the electron spectrum is further broaden and blue-shifted in the two-photon process.

Decoherence of quantum systems due to uncontrolled fluctuations of the environment presents fundamental obstacles in quantum science. Clock transitions which are insensitive to such fluctuations are used to improve coherence, however, they are not present in all systems or for arbitrary system parameters. Here we create a trio of synthetic clock transitions using continuous dynamical decoupling in a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate in which we observe a reduction of sensitivity to magnetic-field noise of up to four orders of magnitude; this work complements the parallel work by Anderson et al. [R. P. Anderson et al., following paper, Phys. Rev. A 97, 013408 (2018)]. In addition, using a concatenated scheme, we demonstrate suppression of sensitivity to fluctuations in our control fields. These field-insensitive states represent an ideal foundation for the next generation of cold-atom experiments focused on fragile many-body phases relevant to quantum magnetism, artificial gauge fields, and topological matter.

We continuously observe dynamical decoupling in a spin-1 quantum gas using a weak optical measurement of spin precession. Continuous dynamical decoupling modifies the character and energy spectrum of spin states to render them insensitive to parasitic fluctuations. Continuous observation measures this new spectrum in a single preparation of the quantum gas. The measured time series contains seven tones, which spectrogram analysis parses as splittings, coherences, and coupling strengths between the decoupled states in real time. With this we locate a regime where a transition between two states is decoupled from magnetic-field instabilities up to fourth order, complementary to a parallel work at higher fields [D. Trypogeorgos et al., preceding paper, Phys. Rev. A 97, 013407 (2018)]. The decoupled microscale quantum gas offers magnetic sensitivity in a tunable band, persistent over many milliseconds: the length scales, frequencies, and durations relevant to many applications, including sensing biomagnetic phenomena such as neural spike trains.

It is a common view that rotational motion in a superfluid can exist only in the presence of topological defects, i.e., quantized vortices. However, in our numerical studies on the merging of two concentric Bose-Einstein condensates with axial symmetry in two-dimensional space, we observe the emergence of a spiral dark soliton when one condensate has a nonzero initial angular momentum. This spiral dark soliton enables the transfer of angular momentum between the condensates and allows the merged condensate to rotate even in the absence of quantized vortices. Our examination of the flow field around the soliton strikingly reveals that its sharp endpoint can induce flow like a vortex point but with a fraction of a quantized circulation. This interesting nontopological “phase defect” may generate broad interest since rotational motion is essential in many quantum transport processes.

We study the formation of stable bright solitons in quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) spin-orbit- (SO-) and Rabi-coupled two pseudospinor dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) of ${}^{164}\mathrm{Dy}$ atoms in the presence of repulsive contact interactions. As a result of the combined attraction-repulsion effect of both interactions and the addition of SO and Rabi couplings, two kinds of ground states in the form of self-trapped bright solitons can be formed, a plane-wave soliton (PWS) and a stripe soliton (SS). These quasi-1D solitons cannot exist in a condensate with purely repulsive contact interactions and SO and Rabi couplings (no dipole). Neglecting the repulsive contact interactions, our findings also show the possibility of creating PWSs and SSs. When the strengths of the two interactions are close to each other, the SS develops an oscillatory instability indicating a possibility of a breather solution, eventually leading to its destruction. We also obtain a phase diagram showing regions where the solution is a PWS or SS.

Ultracold gases offer an unprecedented opportunity to engineer disorder and interactions in a controlled manner. In an effort to understand the interplay between disorder, dipolar interactions, and quantum degeneracy, we study two-dimensional hard-core dipolar lattice bosons in the presence of on-site bound disorder. Our results are based on large-scale path-integral quantum Monte Carlo simulations by the worm algorithm. We study the ground-state phase diagram at a fixed half-integer filling factor for which the clean system is either a superfluid at a lower dipolar interaction strength or a checkerboard solid at a larger dipolar interaction strength. We find that, even for weak dipolar interactions, superfluidity is destroyed in favor of a Bose glass at a relatively low disorder strength. Interestingly, in the presence of disorder, superfluidity persists for values of the dipolar interaction strength for which the clean system is a checkerboard solid. At a fixed disorder strength, as the dipolar interaction is increased, superfluidity is destroyed in favor of a Bose glass. As the interaction is further increased, the system eventually develops extended checkerboard patterns in the density distribution. Due to the presence of disorder, though, grain boundaries and defects, responsible for a finite residual compressibility, are present in the density distribution. Finally, we study the robustness of the superfluid phase against thermal fluctuations.

We present the first experimental demonstration of a multiple radio-frequency dressed potential for the configurable magnetic confinement of ultracold atoms. We load cold ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms into a double-well potential with an adjustable barrier height, formed by three radio-frequencies applied to atoms in a static quadrupole magnetic field. Our multiple radio-frequency approach gives precise control over the double-well characteristics, including the depth of individual wells and the height of the barrier, and enables reliable transfer of atoms between the available trapping geometries. We characterize the multiple radio-frequency dressed system using radio-frequency spectroscopy, finding good agreement with the eigenvalues numerically calculated using Floquet theory. This method creates trapping potentials that can be reconfigured by changing the amplitudes, polarizations, and frequencies of the applied dressing fields and easily extended with additional dressing frequencies.

The domain-area distribution in the phase transition dynamics of $Z_2$ symmetry breaking is studied theoretically and numerically for segregating binary Bose-Einstein condensates in quasi-two-dimensional systems. Due to the dynamic-scaling law of the phase ordering kinetics, the domain-area distribution is described by a universal function of the domain area, rescaled by the mean distance between domain walls. The scaling theory for general coarsening dynamics in two dimensions hypothesizes that the distribution during the coarsening dynamics has a hierarchy with the two scaling regimes, the microscopic and macroscopic regimes with distinct power-law exponents. The power law in the macroscopic regime, where the domain size is larger than the mean distance, is universally represented with the Fisher's exponent of the percolation theory in two dimensions. On the other hand, the power-law exponent in the microscopic regime is sensitive to the microscopic dynamics of the system. This conjecture is confirmed by large-scale numerical simulations of the coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equation for binary condensates. In the numerical experiments of the superfluid system, the exponent in the microscopic regime anomalously reaches to its theoretical upper limit of the general scaling theory. The anomaly comes from the quantum-fluid effect in the presence of circular vortex sheets, described by the hydrodynamic approximation neglecting the fluid compressibility. It is also found that the distribution of superfluid circulation along vortex sheets obeys a dynamic-scaling law with different power-law exponents in the two regimes. An analogy to quantum turbulence on the hierarchy of vorticity distribution and the applicability to chiral superfluid ${}^3\mathrm{He}$ in a slab are also discussed.

Assuming that two-component Fermi gases with opposite artificial magnetic fields on a square optical lattice are well described by the so-called time-reversal-symmetric Hofstadter-Hubbard model, we explore the thermal superfluid properties along with the critical Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition temperature in this model over a wide range of its parameters. In particular, since our self-consistent BCS-BKT approach takes the multiband butterfly spectrum explicitly into account, it unveils how dramatically the interband contribution to the phase stiffness dominates the intraband one with an increasing interaction strength for any given magnetic flux.

We study theoretically the interaction of temporal localized states in all fiber cavities and microresonator-based optical frequency comb generators. We show that Cherenkov radiation emitted in the presence of third-order dispersion breaks the symmetry of the localized structures interaction and greatly enlarges their interaction range thus facilitating the experimental observation of the dissipative soliton bound states. Analytical derivation of the reduced equations governing slow time evolution of the positions of two interacting localized states in a generalized Lugiato-Lefever model with the third-order dispersion term is performed. Numerical solutions of the model equation are in close agreement with analytical predictions.

We illuminate an analytical model of soliton interactions in lead glass by analogizing to a gravitational force system. The orbits of spiraling solitons under a long-range interaction are given explicitly and demonstrated to follow Newton's second law of motion and the Binet equation by numerical simulations. The condition for circular orbits is obtained and the oscillating orbits are proved not to be closed. We prove the analogy between the nonlocal nonlinear optical system and gravitational system and specify the quantitative relation of the quantity between the two models.

Topological and strongly correlated materials are exciting frontiers in condensed-matter physics, married prominently in studies of the fractional quantum Hall effect [H. L. Stormer et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 71, S298 (1999)], There is an active effort to develop synthetic materials where the microscopic dynamics and ordering arising from the interplay of topology and interaction may be directly explored. In this work, we demonstrate an architecture for exploration of topological matter constructed from tunnel-coupled, time-reversal-broken microwave cavities that are both low loss and compatible with Josephson-junction-mediated interactions [A. Wallraff et al., Nature (London) 431, 162 (2004)]. Following our proposed protocol [B. M. Anderson et al., Phys. Rev. X 6, 041043 (2016)], we implement a square lattice Hofstadter model at a quarter flux per plaquette ($\alpha =1/4$), with time-reversal symmetry broken through the chiral Wannier orbital of resonators coupled to yttrium-iron-garnet spheres. We demonstrate site-resolved spectroscopy of the lattice, time-resolved dynamics of its edge channels, and a direct measurement of the dispersion of the edge channels. Finally, we demonstrate the flexibility of the approach by erecting a tunnel barrier and investigating dynamics across it. With the introduction of Josephson junctions to mediate interactions between photons, this platform is poised to explore strongly correlated topological quantum science in a synthetic system.

We give a derivation for the indirect interaction between two magnetic dipoles induced by the quantized electromagnetic field. It turns out that the interaction between permanent dipoles directly returns to the classical form; the interaction between transition dipoles does not directly return to the classical result, yet returns in the short-distance limit. In a finite volume, the field modes are highly discrete and both the permanent and transition dipole-dipole interactions are changed. For transition dipoles, the changing mechanism is similar with the Purcell effect, since only a few number of nearly resonant modes take effect in the interaction mediation; for permanent dipoles, the correction comes from the boundary effect: if the dipoles are placed close to the boundary, the influence is strong; otherwise, their interaction does not change too much from the free space case.

We propose a scheme to generate macroscopic superposition states (MSSs) in spin ensembles, where a coherent driving field is applied to accelerate the generation of macroscopic superposition states. The numerical calculation demonstrates that this approach allows us to generate a superposition of two classically distinct states of the spin ensemble with a high fidelity above 0.97 for 300 spins. For a larger spin ensemble, though the fidelity slightly declines, it maintains above 0.84 for an ensemble of 500 spins. The time to generate an MSS is also estimated, which shows that the significantly shortened generation time allows us to achieve such MSSs within a typical coherence time of the system.

We investigate the electric quadrupole interaction of an alkali-metal atom with guided light in the fundamental and higher-order modes of a vacuum-clad ultrathin optical fiber. We calculate the quadrupole Rabi frequency, the quadrupole oscillator strength, and their enhancement factors. In the example of a ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atom, we study the dependencies of the quadrupole Rabi frequency on the quantum numbers of the transition, the mode type, the phase circulation direction, the propagation direction, the orientation of the quantization axis, the position of the atom, and the fiber radius. We find that the root-mean-square (rms) quadrupole Rabi frequency reduces quickly but the quadrupole oscillator strength varies slowly with increasing radial distance. We show that the enhancement factors of the rms Rabi frequency and the oscillator strength do not depend on any characteristics of the internal atomic states except for the atomic transition frequency. The enhancement factor of the oscillator strength can be significant even when the atom is far away from the fiber. We show that, in the case where the atom is positioned on the fiber surface, the oscillator strength for the quasicircularly polarized fundamental mode ${\mathrm{HE}}_{11}$ has a local minimum at the fiber radius $a\simeq 107$ nm, and is larger than that for quasicircularly polarized higher-order hybrid modes, transverse electric modes, and transverse magnetic modes in the region $a<498.2$ nm.

We reveal a behavior of screwdriving of a surface plasmonic field formed near a surface of strongly chiral material, where lateral force and torque can be provided by the quantum spin Hall effect of light simultaneously. We study the role of chirality strength of the material in optical manipulating a particle with electric and magnetic dipole and demonstrate the effect of the size and chirality strength of the particle on manipulation. We hope these results may point out a unique routine to sort and separate chiral particles and biomolecules optically.

We present measurements of the hyperfine splitting in the ${}^{173}\mathrm{Yb} 6s6p{}^{1}P_{{}_1^{\mathrm{o}}}(F^{\prime }=3/2,7/2)$ states that disagree significantly with those measured previously by Das and Natarajan [Phys. Rev. A 76, 062505 (2007)]. We point out inconsistencies in their measurements and suggest that their error is due to optical pumping and improper determination of the atomic line center. Our measurements are made using an optical frequency comb. We use an optical pumping scheme to improve the signal-to-background ratio for the $F^{\prime }=3/2$ component.

Hyperentanglement—simultaneous entanglement between multiple degrees of freedom of two or more systems—has been used to enhance quantum information tasks such as quantum communication and photonic quantum computing. Here we show that hyperentanglement can lead to increased quantum advantage in metrology, with contributions from the entanglement in each degree of freedom, allowing for Heisenberg scaling in the precision of parameter estimation. Our experiment employs photon pairs entangled in polarization and spatial degrees of freedom to estimate a small tilt angle of a mirror. Precision limits beyond shot noise are saturated through a simple binary measurement of the polarization state. The dynamics considered here have broad applicability, implying that similar strategies based on hyperentanglement can offer improvement in a wide variety of physical scenarios and metrological tasks.