Single photons with orbital angular momentum (OAM) have attracted substantial attention from researchers. A single photon can carry infinite OAM values theoretically. Thus, OAM photon states have been widely used in quantum information and fundamental quantum mechanics. Although there have been many methods for sorting quantum states with different OAM values, the nondestructive and efficient sorter of high-dimensional OAM remains a fundamental challenge. Here, we propose a scalable OAM sorter which can categorize different OAM states simultaneously, meanwhile, preserving both OAM and spin angular momentum. Fundamental elements of the sorter are composed of symmetric multiport beam splitters (BSs) and Dove prisms with cascading structure, which in principle can be flexibly and effectively combined to sort arbitrarily high-dimensional OAM photons. The scalable structures proposed here greatly reduce the number of BSs required for sorting high-dimensional OAM states. In view of the nondestructive and extensible features, the sorters can be used as fundamental devices not only for high-dimensional quantum information processing, but also for traditional optics.

We introduce a model describing the competition of interactions between $N$ two-level systems (TLSs) against decoherence. We apply it to analyze dye molecules in an optical microcavity, where molecular vibrations provide a local source for decoherence. The most interesting case is when decoherence strongly affects each individual TLS, e.g., via broadening of emission lines as well as vibrational satellites; however, its influence is strongly suppressed for large $N$ due to the interactions between TLSs. In this interaction-dominated regime we find unique signatures in the emission spectrum, including strong $O\left(\sqrt{N}\right)$ level shifts, as well as $1/N$ suppression of both the decoherence width and the vibrational satellites. These effects are most pronounced in the unexplored regime near $50\%$ polarization of the TLSs.

Memory effects play a fundamental role in the study of the dynamics of open quantum systems. There exist two conceptually distinct notions of memory discussed for quantum channels in the literature. In quantum information theory quantum channels with memory are characterized by the existence of correlations between successive applications of the channel on a sequence of quantum systems. In open quantum systems theory memory effects arise dynamically during the time evolution of quantum systems and define non-Markovian dynamics. Here we relate and combine these two different concepts of memory. In particular, we study the interplay between correlations between multiple uses of quantum channels and non-Markovianity as nondivisibility of the $t$-parametrized family of channels defining the dynamical map.

We study the optimal Slater-determinant approximation of an $N$-fermion wave function analytically. That is, we seek the Slater-determinant (constructed out of $N$ orthonormal single-particle orbitals) wave function having largest overlap with a given $N$-fermion wave function. Some simple lemmas have been established and their usefulness is demonstrated on some structured states, such as the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state. In the simplest nontrivial case of three fermions in six orbitals, which the celebrated Borland-Dennis discovery is about, the optimal Slater approximation wave function is proven to be built out of the natural orbitals in an interesting way. We also show that the Hadamard inequality is useful for finding the optimal Slater approximation of some special target wave functions.

We review the calculation of Fermi's golden rule for a system of $N$-body dipoles, magnetic or electric, weakly interacting with a blackbody radiation. By using the magnetic or electric field-field correlation function evaluated in the 1960s for blackbody radiation, we deduce a general formula for the transition rates and study its limiting, fully coherent or fully incoherent, regimes.

We study the late-time relaxation following a quench in an open quantum many-body system. We consider the open Dicke model, describing the infinite-range interactions between $N$ atoms and a single, lossy electromagnetic mode. We show that the dynamical phase transition at a critical atom-light coupling is characterized by the interplay between reservoir-driven and intrinsic relaxation processes in the absence of number conservation. Above the critical coupling, small fluctuations in the occupation of the dominant quasiparticle mode start to grow in time, while the quasiparticle lifetime remains finite due to losses. Near the critical interaction strength, we observe a crossover between exponential and power-law $1/\tau$ relaxation, the latter driven by collisions between quasiparticles. For a quench exactly to the critical coupling, the power-law relaxation extends to infinite times, but the finite lifetime of quasiparticles prevents aging from appearing in two-times response and correlation functions. We predict our results to be accessible to quench experiments with ultracold bosons in optical resonators.

We show that double-quantum spin vortices, which are characterized by doubly quantized circulating spin currents and unmagnetized filled cores, can exist in the ground states of SU(3) spin-orbit-coupled Bose gases. It is found that the SU(3) spin-orbit coupling and spin-exchange interaction play important roles in determining the ground-state phase diagram. In the case of effective ferromagnetic spin interaction, the SU(3) spin-orbit coupling induces a threefold degeneracy to the magnetized ground state, while in the antiferromagnetic spin interaction case, the SU(3) spin-orbit coupling breaks the ordinary phase rule of spinor Bose gases and allows the spontaneous emergence of double-quantum spin vortices. This exotic topological defect is in stark contrast to the singly quantized spin vortices observed in existing experiments and can be readily observed by the current magnetization-sensitive phase-contrast imaging technique.

We propose the use of ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) to image a controllable, laser-driven coherent electron population transfer in lithium atoms with currently available femtosecond electron pulses. Our simulations demonstrate the ability of ultrafast electrons to image such an electronic population transfer, thus validating UED as a direct means of investigating electron dynamics. Provided the incident electron pulses have sufficient temporal resolution, the diffraction images are shown to resolve also the relative phases of the target electronic wave functions.

In quadrupole-bound anions, an extra electron is attached at a sufficiently large quadrupole moment of a neutral molecule, which is lacking a permanent dipole moment. The nature of the bound states and low-lying resonances of such anions is of interest for understanding the threshold behavior of open quantum systems in general. In this work, we investigate the properties of quadrupolar anions as halo systems, the formation of rotational bands, and the transition from a subcritical to supercritical electric quadrupole moment. We solve the electron-plus-rotor problem using a nonadiabatic coupled-channel formalism by employing the Berggren ensemble, which explicitly contains bound states, narrow resonances, and the scattering continuum. The rotor is treated as a linear triad of point charges with zero monopole and dipole moments and nonzero quadrupole moment. We demonstrate that binding energies and radii of quadrupolar anions strictly follow the scaling laws for two-body halo systems. Contrary to the case of dipolar anions, ground-state band of quadrupolar anions smoothly extend into the continuum, and many rotational bands could be identified above the detachment threshold. We study the evolution of a bound state of an anion as it dives into the continuum at a critical quadrupole moment and we show that the associated critical exponent is $\alpha =2$. Everything considered, quadrupolar anions represent a perfect laboratory for the studies of marginally bound open quantum systems.

We study the effective three-particle interactions between valence electrons, which are induced by the core polarization. Such interactions are enhanced when valence orbitals have a strong overlap with the outermost core shell, in particular, for systems with partially filled $f$ shells. We find that in certain cases the three-particle contributions are large, affecting the order of the energy levels, and need to be included in high-precision calculations.

We consider the phase sensing via a weak optical coherent state at quantum limit precision. A detection scheme for the phase estimation is proposed, which is inspired by the suboptimal quantum measurement in coherent optical communication. We theoretically analyze a performance of our detection scheme, which we call the displaced-photon counting, for phase sensing in terms of the Fisher information and show that the displaced-photon counting outperforms the static homodyne and heterodyne detections in a wide range of the target phase. The proof-of-principle experiment is performed with linear optics and a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector. The result shows that our scheme overcomes the limit of the ideal homodyne measurement, even under practical imperfections.

In this article, we study the nonlinear coupling between the stationary (i.e., the beating modulation signal) and transient (i.e., the laser quantum noise) dynamics of a laser subjected to frequency-shifted optical feedback. We show how the noise power spectrum and more specifically the relaxation oscillation frequency of the laser are modified under different optical feedback conditions. Specifically we study the influence of (i) the amount of light returning to the laser cavity and (ii) the initial detuning between the frequency shift and intrinsic relaxation frequency. The present work shows how the relaxation frequency is related to the strength of the beating signal, and the shape of the noise power spectrum gives an image of the transfer modulation function (i.e., of the amplification gain) of the nonlinear-laser dynamics. The theoretical predictions, confirmed by numerical resolutions, are in good agreement with the experimental data.

As one of the most intriguing intrinsic properties of the quantum world, quantum superposition provokes great interest in its own generation. Though a universal quantum machine that creates superposition of two arbitrary unknown states has been shown to be physically impossible, a probabilistic protocol exists given that two input states have nonzero overlaps with the referential state. Here we report a probabilistic quantum machine realizing superposition of two arbitrary unknown photonic qubits as long as they have nonzero overlaps with the horizontal polarization state $|H\rangle$. A total of 11 different qubit pairs are chosen to test this protocol and we obtain the average fidelity as high as 0.99, which shows the excellent reliability of our realization. This realization may have significant applications in quantum information and quantum computation, e.g., generating nonclassical states and realizing information compression in a quantum computation.

In this Rapid Communication, we investigate the universal properties of a spin-polarized two-component Fermi gas in one dimension (1D) using the Bethe ansatz. We discuss the quantum phases and phase transitions by obtaining exact results for the equation of state, the contact, the magnetic susceptibility, and the contact susceptibility, giving a precise understanding of the 1D analog of the Bose-Einstein condensation and Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer crossover in three dimensions (3D) and the associated universal magnetic properties. In particular, we obtain the exact form of the magnetic susceptibility $\chi \sim 1/\sqrt{T}exp(-\mathrm{\Delta }/T)$ at low temperatures, where $\mathrm{\Delta }$ is the energy gap and $T$ is the temperature. Moreover, we establish exact upper and lower bounds for the relation between polarization $P$ and the contact $C$ for both repulsive and attractive Fermi gases. Our findings emphasize the role of pair fluctuations in strongly interacting 1D fermion systems that can shed light on higher dimensions.

We introduce a method of investigating qutrit nonclassicality by translating qutrit operators to symmetric two-qubit operators. We show that this procedure sheds light on the discrepancy between maximal qutrit entanglement and maximal nonclassicality of qutrit correlations. Namely, we express Bell operators corresponding to qutrit Bell inequalities in terms of symmetric two-qubit operators and analyze the maximal quantum violation of a given Bell inequality from the qubit perspective. As an example we show that the two-qutrit Collins-Gisin-Linden-Massar-Popescu (CGLMP) Bell inequality can be seen as a combination of Mermin's and Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt CHSH) qubit Bell inequalities, and therefore the optimal state violating this combination differs from the one which corresponds to the maximally entangled state of two qutrits. In addition, we discuss the same problem for a three-qutrit inequality. We also demonstrate that the maximal quantum violation of the CGLMP inequality follows from complementarity of correlations.

An interesting connection has been established between two apparently unrelated concepts, namely, quantum nonlocality and Bayesian game theory. It has been shown that nonlocal correlations in the form of advice can outperform classical equilibrium strategies in common-interest Bayesian games and also in conflicting-interest Bayesian games. Classical equilibrium strategies can be of two types, fair and unfair. Whereas in fair equilibrium payoffs of different players are equal, in the unfair case they differ. An advantage of nonlocal correlation has been demonstrated over fair strategies only. We show that quantum strategies can outperform even the unfair classical equilibrium strategies. For this purpose we consider a class of two-player Bayesian games. It becomes that such games can have only fair equilibria, both fair and unfair equilibria, or only unfair ones. We provide a simple analytic method to characterize the nonlocal correlations that are advantageous over the classical equilibrium strategies in these games. We also show that quantum advice provides a better social optimality solution (a relevant notion of equilibrium for the unfair case) over the classical one.

An experimental investigation of the breakup of ${\left(\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{O}}_2\right)}^{3+}$ induced by $\mathrm{N}{\mathrm{e}}^{4+}$ ion impact at incident energies of 1.12 MeV was performed. By analyzing the momentum distributions and the kinetic energies of the three fragment ions, the nonsequential and sequential dissociation mechanisms are verified. In contrast to highly charged ion impact, two different sequential decay pathways were observed in the present experiment. One pathway originates from the primary cation ${\left(\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{O}}_2\right)}^{3+}$ populated into ${}^4\mathrm{\Sigma }^{+}$ states by collision charge exchange and its daughter cation ${\left(\mathrm{CO}\right)}^{2+}$ populated into the two excited states (${}^3\mathrm{\Pi }$ and $X{}^1\mathrm{\Pi }$) by the first fragmentation step, resulting in a lower KER peak. The other pathway originates from the primary cation ${\left(\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{O}}_2\right)}^{3+}$ locating at ${}^6\mathrm{\Pi }$ state, and its daughter cation ${\left(\mathrm{CO}\right)}^{2+}$ populated into the metastable excited states ${}^3\mathrm{\Pi }$, $X{}^1\mathrm{\Pi }$, and ${}^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^{+}$, leading to the higher KER peak. Our work is a breakup experiment of ${\left(\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{O}}_2\right)}^{3+}$ presenting the initial states of the parent cation ${\left(\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{O}}_2\right)}^{3+}$ and the metastable states of $\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{O}}^{2+}$ ion simultaneously.

The scattering properties regarding the rotational degrees of freedom of a molecular ion in the presence of a buffer gas of helium are investigated. This study is undertaken within the framework of the infinite-order sudden approximation for rotational transitions, which is shown to be applicable to a large variety of molecular ions in a buffer gas of helium at fairly low temperatures. The results derived from the present approach have potential applications in cold chemistry and molecular quantum logic spectroscopy.