We study the performance of a single qubit laser as a quantum sensor to measure the amplitude and phase of a driving field. By using parameter estimation theory we show that certain suitable field quadratures are optimal observables in the lasing phase. The quantum Fisher information scales linearly with the number of bosons and thus the precision can be enhanced by increasing the incoherent pumping acting on the qubit. If we restrict ourselves to measurements of the boson number observable, then the optimal operating point is the critical point of the lasing phase transition. Our results point to an intimate connection between symmetry breaking, dissipative phase transitions, and efficient parameter estimation.

Recently, Kristensen, Ge, and Hughes [Phys. Rev. A 92, 053810 (2015)] have compared three different methods for normalization of quasinormal modes in open optical systems and concluded that they all provide the same result. We show here that this conclusion is incorrect and illustrate that the normalization of P. T. Kristensen et al., Opt. Lett. 37, 1649 (2012), is divergent for any optical mode having a finite quality factor, and that the Silver-Müller radiation condition is not fulfilled for quasinormal modes.

We refute all claims of the “Comment on ‘Normalization of quasinormal modes in leaky optical cavities and plasmonic resonators' ” by E. A. Muljarov and W. Langbein. Based entirely on information already contained in our original article [P. T. Kristensen, R.-C. Ge, and S. Hughes, Phys. Rev. A 92, 053810 (2015)], we dismiss every point of criticism as being unsupported and point out how important parts of our argumentation appear to have been overlooked by the Comment authors. In addition, we provide additional calculations showing directly the connection between the normalizations by Sauvan et al. and Muljarov et al., which were not included in our original article.

Various strategies exist in quantum metrology, such as with or without ancillary system, with a fixed or optimized measurement, with or without monitoring the environment, etc. Different set of tools are usually needed for different strategies. In this article, we provide a unified framework for these different settings, in particular we introduce a quantum metrology matrix and show that the precision limits of different settings can all be obtained from the trace or the trace norm of the quantum metrology matrix. Furthermore, the probe state enters into the quantum metrology matrix linearly, which makes the identification of the optimal probe states, one of the main quests in quantum metrology, much more efficient than conventional methods.

Long-range interactions and, in particular, two-body potentials with power-law long-distance tails are ubiquitous in nature. For two bosons or fermions in one spatial dimension, the latter case being formally equivalent to three-dimensional $s$-wave scattering, we show how generic asymptotic interaction tails can be accounted for in the long-distance limit of scattering wave functions. This is made possible by introducing a generalization of the collisional phase shifts to include space dependence. We show that this distance dependence is universal, in that it does not depend on short-distance details of the interaction. The energy dependence is also universal, and is fully determined by the asymptotic tails of the two-body potential. As an important application of our findings, we describe how to eliminate finite-size effects with long-range potentials in the calculation of scattering phase shifts from exact diagonalization. We show that even with moderately small system sizes it is possible to accurately extract phase shifts that would otherwise be plagued with finite-size errors. We also consider multichannel scattering, focusing on the estimation of open channel asymptotic interaction strengths via finite-size analysis.

We present accurate measurements of carrier-envelope-phase effects on ionization of the noble gases with few-cycle laser pulses. The experimental apparatus is calibrated by using atomic hydrogen data to remove any systematic offsets and thereby obtain accurate CEP data on other generally used noble gases such as Ar, Kr, and Xe. Experimental results for H are well supported by exact time-dependent Schrödinger equation theoretical simulations; however, significant differences are observed in the case of the noble gases.

Two-armed helical vortex structures are predicted in the two-electron momentum distributions produced in double photoionization (DPI) of the He atom by a pair of time-delayed elliptically polarized attosecond pulses with opposite helicities. These predictions are based upon both a first-order perturbation theory analysis and numerical solutions of the two-electron, time-dependent Schrödinger equation in six spatial dimensions. The helical vortex structures originate from Ramsey interference of a pair of ionized two-electron wave packets, each having a total angular momentum of unity, and appear in the sixfold differential DPI probability distribution for any energy partitioning between the two electrons. The vortex structures are exquisitely sensitive to the time delay between the two pulses, their relative phase, their ellipticity, and their handedness; moreover, they occur in a variety of electron detection geometries. However, the vortex structures only occur when the angular separation $\beta ={cos}^{-1}({\widehat{\mathbf{p}}}_1·{\widehat{\mathbf{p}}}_2)$ between the electron momenta ${\mathbf{p}}_1$ and ${\mathbf{p}}_2$ is held fixed. The vortex structures can also be observed in the fourfold differential DPI probability distribution obtained by averaging the sixfold differential probability over the emission angles of one electron. Such kinematical vortices are a general phenomenon that may occur in any ionization process, initiated by two time-delayed short pulses with opposite ellipticities, for particular detection geometries.

We study a two-component Bose gas with a symmetric spin-orbit coupling, and find that two atoms can form a bound state with any intra- or inter-species scattering length. Consequently, in the dilute limit, the BCS-pairing state of bosons can be formed with weakly attractive interspecies and repulsive intraspecies interactions. The quasiparticle excitation energies are anisotropic due to spin-orbit coupling. This BCS-pairing state is energetically favored over Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of atoms at low densities. As the density increases, there is a first-order transition from the BCS to BEC states.

Optoelectromechanical quantum interfaces can be utilized to connect systems with distinctively different frequencies in hybrid quantum networks. Here we present a scheme of nonreciprocal quantum-state conversion between microwave and optical photons via an optoelectromechanical interface. By introducing an auxiliary cavity and manipulating the phase differences between the linearized light-matter couplings, unidirectional state transmission that is immune to mechanical noise can be achieved. This interface can function as an isolator, a circulator, and a two-way switch that routes the input state to a designated output channel. We show that under a generalized impedance matching condition the state conversion can prevent thermal fluctuations of the mechanical mode from propagating to the cavity outputs and reach high fidelity. The realization of this scheme is also discussed.

We study resonant radiation generated by bound solitons in a twin-core fiber near a zero-dispersion wavelength, in the presence of higher order dispersion terms. We propose a theoretical description of a dispersive wave generation mechanism and derive resonance conditions. The presence of a third order dispersion term leads to generation of polychromatic dispersive radiation and transition from the regime of center-of-mass oscillations to the regime of amplitude oscillations. Such a transition is not reproduced in the case of symmetric fourth order dispersion.

We consider a two-level open quantum system undergoing pure dephasing, dissipative, or multiply decohering dynamics and show that whenever the dynamics is non-Markovian, the initial speed of evolution is a monotonic function of the relevant physical parameter driving the transition between the Markovian and non-Markovian behavior of the dynamics. In particular, within the considered models, a speed increase can only be observed in the presence of backflow of information from the environment to the system.

Causal discovery algorithms allow for the inference of causal structures from probabilistic relations of random variables. A natural field for the application of this tool is quantum mechanics, where a long-standing debate about the role of causality in the theory has flourished since its early days. In this paper, a causal discovery algorithm is applied in the search for causal models to describe a quantum version of Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment. The outputs explicitly show the restrictions for the introduction of classical concepts in this system. The exclusion of models with two hidden variables is one of them. A consequence of such a constraint is the impossibility to construct a causal model that avoids superluminal causation and assumes an objective view of the wave and particle properties simultaneously.

Open quantum systems evolving according to discrete-time dynamics are capable, unlike continuous-time counterparts, to converge to a stable equilibrium in finite time with zero error. We consider dissipative quantum circuits consisting of sequences of quantum channels subject to specified quasi-locality constraints, and determine conditions under which stabilization of a pure multipartite entangled state of interest may be exactly achieved in finite time. Special emphasis is devoted to characterizing scenarios where finite-time stabilization may be achieved robustly with respect to the order of the applied quantum maps, as suitable for unsupervised control architectures. We show that if a decomposition of the physical Hilbert space into virtual subsystems is found, which is compatible with the locality constraint and relative to which the target state factorizes, then robust stabilization may be achieved by independently cooling each component. We further show that if the same condition holds for a scalable class of pure states, a continuous-time quasi-local Markov semigroup ensuring rapid mixing can be obtained. Somewhat surprisingly, we find that the commutativity of the canonical parent Hamiltonian one may associate to the target state does not directly relate to its finite-time stabilizability properties, although in all cases where we can guarantee robust stabilization, a (possibly noncanonical) commuting parent Hamiltonian may be found. Aside from graph states, quantum states amenable to finite-time robust stabilization include a class of universal resource states displaying two-dimensional symmetry-protected topological order, along with tensor network states obtained by generalizing a construction due to Bravyi and Vyalyi [Quantum Inf. Comput. 5, 187 (2005)]. Extensions to representative classes of mixed graph-product and thermal states are also discussed.

Coherent spatial transport or shuttling of a single electron spin through semiconductor nanostructures is an important ingredient in many spintronic and quantum computing applications. In this work we analyze the possible errors in solid-state quantum computation due to leakage in transporting a single-spin qubit through a semiconductor double quantum dot. In particular, we consider three possible sources of leakage errors associated with such transport: finite ramping times, spin-dependent tunneling rates between quantum dots induced by finite spin-orbit couplings, and the presence of multiple valley states. In each case we present quantitative estimates of the leakage errors, and discuss how they can be minimized. The emphasis of this work is on how to deal with the errors intrinsic to the ideal semiconductor structure, such as leakage due to spin-orbit couplings, rather than on errors due to defects or noise sources. In particular, we show that in order to minimize leakage errors induced by spin-dependent tunnelings, it is necessary to apply pulses to perform certain carefully designed spin rotations. We further develop a formalism that allows one to systematically derive constraints on the pulse shapes and present a few examples to highlight the advantage of such an approach.

Attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (ATAS) allows for the study of electron dynamics in atoms and molecules with attosecond time resolution. Previous works reported in the literature have made use of ATAS to image and control such dynamics in the single-channel ionization continuum of helium; in particular, in the vicinity of the doubly excited autoionizing states lying between the $N=1$ and $N=2$ thresholds. In this work, we have extended these studies to autoionizing states lying above the $N=2$ threshold, where several ionization channels are open. From an accurate solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation, we predict the appearance of pronounced one-photon beatings between the $3snp$ states and the adjacent ${}^1{S}^e$ and ${}^1{D}^e$ resonances, as well as, more surprisingly, two-photon beatings between the $3s3p$ doubly excited state and the ${}^1{P}^o$ nonresonant continuum. Both effects lead to a significant distortion of the $3snp$ Fano profiles and to a strong variation of these profiles with the pump-probe delay, thus demonstrating control of the corresponding multichannel two-electron correlated wave packets, in the same way as reported for resonances lying below the $N=2$ threshold.

We investigate the nonlinear scattering dynamics in interacting atomic Bose-Einstein condensates under non-Hermitian dissipative conditions. We show that, by carefully engineering a momentum-dependent atomic loss profile, one can achieve matter-wave amplification through four-wave mixing in a quasi-one-dimensional nearly-free-space setup—a process that is forbidden in the counterpart Hermitian systems due to energy mismatch. Additionally, we show that similar effects lead to rich nonlinear dynamics in higher dimensions. Finally, we propose a physical realization for selectively tailoring the momentum-dependent atomic dissipation. Our strategy is based on a two-step process: (i) exciting atoms to narrow Rydberg or metastable excited states, and (ii) introducing loss through recoil; all while leaving the bulk condensate intact due to protection by quantum interference.

Experimental realizations of topological quantum systems and detections of topological invariants in ultracold atomic systems have been a greatly attractive topic. In this work, we propose a scheme to realize topologically different phases in a bichromatic optical lattice subjected to a periodically driven tilt harmonic oscillation, which can be effectively described by a superlattice model with tunable long-range hopping processes. By tuning the ratio of nearest-neighbor (NN) and next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) hopping amplitudes, the system undergoes a topological phase transition accompanied by the change of topological numbers of the lowest band from $-1$ to 2. Using a slowly time-periodic modulation, the system emerges distinct quantized topological pumped charges (TPCs) of atoms in the filled band for different topological phases. Our scheme is realizable in current cold atomic technique.

We use a nonperturbative renormalization group approach to develop a unified picture of the Bose polaron problem, where a mobile impurity is strongly interacting with a surrounding Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). A detailed theoretical analysis of the phase diagram is presented and the polaron-to-molecule transition is discussed. For attractive polarons we argue that a description in terms of an effective Fröhlich Hamiltonian with renormalized parameters is possible. Its strong-coupling regime is realized close to a Feshbach resonance, where we predict a sharp increase of the effective mass. Already for weaker interactions, before the polaron mass diverges, we predict a transition to a regime where states exist below the polaron energy and the attractive polaron is no longer the ground state. On the repulsive side of the Feshbach resonance we recover the repulsive polaron, which has a finite lifetime because it can decay into low-lying molecular states. We show for the entire range of couplings that the polaron energy has logarithmic corrections in comparison with predictions by the mean-field approach. We demonstrate that they are a consequence of the polaronic mass renormalization which is due to quantum fluctuations of correlated phonons in the polaron cloud.

Within the emergent eigenstate solution to quantum dynamics [Phys. Rev. X 7, 021012 (2017)], one can construct a local operator (an emergent Hamiltonian) of which the time-evolving state is an eigenstate. Here we show that such a solution exists for the expansion dynamics of Tonks-Girardeau gases in optical lattices after turning off power-law (e.g., harmonic or quartic) confining potentials, which are geometric quenches that do not involve the boost operator. For systems that are initially in the ground state and undergo dynamical fermionization during the expansion, we show that they remain in the ground state of the emergent local Hamiltonian at all times. On the other hand, for systems at nonzero initial temperatures, the expansion dynamics can be described constructing a Gibbs ensemble for the emergent local Hamiltonian (an emergent Gibbs ensemble).