Recently, a generalization of the standard optical multiport was proposed [Phys. Rev. A 93, 043845 (2016)]. These directionally unbiased multiports allow photons to reverse direction and exit backwards from the input port, providing a realistic linear optical scattering vertex for quantum walks on arbitrary graph structures. Here, it is shown that arrays of these multiports allow the simulation of a range of discrete-time Hamiltonian systems. Examples are described, including a case where both spatial and internal degrees of freedom are simulated. Because input ports also double as output ports, there is substantial savings of resources compared to feed-forward networks carrying out the same functions. The simulation is implemented in a scalable manner using only linear optics, and can be generalized to higher dimensional systems in a straightforward fashion, thus offering a concrete experimentally achievable implementation of graphical models of discrete-time quantum systems.

A quantitative measure of quantum coherence was recently introduced in the context of quantum information theory. This measure has also been propounded as a good quantifier of the wave nature of quantum objects. However, actually measuring coherence in an experiment is still considered a challenge. A procedure for measuring coherence in a multislit interference is proposed here. It can be used for experimentally testing duality relations for interference experiments involving more than two slits.

Imposing restrictions on the Feynman paths of the monitored system has in the past been proposed as a universal model-free approach to continuous quantum measurements. Here we revisit this proposition and demonstrate that a Gaussian restriction, resulting in a sequence of many highly inaccurate (weak) von Neumann measurements, is not sufficiently strong to ensure proximity between a readout and the Feynman paths along which the monitored system evolves. Rather, in the continuous limit, the variations of a typical readout become much larger than the separation between the eigenvalues of the measured quantity. Thus, a typical readout is not represented by a nearly constant curve, correlating with one of the eigenvalues of the measured quantity $\widehat{A}$, even when decoherence or Zeno effect is achieved for the observed two-level system, and does not point directly to the system's final state. We show that the decoherence in a “free” system can be seen as induced by a Gaussian random walk with a drift, eventually directing the system towards one of the eigenstates of $\widehat{A}$. A similar mechanism appears to be responsible for the Zeno effect in a driven system, when its Rabi oscillations are quenched by monitoring. Alongside the Gaussian case, which can only be studied numerically, we also consider a fully tractable model with a “hard wall” restriction and show the results to be similar.

We analyze the properties of a two- and three-dimensional quantum walk that are inspired by the idea of a brane-world model put forward by Rubakov and Shaposhnikov [Phys. Lett. B 125, 136 (1983)]. In that model, particles are dynamically confined on the brane due to the interaction with a scalar field. We translated this model into an alternate quantum walk with a coin that depends on the external field, with a dependence which mimics a domain wall solution. As in the original model, fermions (in our case, the walker) become localized in one of the dimensions, not from the action of a random noise on the lattice (as in the case of Anderson localization) but from a regular dependence in space. On the other hand, the resulting quantum walk can move freely along the “ordinary” dimensions.

Stokes parameters are a standard tool in quantum optics. They involve averaged intensities at exits of polarizers. If the overall measured intensity fluctuates, as, e.g., for states with undefined photon numbers, the instances of its increased value contribute more to the parameters. One can introduce normalized quantum Stokes operators. Operationally, for a given single run of the experiment, their values are differences of measured intensities (or photon numbers) at the two exits of a polarizer divided by their sum. Effects of intensity fluctuations are removed. Switching to normalized Stokes operators results in more sensitive entanglement conditions. We also show a general method of deriving an entanglement indicator for optical fields which use polarization correlations, which starts with any two-qubit entanglement witness. This allows one to vastly expand the family of such indicators.

We investigate the open dynamics of a quantum system which is rapidly repeatedly updated by a quantum channel. Specifically, we analyze when this dynamics can purify the system. We develop a necessary and sufficient condition for such purification effects to occur and characterize their strength. We thoroughly analyze the specific scenario of a quantum system undergoing rapid unitary interactions with a sequence of ancillary quantum systems. We find that, while the purification effects are generally present, in order for these effects to be strong compared to the decoherence effects the interaction Hamiltonian must have a minimum degree of complexity. Specifically, a tensor product interaction ${\widehat{Q}}_{\text{S}}\otimes {\widehat{R}}_{\text{A}}$ as well as many common light-matter interactions cannot purify efficiently.

Quantum simulation is of great importance in quantum information science. Here, we report an experimental quantum channel simulator imbued with an algorithm for imitating the behavior of a general class of quantum systems. The reported quantum channel simulator consists of four single-qubit gates and one controlled-not gate. All types of quantum channels can be decomposed by the algorithm and implemented on this device. We deploy our system to simulate various quantum channels, such as quantum-noise channels and weak quantum measurement. Our results advance experimental quantum channel simulation, which is integral to the goal of quantum information processing.

The Talbot effect in quantum physics is known to produce intricate patterns in the probability distribution of a particle, known as “quantum carpets,” corresponding to the revival and replication of the initial wave function. Recently, it was shown that one can encode a $D$-level qudit in such a way that the Talbot effect can be used to process the $D$-dimensional quantum information [Farías et al., Phys. Rev. A 91, 062328 (2015)]. Here we introduce a scheme to produce free-propagating “entangled quantum carpets” with pairs of photons produced by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. First we introduce an optical device that can be used to synthesize arbitrary superposition states of Talbot qudits. Sending spatially entangled photon pairs through a pair of these devices produces an entangled pair of qudits. As an application, we show how the Talbot effect can be used to test a $D$-dimensional Bell inequality. Numerical simulations show that violation of the Bell inequality depends strongly on the amount of spatial correlation in the initial two-photon state. We briefly discuss how our optical scheme might be adapted to matter wave experiments.

We analyze the complex level structure of ions with many-valence-electron open-[Kr] $4d^m$ subshells ($m=7–4$) with ab initio calculations based on configuration-interaction many-body perturbation theory (CI+MBPT). Charge-state-resolved optical and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectra of ${\mathrm{Sn}}^{7+}–{\mathrm{Sn}}^{10+}$ ions were obtained using an electron beam ion trap. Semiempirical spectral fits carried out with the orthogonal parameters technique and cowan code calculations lead to 90 identifications of magnetic-dipole transitions and the determination of 79 energy ground-configuration levels, questioning some earlier EUV-line assignments. Our results confirm the ab initio predictive power of CI+MBPT calculations for these complex electronic systems.

Processes of electron capture followed by Auger and radiative decay were investigated in slow ion-atom and -molecule collisions. A quantum-mechanical analysis which utilizes the basis generator method within an independent electron model was carried out for collisions of $\mathrm{O}{}^{6+}$ with Ar, ${\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}$, and ${\mathrm{CH}}_4$ at impact energies of 1.17 and 2.33 keV/amu. At these impact energies, a closure approximation in the spectral representation of the Hamiltonian for molecules was found to be necessary to yield reliable results. Total single-, double-, and triple-electron-capture cross sections obtained show good agreement with previous measurements and calculations using the classical trajectory Monte Carlo method. The corresponding emission spectra from single capture for each collision system are in satisfactory agreement with previous calculations.

We derive a general relation in two-body scattering theory that more directly relates the change of density of states (DDOS) due to interaction to the shape of the potential. The relation allows us to infer certain global properties of the DDOS from the global properties of the potential. In particular, we show that DDOS is negative at all energies and for all partial waves, for potentials that are more repulsive than $+1/r^2$ everywhere. This behavior represents a different class of global properties of DDOS from that described by the Levinson's theorem.

Recent progress in high-order harmonic generation with few-cycle mid-infrared wavelength lasers has pushed light pulses into the water-window region and beyond. These pulses have the bandwidth to support single attosecond pulses down to a few tens of attoseconds. However, the present available techniques for attosecond pulse measurement are not applicable to such pulses. Here we report a phase-retrieval method using the standard photoelectron streaking technique where an attosecond pulse is converted into its electron replica through photoionization of atoms in the presence of a time-delayed infrared laser. The iterative algorithm allows accurate reconstruction of the spectral phase of light pulses, from the extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) to soft x-rays, with pulse durations from hundreds down to a few tens of attoseconds. At the same time, the streaking laser fields, including short pulses that span a few octaves, can also be accurately retrieved. Such well-characterized single attosecond pulses in the XUV to the soft-x-ray region are required for time-resolved probing of inner-shell electronic dynamics of matter at their own timescale of a few tens of attoseconds.

We experimentally investigate the free induction decay in the asymmetric top molecule ${\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}$ after interaction with short terahertz pulses. Two different experimental techniques are used to perform measurements in the gas phase under different experimental conditions: electro-optical detection and terahertz field-induced second-harmonic generation. Simulations of the free induction decay signals are performed with a theoretical approach in which the absorption and dispersion coefficients are evaluated from spectroscopic data pertaining to the water molecule. Experimental and theoretical signals are compared directly in the time domain in two limiting cases. For a short propagation length of $\sim 40$ cm, both signals show a slightly altered electric field consistent with the approximation of weak absorption and dispersion. For a longer propagation length of $\sim 300$ cm, the electric field is heavily distorted. A good agreement between experimental and calculated signals is obtained in both cases. Finally, we discuss the advantages and/or disadvantages of the two experimental techniques.

We study Rydberg ionization in an electric field in order to produce monochromatic ion and electron beams. We present an experimental study of the photoexcitation and ionization of high quantum-defect states, using excitation from the $7s$ state in cesium to Rydberg states in the presence of a uniform electric field. Such states can exhibit complex ionization behavior, for instance, highly localized growth in the ionization rate due to interference effects. The data are well reproduced by the WKB quantum-defect and frame transformation methods with no adjustable parameters. This indicates that large changes in the Rydberg ionization rate from small changes in electric field are possible when a nearly stable state crosses a more unstable state. A fast variation of the ionization rate with electric field allows for the production of beams with very low energy dispersion. We develop a simple two-level model to predict the voltage and spatial resolution that would occur when atoms are prepared in a state with such sharp ionization in electric field. This confirms that Rydberg forced ionization in an electric field presents a pathway for the production of high-brightness, highly monochromatic ion and electron beams.

In this work, we present an effective-field theory to describe a two-component Fermi gas near a $d$-wave-interaction resonance. The effective-field theory is renormalizable by matching with the low-energy $d$-wave scattering phase shift. Based on the effective-field theory, we derive universal properties of the Fermi gas by the operator-product-expansion method. We find that beyond the contacts defined by adiabatic theorems, the asymptotic expressions of the momentum distribution and the Raman spectroscopy involve two extra contacts which provide additional information on correlations of the system. Our formalism sets the stage for further explorations of many-body effects in a $d$-wave resonant Fermi gas. Finally, we generalize our effective-field theory for interaction resonances of arbitrary higher partial waves.

We investigate the dimensionally induced phase transition from the normal to the Bose-Einstein-condensed phase for a weakly interacting Bose gas in an optical lattice. To this end we make use of the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov-Popov theory, where we include numerically exact hopping energies and effective interaction strengths. At first we determine the critical chemical potential, where we find a much better agreement with recent experimental data than a pure Hartree-Fock treatment. This finding originates from an important correction due to quantum fluctuations, which are enhanced in lower dimensions. Furthermore, we determine for the one-dimensional to three-dimensional transition the power-law exponent of the critical temperature for two different noninteracting Bose gas models yielding the same value of 1/2, which indicates that they belong to the same universality class. For the weakly interacting Bose gas we find for both models that this exponent is robust with respect to finite interaction strengths.

We propose a method for using ultracold atomic Bose-Einstein condensates to form an analog model of a relativistic massive field that carries charge and interacts with an external nondynamical gauge field. Such a scalar QED analog model may be useful for simulating various effects of quantum field theory involving charged particles, such as the Schwinger pair creation of charged phonons in a constant external field, and vacuum instability.

We demonstrate 17.7(1)% extinction of a weak coherent field by a single atom. We observe a shift of the resonance frequency and a decrease in interaction strength with the external field when the atom, initially at $21\left(1\right)\mu \mathrm{K}$, is heated by the recoil of the scattered photons. Comparing to a simple model, we conclude that the initial temperature reduces the interaction strength by less than 10%.

The spin-noise signal in the Faraday-rotation-based detection technique can be considered equally correctly either as a manifestation of the spin-flip Raman effect or as a result of light scattering in the medium with fluctuating gyrotropy. In this paper, we present rigorous description of the signal formation process upon heterodyning of the field scattered due to fluctuating gyrotropy. Along with conventional single-beam experimental arrangement, we consider here a more complicated, but more informative, two-beam configuration that implies the use of an auxiliary light beam passing through the same scattering volume and delivering additional scattered light to the detector. We show that the signal in the spin-noise spectroscopy (SNS) arising due to heterodyning of the scattered field is formed only by the scattered field components the wave vectors of which coincide with those of the probe field. Therefore, in principle, the detected signal in SNS can be increased by increasing overlap of the two fields in the momentum space. We also show that, in the two-beam geometry of SNS, contribution of the auxiliary (tilted) beam to the detected signal is produced only by the region of overlap between the two beams in real space and can be expressed analytically as the Fourier transform of the spatial correlation function of the gyrotropy at the difference of their wave vectors. These features of the two-beam geometry can be used for tomographic measurements in spin systems (a more sophisticated version of three-dimensional tomography proposed earlier) and for studying spatial spin correlations by means of noise spectroscopy.

We suggest a simple approach to populate photonic quantum materials at nonzero chemical potential and near-zero temperature. Taking inspiration from forced evaporation in cold-atom experiments, the essential ingredients for our low-entropy thermal reservoir are (a) interparticle interactions and (b) energy-dependent loss. The resulting thermal reservoir may then be coupled to a broad class of Hamiltonian systems to produce low-entropy quantum phases. We present an idealized picture of such a reservoir, deriving the scaling of reservoir entropy with system parameters, and then propose several practical implementations using only standard circuit quantum electrodynamics tools, and extract the fundamental performance limits. Finally, we explore, both analytically and numerically, the coupling of such a thermalizer to the paradigmatic Bose-Hubbard chain, where we employ it to stabilize an $n=1$ Mott phase. In this case, the performance is limited by the interplay of dynamically arrested thermalization of the Mott insulator and finite heat capacity of the thermalizer, characterized by its repumping rate. This work explores an approach to preparation of quantum phases of strongly interacting photons, and provides a potential route to topologically protected phases that are difficult to reach through adiabatic evolution.