We present a theoretical study of ionization of the hydrogen atom due to an XUV pulse in the presence of an infrared (IR) laser with both fields linearly polarized in the same direction. In particular, we study the energy distribution of photoelectrons emitted perpendicularly to the polarization direction. As we previously showed in Gramajo et al. [Phys. Rev. A 94, 053404 (2016)] for parallel emission, by means of a very simple semiclassical model which considers electron trajectories born at different ionization times, the electron energy spectrum can be interpreted as the interplay of intra- and intercycle interferences. However, contrary to the case of parallel emission the intracycle interference pattern stems from the coherent superposition of four electron trajectories giving rise to (i) interference of electron trajectories born during the same half cycle (intra-half-cycle interference) and (ii) interference between electron trajectories born during the first half cycle with those born during the second half cycle (inter-half-cycle interference). The intercycle interference is responsible for the formation of the sidebands. We also show that the destructive inter-half-cycle interference for the absorption and emission of an even number of IR laser photons is responsible for the characteristic sidebands in the perpendicular direction separated by twice the IR photon energy. This contrasts with the emission along the polarization axis (all sideband orders are present) since intra-half-cycle interferences do not exist in that case. The intracycle interference pattern works as a modulation of the sidebands and, in the same way, it is modulated by the intra-half-cycle interference pattern. We analyze the dependence of the energy spectrum on the laser intensity and the time delay between the XUV pulse and the IR laser. Finally, we show that our semiclassical simulations are in very good agreement with quantum calculations within the strong-field approximation and the numerical solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation, giving rise to nonzero emission, in contraposition to other theories.

We investigate the time evolution of the entanglement entropy of coupled single-mode Bose-Einstein condensates in a double-well potential at $T=0$ temperature by combining numerical results with analytical approximations. We find that the coherent oscillations of the condensates result in entropy oscillations on the top of a linear entropy generation at short time scales. Due to dephasing, the entropy eventually saturates to a stationary value, in spite of the lack of equilibration. We show that this long-time limit of the entropy reflects the semiclassical dynamics of the system, revealing the self-trapping phase transition of the condensates at large interaction strength by a sudden entropy jump. We compare the stationary limit of the entropy to the prediction of a classical microcanonical ensemble and find surprisingly good agreement in spite of the nonequilibrium state of the system. Our predictions should be experimentally observable on a Bose-Einstein condensate in a double-well potential or on a two-component condensate with interstate coupling.

We model a sonic black-hole analog in a quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate, using a Gross-Pitaevskii equation matching the configuration of a recent experiment by Steinhauer [Nat. Phys. 10, 864 (2014)]. The model agrees well with important features of the experimental observations, demonstrating their hydrodynamic nature. We find that a zero-frequency bow wave is generated at the inner (white-hole) horizon, which grows in proportion to the square of the background condensate density. The relative motion of the black- and white-hole horizons produces a Doppler shift of the bow wave at the black hole, where it stimulates the emission of monochromatic Hawking radiation. The mechanism is confirmed using temporal and spatial windowed Fourier spectra of the condensate. Mean field behavior similar to that in the experiment can thus be fully explained without the presence of self-amplifying Hawking radiation.

We explore theoretically the nonequilibrium photonic phases of an array of coupled cavities in presence of incoherent driving and dissipation. In particular, we consider a Hubbard model system where each site is a Kerr nonlinear resonator coupled to a two-level emitter, which is pumped incoherently. Within a Gutzwiller mean-field approach, we determine the steady-state phase diagram of such a system. We find that, at a critical value of the intercavity photon hopping rate, a second-order nonequilibrium phase transition associated with the spontaneous breaking of the $\text{U}\left(1\right)$ symmetry occurs. The transition from an incompressible Mott-like photon fluid to a coherent delocalized phase is driven by commensurability effects and not by the competition between photon hopping and optical nonlinearity. The essence of the mean-field predictions is corroborated by finite-size simulations obtained with matrix product operators and corner-space renormalization methods.

We demonstrate a kind of aperiodic photonic structure realized using the interference of multiple Mathieu-Gauss beams. Depending on the beam configurations, their mutual distances, angles of rotation, or phase relations we are able to observe different classes of such aperiodic optically induced refractive index structures. Our experimental approach is based on the optical induction in a single parallel writing process.

Reflectionless potentials for classical or matter waves represent an important class of scatteringless systems encountered in different areas of physics. Here we mathematically demonstrate that there is a family of non-Hermitian potentials that, in contrast to their Hermitian counterparts, remain reflectionless even when deformed in space or time. These are the profiles that satisfy the spatial Kramers-Kronig relations. We start by considering scattering of matter waves for the Schrödinger equation with an external field, where a moving potential is observed in the Kramers-Henneberger reference frame. We then generalize this result to the case of electromagnetic waves, by considering a slab of reflectionless material that both is scaled and has its center displaced as an arbitrary function of position. We analytically and numerically demonstrate that the backscattering from these profiles remains zero, even for extreme deformations. Our results indicate the supremacy of non-Hermitian Kramers-Kronig potentials over reflectionless Hermitian potentials in keeping their reflectionless property under deformation and could find applications to, e.g., reflectionless optical coatings of highly deformed surfaces based on perfect absorption.

In Phys. Lett. A 166, 293 (1992), Popescu and Rohrlich characterized nonlocality of pure $n$-partite entangled systems by studying bipartite violation of local realism when $n-2$ number of parties perform projective measurements on their particles. A pertinent question in this scenario is whether similar characterization is possible for $n$-partite mixed entangled states also. In the present work we have followed an analogous approach so as to explore whether given a tripartite mixed entangled state the conditional bipartite states obtained by performing projective measurement on the third party demonstrate a weaker form of nonlocality, quantum steering. We also compare this phenomenon of conditional steering with existing notions of tripartite correlations.

We study the probabilistic (conditional) teleportation protocol when the entanglement needed for its implementation is given by thermal entanglement, i.e., when the entangled resource connecting Alice and Bob is an entangled mixed state described by the canonical ensemble density matrix. Specifically, the entangled resource we employ here is given by two interacting spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ systems (two qubits) in equilibrium with a thermal reservoir at temperature $T$. The interaction between the qubits is described by a Heisenberg-like Hamiltonian, encompassing the Ising, the $XX$, the $XY$, the $XXX$, and $XXZ$ models, with or without external fields. For all those models, we show analytically that the probabilistic protocol is exactly equal to the deterministic one whenever we have no external field. However, when we turn on the field, the probabilistic protocol outperforms the deterministic one in several interesting ways. Under certain scenarios, for example, the efficiency (average fidelity) of the probabilistic protocol is greater than the deterministic one and increases with increasing temperature, a counterintuitive behavior. We also show regimes in which the probabilistic protocol operates with relatively high success rates and, at the same time, with efficiency greater than the classical limit $2/3$, a threshold that cannot be surpassed by any protocol using only classical resources (no entanglement shared between Alice and Bob). The deterministic protocol's efficiency under the same conditions is below $2/3$, highlighting that the probabilistic protocol is the only one yielding a genuine quantum teleportation. We also show that near the quantum critical points for almost all those models the qualitative and quantitative behaviors of the efficiency change considerably, even at finite $T$.

Balanced gain and loss renders the mean-field description of Bose-Einstein condensates $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetric. However, any experimental realization has to deal with unbalancing in the gain and loss contributions breaking the $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry. We will show that such an asymmetry does not necessarily lead to a system without a stable mean-field ground state. Indeed, by exploiting the nonlinear properties of the condensate, a small asymmetry can stabilize the system even further due to a self-regulation of the particle number.

Quantum illumination (QI) is an entanglement-enhanced sensing system whose performance advantage over a comparable classical system survives its usage in an entanglement-breaking scenario plagued by loss and noise. In particular, QI's error-probability exponent for discriminating between equally likely hypotheses of target absence or presence is 6 dB higher than that of the optimum classical system using the same transmitted power. This performance advantage, however, presumes that the target return, when present, has known amplitude and phase, a situation that seldom occurs in light detection and ranging (lidar) applications. At lidar wavelengths, most target surfaces are sufficiently rough that their returns are speckled, i.e., they have Rayleigh-distributed amplitudes and uniformly distributed phases. QI's optical parametric amplifier receiver—which affords a 3 dB better-than-classical error-probability exponent for a return with known amplitude and phase—fails to offer any performance gain for Rayleigh-fading targets. We show that the sum-frequency generation receiver [Zhuang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 040801 (2017)]—whose error-probability exponent for a nonfading target achieves QI's full 6 dB advantage over optimum classical operation—outperforms the classical system for Rayleigh-fading targets. In this case, QI's advantage is subexponential: its error probability is lower than the classical system's by a factor of $1/ln(M\overline{\kappa }{N}_S/N_B)$, when $M\overline{\kappa }{N}_S/N_B\gg 1$, with $M\gg 1$ being the QI transmitter's time-bandwidth product, $N_S\ll 1$ its brightness, $\overline{\kappa }$ the target return's average intensity, and $N_B$ the background light's brightness.

We introduce a feature of no-signaling (Bell) nonlocal theories: namely, when a system of multiple parties manifests genuine nonlocal correlation, then there cannot be arbitrarily high nonlocal correlation among any subset of the parties. We call this feature complementarity of genuine multipartite nonlocality. We use Svetlichny's criterion for genuine multipartite nonlocality and nonlocal games to derive the complementarity relations under no-signaling constraints. We find that the complementarity relations are tightened for the much stricter quantum constraints. We compare this notion with the well-known notion of monogamy of nonlocality. As a consequence, we obtain tighter nontrivial monogamy relations that take into account genuine multipartite nonlocality. Furthermore, we provide numerical evidence showcasing this feature using a bipartite measure and several other well-known tripartite measures of nonlocality.

We introduce a simple yet versatile protocol to inverse engineer the time-dependent Hamiltonian in two- and three-level systems. In the protocol, by utilizing a universal SU(2) transformation, a given speedup goal can be obtained with large freedom to select the control parameters. As an illustration example, the protocol is applied to perform population transfer between nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. Numerical simulation shows that the speed of the present protocol is fast compared with that of the adiabatic process. Moreover, the protocol is also tolerant to decoherence and experimental parameter fluctuations. Therefore, the protocol may be useful for designing an experimental feasible Hamiltonian to engineer a quantum system.

Spontaneous avalanche to plasma splits the core of an ellipsoidal Rydberg gas of nitric oxide. Ambipolar expansion first quenches the electron temperature of this core plasma. Then, long-range, resonant charge transfer from ballistic ions to frozen Rydberg molecules in the wings of the ellipsoid quenches the ion-Rydberg-molecule relative velocity distribution. This sequence of steps gives rise to a remarkable mechanics of self-assembly, in which the kinetic energy of initially formed hot electrons and ions drives an observed separation of plasma volumes. These dynamics adiabatically sequester energy in a reservoir of mass transport, starting a process that anneals separating volumes to form an apparent glass of strongly coupled ions and electrons. Short-time electron spectroscopy provides experimental evidence for complete ionization. The long lifetime of this system, particularly its stability with respect to recombination and neutral dissociation, suggests that this transformation affords a robust state of arrested relaxation, far from thermal equilibrium.

We present a systematic treatment of higher-order modes of vacuum-clad ultrathin optical fibers. We show that, for a given fiber, the higher-order modes have larger penetration lengths, larger effective mode radii, and larger fractional powers outside the fiber than the fundamental mode. We calculate, both analytically and numerically, the Poynting vector, propagating power, energy, angular momentum, and helicity (or chirality) of the guided light. The axial and azimuthal components of the Poynting vector can be negative with respect to the direction of propagation and the direction of phase circulation, respectively, depending on the position, the mode type, and the fiber parameters. The orbital and spin parts of the Poynting vector may also have opposite signs in some regions of space. We show that the angular momentum per photon decreases with increasing fiber radius and increases with increasing azimuthal mode order. The orbital part of angular momentum of guided light depends not only on the phase gradient but also on the field polarization, and is positive with respect to the direction of the phase circulation axis. Meanwhile, depending on the mode type, the spin and surface parts of angular momentum and the helicity of the field can be negative with respect to the direction of the phase circulation axis.

The entanglement between photon pairs generated from the biexciton cascade transition in a semiconductor quantum dot located in the vicinity of a metal nanoparticle is theoretically investigated. In the model scheme, the biexciton-exciton and exciton–ground-state transitions are assumed to be coupled to two principal plasmon modes of orthogonal polarizations. For a broad spectral window, because the horizontal and vertical spectra overlap, the biexciton and exciton photons are degenerate in energy. This allows us to overcome the natural splitting between the intermediate exciton states. Moreover, the degree of entanglement depends on the geometrical parameters of the system, i.e., the radius of the metal nanoparticle and the distance between the quantum dot and the nanoparticle. The results reveal that such a hybrid system profoundly modifies the photon entanglement even in the absence of strong coupling between the emitter and the metal nanosphere.

A scheme is presented for the adiabatic transfer of average fluctuations in the phonon number between two membranes in an optical cavity. We show that by driving the cavity modes with external time-delayed pulses, one can obtain an effect analogous to stimulated Raman adiabatic passage in the atomic systems. The adiabatic transfer of fluctuations from one membrane to the other is attained through a “dark” mode, which is robust against decay of the mediating cavity mode. The results are supported with analytical and numerical calculations with experimentally feasible parameters.

We studied the second-order correlation function of computational ghost imaging, and we gave the expressions of second-order correlation function in the signal and background region. We found the total intensity of the modulated source influences the visibility of the reconstructed image. We discussed the positive-negative correlation phenomenon in a computational ghost imaging (CGI) system, and a protocol was given to distinguish the positive and negative correlations. This protocol allows us to determine the dividing line of positive and negative correlations before sampling, and it was verified by our simulations and experiments; the imaging quality of computational ghost imaging can be greatly improved by using this protocol.

Markovian master equations (formally known as quantum dynamical semigroups) can be used to describe the evolution of a quantum state $\rho$ when in contact with a memoryless thermal bath. This approach has had much success in describing the dynamics of real-life open quantum systems in the laboratory. Such dynamics increase the entropy of the state $\rho$ and the bath until both systems reach thermal equilibrium, at which point entropy production stops. Our main result is to show that the entropy production at time $t$ is bounded by the relative entropy between the original state and the state at time $2t$. The bound puts strong constraints on how quickly a state can thermalize, and we prove that the factor of 2 is tight. The proof makes use of a key physically relevant property of these dynamical semigroups, detailed balance, showing that this property is intimately connected with the field of recovery maps from quantum information theory. We envisage that the connections made here between the two fields will have further applications. We also use this connection to show that a similar relation can be derived when the fixed point is not thermal.

We study quantum many-body states of particles subject to a more general exchange symmetry than the behavior under pairwise exchange obeyed by bosons and fermions. We refer to these hypothetical particles as immanons because the scalar product of states with the generalized exchange symmetry is the immanant of the matrix containing all mutual scalar products of the occupied single-particle states, a generalization of the determinant and permanent applied for fermions and bosons. Immanons are shown to obey a partial Pauli principle that forbids the occupation of single-particle states above certain threshold numbers. This has measurable consequences for their tendency to favor or oppose multiple occupation of single-particle modes, and it links conjectured mathematical properties of immanants to the expected outcome of a physical Gedanken experiment.