Low-lying $S$-wave resonances in positronic lithium ($e^{+}\text{Li}$) under hot and dense plasmas are investigated by the stabilization method. The screened interaction in plasma is represented by the Debye-Hückel model. Two resonances are located lying below the $\text{Ps}(n=2)$ excitation threshold. It is found that resonance positions are lifted with increasing plasma screening strength. For the free atomic system, our reported results are in agreement with the results of other reliable calculations.

We renormalize the two-body contact interaction based on the exact solution of two interacting particles in a harmonic trap. This renormalization extends the validity of the contact interaction to large scattering lengths. We apply this renormalized interaction to a degenerate unitary Bose gas to study its stationary properties and elementary excitations using the mean-field theory and the hyperspherical method. Since the scattering length is no longer a relevant length scale at unitarity, universal properties are obtained that depend only on the average particle density. Our treatment shows that the universal relations for the total energy and for the two-body contact are $E/N=12.67{\hslash }^2\langle n^{2/3}\rangle /2m$ and $C_2/N=11.8\langle n^{1/3}\rangle$, respectively.

We report $T=0$ diffusion Monte Carlo results for the ground-state and vortex excitation of unpolarized spin-1/2 fermions in a two-dimensional disk. We investigate how vortex core structure properties behave over the BEC-BCS crossover. We calculate the vortex excitation energy, density profiles, and vortex core properties related to the current. We find a density suppression at the vortex core on the BCS side of the crossover and a depleted core on the BEC limit. Size-effect dependencies in the disk geometry were carefully studied.

We present a method to reconstruct the complete statistical mode structure and optical losses of multimode conjugated optical fields using an experimentally measured joint photon-number probability distribution. We demonstrate that this method evaluates classical and nonclassical properties using a single measurement technique and is well suited for quantum mesoscopic state characterization. We obtain a nearly perfect reconstruction of a field comprised of up to ten modes based on a minimal set of assumptions. To show the utility of this method, we use it to reconstruct the mode structure of an unknown bright parametric down-conversion source.

Since entanglement is not an observable per se, measuring its value in practice is a difficult task. Here we propose a protocol for quantifying a particular entanglement measure, namely, concurrence, of an arbitrary two-qubit pure state via a single fixed measurement setup by exploiting so-called weak measurements and the associated weak values together with the properties of the Laguerre-Gaussian modes. The virtue of our technique is that it is generally applicable for all two-qubit systems and does not involve simultaneous copies of the entangled state. We also propose an explicit optical implementation of the protocol.

Recently, several practical attacks on continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) were proposed based on faking the estimated value of channel excess noise to hide the intercept-and-resend eavesdropping strategy, including the local oscillator (LO) fluctuation, calibration, wavelength, and saturation attacks. However, the known countermeasures against all these practical attacks will inevitably increase the complexity of the implementation of CVQKD and affect its performance. We develop here an asynchronous countermeasure strategy without structural modifications of the conventional CVQKD scheme. In particular, two robust countermeasures are proposed by adding peak-valley seeking and Gaussian postselection steps in conventional data postprocessing procedure. The analysis shows that the peak-valley seeking method naturally make the schemes immune to all known types of calibration attacks even when Eve simultaneously performs wavelength or LO fluctuation attacks and exhibit simpler implementation and better performance than the known countermeasures. Meanwhile, since the Gaussian postselection is able to resist the saturation attacks, the proposed schemes are secure against all known types of practical attacks.

We present a proposal to generate robust tripartite optomechanical entanglement with a single-cavity optomechanical system driven by a single input laser field. The produced stationary tripartite entanglement among two longitudinal cavity modes and a mirror oscillation mode via radiation pressure force exhibits robustness to the variation of the environment temperature when the cavity free spectral range is close to the mechanical oscillation frequency. The present optomechanical system can serve as an alternative intermediary for quantum-state exchange between two microwave (or optical) fields as well as between photons and the macroscopic mechanical oscillator, and may be potentially useful for quantum information processing and quantum networks.

A theory of an optical breather of self-induced transparency for small area surface plasmon-polariton waves is constructed. The wave equation for an optical nonlinear electric field consisting of surface transverse magnetic modes, traveling along a two-dimensional layer of atomic systems (or semiconductor quantum dots), with a graphene monolayer (or graphene-like two-dimensional material), are shown to reduce to the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with damping. It is also shown that damped small intensity surface plasmon-polariton breathers can propagate in such a system and its characteristic parameters depends on the connected media, graphene conductivity, transition layer and transverse structures of the surface plasmon polariton. Explicit analytical expressions for the parameters of an optical surface breather are given. The breather and the soliton in graphene are compared with each other and the differences between their properties are contrasted.

Transverse spin angular momentum, which appears locally in the structured optical fields, has attracted much attention, owing to its extraordinary properties and potential applications. We show theoretically that, by highly focusing a vector vortex beam with azimuthally varied polarization, it is possible to trap multiple particles simultaneously and manipulate the particles’ spin along the azimuthal direction. Both the direction and the magnitude of the spin angular momentum, so the spin torque on the particle, can be varied by changing the state of the input beams. Moreover, the magnitude of the spin torque can be manipulated further by changing the characteristics of the particles. Such results may be exploited in practical optical manipulation, especially for optically induced rotations.

Quantum nondemolition theory has been well understood for a number of decades, however, applications of such techniques remain limited owing to the increased complexity that these techniques require. In this paper, quantum nondemolition theory is used to investigate the performance of a real-world device, an electro-optic feedforward intensity-noise eater. It is shown that by replacing the typical beam splitter in such a device with a single-pass second-harmonic generation followed by a dichroic mirror the performance of the noise eater can be significantly improved, even with low conversion efficiencies.

Quantum systems driven by strong oscillating fields are the source of many interesting physical phenomena. In this work, we experimentally study the dynamics of a two-level system of a single spin driven in the strong-driving regime where the rotating-wave approximation is not valid. This two-level system is a subsystem of a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond coupled to a first-shell ${}^{13}\mathrm{C}$ nuclear spin at a level anticrossing point. This near degeneracy occurs in the $m_s=\pm 1$ manifold of the electron spin when the energy level splitting between the $m_s=-1$ and $+1$ states due to the static magnetic field is $\approx 127$ MHz and thus equal to the splitting due to the ${}^{13}\mathrm{C}$ hyperfine interaction. The transition frequency of this electron spin two-level system in a static magnetic field of 28.9 G is 1.7 MHz and it can be driven only by the component of the radio-frequency (RF) field along the NV symmetry axis. Electron spin Rabi frequencies in this system can reach tens of MHz even for moderate RF powers. The simple sinusoidal Rabi oscillations that occur when the amplitude of the driving field is small compared to the transition frequency evolve into complex patterns when the driving field amplitude is comparable to or greater than the energy level splitting. We observe that the system oscillates faster than the amplitude of the driving field and the response of the system shows multiple frequencies.

We analyze an elliptic optical vortex embedded into a Gaussian beam. Explicit closed expressions for the complex amplitude and normalized orbital angular momentum (OAM) of such a beam are derived. The resulting elliptic Gaussian vortex (EGV) is shown to have a fractional OAM whose maximal value equal to the topological charge $n$ of a conventional Gauss vortex is attained for a zero-ellipticity vortex. As the beam propagates, the major axis of the intensity ellipse in the beam cross section rotates, making the angle of 90° between the initial plane and the focal plane of a spherical lens. On the major axis of the intensity ellipse, there are $n$ intensity nulls of the EGV, with the distance between them varying with propagation distance and varying ellipticity. The distance between the intensity nulls is found to be maximal in the focal plane for a given ellipticity. For zero ellipticity, all intensity nulls get merged into a single $n$-times degenerate on-axis intensity null. The experimental results are in good agreement with theory.

A quantum algorithm that solves the time-dependent Dirac equation on a digital quantum computer is developed and analyzed. The time evolution is performed by an operator-splitting decomposition technique that allows for a mapping of the Dirac operator to a quantum walk supplemented by unitary rotation steps in spinor space. Every step of the splitting method is decomposed into sets of quantum gates. It is demonstrated that the algorithm has an exponential speed-up over the implementation of the same numerical scheme on a classical computer, as long as certain conditions are satisfied. Finally, an explicit decomposition of this algorithm into elementary gates from a universal set is carried out to determine the resource requirements. It is shown that a proof-of-principle calculation may be possible with actual quantum technologies.

In quantum private query (QPQ), a client obtains values corresponding to his or her query only, and nothing else from the server, and the server does not get any information about the queries. V. Giovannetti et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 230502 (2008)] gave the first QPQ protocol and since then quite a few variants and extensions have been proposed. However, none of the existing protocols are device independent; i.e., all of them assume implicitly that the entangled states supplied to the client and the server are of a certain form. In this work, we exploit the idea of a local CHSH game and connect it with the scheme of Y. G. Yang et al. [Quantum Info. Process. 13, 805 (2014)] to present the concept of a device-independent QPQ protocol.

A pair of neutral atoms separated by several microns and prepared in identical $s$ states of large principal quantum number experience a van der Waals interaction. If microwave fields are used to generate a superposition of $s$ states with different principal quantum numbers, a null point may be found at which a specific superposition state experiences no van der Waals interaction. An application of this Rydberg state in a quantum controlled-z gate is proposed, which takes advantage of GHz rate transitions to nearby Rydberg states. A gate operation time in the tens of nanoseconds is predicted.

Motivated by the recent realization of the Haldane model in a shaking optical lattice, we investigate the effects of attractive interaction and the BEC-BCS crossover in this model at and away from half-filling. We show that, contrary to the usual $s$-wave BEC-BCS crossover in the lattice, a topological superfluid with Chern number $C=2$ appears in an extended region of the phase space for intermediate strength of the attractive interaction on the interaction-density plane. When inversion symmetry is broken, a gapless weak topological state is realized. We also investigate the fluctuations in these superfluid phases and show that the Anderson-Bogoliubov mode is quadratic due to time-reversal symmetry breaking and the existence of an undamped Leggett mode in the strong-coupling limit. Near the topological phase transition, the damping of the Leggett mode reaches its maximum.

The effect of atom losses on a homogeneous one-dimensional Bose gas lying within the quasicondensate regime is investigated using a Monte Carlo wave-function approach. The evolution of the system is calculated, conditioned by the loss sequence, namely, the times of individual losses and the position of the removed atoms. We describe the gas within the linearized Bogoliubov approach. For each mode, we find that, for a given quantum trajectory, the state of the system converges towards a coherent state, i.e., the ground state, displaced in phase space. We show that, provided losses are recorded with a temporal and spatially resolved detector, quantum feedback can be implemented and cooling to the ground state of one or several modes can be realized.

In its simplest form, decoherence occurs when a quantum state is entangled with a second state, but the results of measurements made on the second state are not accessible. As the second state has effectively “measured” the first, in this paper we argue that the quantum Fisher information is the relevant metric for predicting and quantifying this kind of decoherence. The quantum Fisher information is usually used to determine an upper bound on how precisely measurements on a state can be used to estimate a classical parameter, and as such it is an important resource. Quantum-enhanced metrology aims to create nonclassical states with large quantum Fisher information and utilize them in precision measurements. In the process of doing this it is possible for states to undergo decoherence; for instance atom-light interactions used to create coherent superpositions of atomic states may result in atom-light entanglement. Highly nonclassical states, such as spin-cat states (Schrödinger cat states constructed from superpositions of collective spins) are shown to be highly susceptible to this kind of decoherence. We also investigate the required field occupation of the second state, such that this decoherence is negligible.