Recent tests performed on the D-Wave Two quantum annealer have revealed no clear evidence of speedup over conventional silicon-based technologies. Here we present results from classical parallel-tempering Monte Carlo simulations combined with isoenergetic cluster moves of the archetypal benchmark problem—an Ising spin glass—on the native chip topology. Using realistic uncorrelated noise models for the D-Wave Two quantum annealer, we study the best-case resilience, i.e., the probability that the ground-state configuration is not affected by random fields and random-bond fluctuations found on the chip. We thus compute classical upper-bound success probabilities for different types of disorder used in the benchmarks and predict that an increase in the number of qubits will require either error correction schemes or a drastic reduction of the intrinsic noise found in these devices. We restrict this study to the exact ground state, however, the approach can be trivially extended to the inclusion of excited states if the success metric is relaxed. We outline strategies to develop robust, as well as hard benchmarks for quantum annealing devices, as well as any other (black box) computing paradigm affected by noise.

In this paper, an efficient quantum anonymous ranking protocol with single particles is proposed. A semitrusted server is introduced to help multiple users achieve this secure task. At the end of the protocol, each user can obtain the rankings of his private data, and keep these data secret. The Chinese remainder theorem is utilized to reduce the level of signal particles and to improve the efficiency of the presented protocol. Meanwhile, a secret transmission order of the signal particles is used to keep the traveling particles secure. Finally, we discuss the security of this protocol and prove it to be secure against certain common attacks under ideal conditions.

In recent years, several hacking attacks have broken the security of quantum cryptography implementations by exploiting the presence of losses and the ability of the eavesdropper to tune detection efficiencies. We present a simple attack of this form that applies to any protocol in which the key is constructed from the results of untrusted measurements performed on particles coming from an insecure source or channel. Because of its generality, the attack applies to a large class of protocols, from standard prepare-and-measure to device-independent schemes. Our attack gives bounds on the critical detection efficiencies necessary for secure quantum key distribution, which show that the implementation of most partly device-independent solutions is, from the point of view of detection efficiency, almost as demanding as fully device-independent ones. We also show how our attack implies the existence of a form of bound randomness, namely nonlocal correlations in which a nonsignalling eavesdropper can find out a posteriori the result of any implemented measurement.

The prospects for shielding ultracold, paramagnetic, dipolar molecules from inelastic and chemical collisions are investigated. Molecules placed in their first rotationally excited states are found to exhibit effective long-range repulsion for applied electric fields above a certain critical value, as previously shown for nonparamagnetic molecules. This repulsion can safely allow the molecules to scatter while reducing the risk of inelastic or chemically reactive collisions. Several molecular species of ${}^2\mathrm{\Sigma }$ molecules of experimental interest—RbSr, SrF, BaF, and YO—are considered, and all are shown to exhibit orders of magnitude suppression in quenching rates in a sufficiently strong laboratory electric field. It is further shown that, for these molecules described by Hund's coupling case (b), electronic and nuclear spins play the role of spectator with respect to the shielding.

We show that a “pileup” effect occurring for a train of noninteracting identical particles incident on the same side of a resonance scatterer leads to significant interference effects, different from those observed in Hong-Ou-Mandel experiments. These include characteristic changes in the overall transmission rate and full counting statistics, as well as “bunching” and “antibunching” behavior in the all-particle transmission channel. With several resonances involved, pseudoresonant driving of the two-level system in the barrier may also result in a sharp enhancement of scattering probabilities for certain values of temporal delay between the particles.

We theoretically explore a mechanism resulting in a minimum in the high-harmonic spectrum of a hydrogen molecular ion driven at extended internuclear distances by a mid-infrared laser source. Our analysis identifies this minimum to be a signature of the transient localization of the electron upon alternating nuclear centers and is representative of dynamics occurring exclusively at the time of ionization. We further demonstrate the sensitivity of this spectroscopic feature to driving field parameters as well as its robustness to distributions of laser field intensities and internuclear distances. Finally, we show how variations in the nonadiabatic dynamics induced by the ramping driving field can be imaged through changes in the number and locations of minima in the spectra.

A method of angular streaking with a rotating terahertz electric field for photoelectrons produced by femtosecond extreme ultraviolet pulses is suggested and theoretically analyzed. The method can be used for free electron laser (FEL) pulse characterization on a shot-to-shot basis. It is shown that in related measurements an interesting phenomenon appears: formation of very bright and sharp features in the angular resolved electron spectra measured in the plane perpendicular to the collinear beam direction. These features are similar to the conventional caustics in the wave propagation. The caustics are accompanied by a well-developed interference structure. The intensity distribution along the caustic is determined by the envelope of the FEL pulse.

The spin-squeezing dynamics of a quasi-one-dimensional dipolar Bose gas trapped in a double-well potential is studied by employing the method of the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree for bosons. We find that optimal squeezing generated by the dipolar interaction can be improved over the one-axis twisting limit, and this squeezing is much stronger than that obtained by the contact interaction. Moreover, natural orbital-related squeezing can be controlled by the direction of the dipole moment, which provides control for storing the optimal spin squeezing. The origin of the squeezing as well as the relationship between spin squeezing and the two-order correlation function are also discussed.

We report observations of the formation and subsequent decay of a vortex lattice in a Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a hybrid optical-magnetic trap. Vortices are induced by rotating the anharmonic magnetic potential that provides confinement in the horizontal plane. We present simple numerical techniques based on image analysis to detect vortices and analyze their distributions. We use these methods to quantify the amount of order present in the vortex distribution as it transitions from a disordered array to the energetically favorable ordered lattice.

We investigate the spectral properties of the biphoton state from the cascade emissions of cold atomic ensembles, which are composed of a telecommunication photon (signal) followed by an infrared one (idler) via four-wave mixing. With adiabatic conditions for Gaussian driving pulses of width $\tau$, the spectrum of the biphoton state has the form of a Gaussian that conserves signal and idler photon energies within $\hslash /\tau$ modulated by a Lorentzian with a superradiant linewidth. Multiplexing the atomic ensembles with frequency-shifted cascade emissions, we may manipulate and shape the spectrum of the biphoton state. The entropy of entanglement is derived from Schmidt decomposition, which can be larger if we multiplex the atomic ensembles in a way that conserves signal and idler photon central energies. The eigenvalues in Schmidt bases are degenerate in pairs for symmetric spectral shaping in which the mode probability densities show interference patterns. We also demonstrate the excess entropy of entanglement that comes from continuous frequency space, which scales up the total entropy. The scheme of the multiplexed cascade-emitted biphoton state provides multimode structures that are useful in long-distance quantum communication and multimode quantum information processing.

Control over nuclear-spin fluctuations is essential for processes that rely on preserving the quantum state of an embedded system. For this purpose, squeezing is a viable alternative, so far that has not been properly exploited for the nuclear spins. Of particular relevance in solids is the electric quadrupole interaction (QI), which operates on nuclei having spin higher than 1/2. In its general form, QI involves an electric-field gradient (EFG) biaxiality term. Here, we show that as this EFG biaxiality increases, it enables continuous tuning of single-particle squeezing from the one-axis twisting to the two-axis countertwisting limits. A detailed analysis of QI squeezing is provided, exhibiting the intricate consequences of EFG biaxiality. The initial states over the Bloch sphere are mapped out to identify those favorable for fast initial squeezing, or for prolonged squeezings. Furthermore, the evolution of squeezing in the presence of a phase-damping channel and an external magnetic field are investigated. We observe that dephasing drives toward an antisqueezed terminal state, the degree of which increases with the spin angular momentum. Finally, QI squeezing in the limiting case of a two-dimensional EFG with a perpendicular magnetic field is discussed, which is of importance for two-dimensional materials, and the associated beat patterns in squeezing are revealed.

Previously we considered the effect of experimental parameters on optimized transmission through opaque media using spatial light modulator (SLM)–based wavefront shaping. In this study we consider the opposite geometry, in which we optimize reflection from an opaque surface such that the backscattered light is focused onto a spot on an imaging detector. By systematically varying different experimental parameters (genetic algorithm iterations, bin size, SLM active area, target area, spot size, and sample angle with respect to the optical axis) and optimizing the reflected light we determine how each parameter affects the intensity enhancement. We find that the effects of the experimental parameters on the enhancement are similar to those measured for a transmissive geometry, but with the exact functional forms changed due to the different geometry and the use of a genetic algorithm instead of an iterative algorithm. Additionally, we find preliminary evidence of greater enhancements than predicted by random matrix theory, suggesting a possibly new physical mechanism to be investigated in future work.

We investigate quantumness of spin-1 states, defined as the Hilbert-Schmidt distance to the convex hull of spin coherent states. We derive its analytic expression in the case of pure states as a function of the smallest eigenvalue of the Bloch matrix and give explicitly the closest classical state for an arbitrary pure state. Numerical evidence is given that the exact formula for pure states provides an upper bound on the quantumness of mixed states. Due to the connection between quantumness and entanglement we obtain new insights into the geometry of symmetric entangled states.

We introduce a shortcut to the adiabatic gate teleportation model of quantum computation. More specifically, we determine fast local counterdiabatic Hamiltonians able to implement teleportation as a universal computational primitive. In this scenario, we provide the counterdiabatic driving for arbitrary $n$-qubit gates, which allows to achieve universality through a variety of gate sets. Remarkably, our approach maps the superadiabatic Hamiltonian $H_{\text{SA}}$ for an arbitrary $n$-qubit gate teleportation into the implementation of a rotated superadiabatic dynamics of an $n$-qubit state teleportation. This result is rather general, with the speed of the evolution only dictated by the quantum speed limit. In particular, we analyze the energetic cost for different Hamiltonian interpolations in the context of the energy-time complementarity.

We theoretically develop and experimentally demonstrate a coherence population mapping (CPM) protocol to store atomic coherences in long-lived populations, enabling storage times far beyond the typically very short decoherence times of quantum systems. The amplitude and phase of an atomic coherence is written onto the populations of a three-state system by specifically designed sequences of radiation pulses from two coupling fields. As an important feature, the CPM sequences enable a retrieval efficiency, which is insensitive to the phase of the initial coherence. The information is preserved in every individual atom of the medium, enabling applications in purely homogeneously or inhomogeneously broadened ensembles even when stochastic phase jumps are the main source of decoherence. We experimentally confirm the theoretical predictions by applying CPM for storage of atomic coherences in a doped solid, reaching storage times in the regime of 1 min.

A class of anyonic models for universal quantum computation based on weakly-integral anyons has been recently proposed. While universal set of gates cannot be obtained in this context by anyon braiding alone, designing a certain type of sector charge measurement provides universality. In this paper we develop a compilation algorithm to approximate arbitrary $n$-qutrit unitaries with asymptotically efficient circuits over the metaplectic anyon model. One flavor of our algorithm produces efficient circuits with upper complexity bound asymptotically in $O(3^{2n}log1/\varepsilon )$ and entanglement cost that is exponential in $n$. Another flavor of the algorithm produces efficient circuits with upper complexity bound in $O(n{3}^{2n}log1/\varepsilon )$ and no additional entanglement cost.

In the general bipartite quantum system $m\otimes n(m,n\ge 3)$, Y.-L. Wang et al. [Phys. Rev. A 92, 032313 (2015)] presented $3(m+n)-9$ orthogonal product states which cannot be distinguished by local operations and classical communication (LOCC). In this paper, we aim to construct less locally indistinguishable orthogonal product states in $m\otimes n$. First, in the $3\otimes n(3<n)$ quantum system, we construct $3n-2$ locally indistinguishable orthogonal product states which are not unextendible product bases. Then, for $m\otimes n(4\le m\le n)$, we present $3n+m-4$ orthogonal product states which cannot be perfectly distinguished by LOCC. Finally, in the general bipartite quantum system $m\otimes n(3\le m\le n)$, we show a smaller set with $2n-1$ orthogonal product states and prove that these states are LOCC indistinguishable using a very simple but quite effective method. All of the above results demonstrate the phenomenon of nonlocality without entanglement.

Spherically symmetric ground states of alkali-metal atoms do not posses electric quadrupole moments. However, the hyperfine interaction between nuclear moments and atomic electrons distorts the spherical symmetry of electronic clouds and leads to nonvanishing atomic quadrupole moments. We evaluate these hyperfine-induced quadrupole moments using techniques of relativistic many-body theory and compile results for Li, Na, K, Rb, and Cs atoms. For heavy atoms we find that the hyperfine-induced quadrupole moments are strongly (two orders of magnitude) enhanced by correlation effects. We further apply the results of the calculation to microwave atomic clocks where the coupling of atomic quadrupole moments to gradients of electric fields leads to clock frequency uncertainties. We show that for ${}^{133}\text{Cs}$ atomic clocks, the spatial gradients of electric fields must be smaller than $30\mathrm{V}/{\mathrm{cm}}^2$ to guarantee fractional inaccuracies below ${10}^{-16}$.

In this work, we investigate the dc electric-field dependence of two Förster resonant processes in ultracold ${}^{85}\mathrm{Rb}$, $37D_{5/2}+37D_{5/2}\to 35L(L=O,Q)+39P_{3/2}$, as a function of the atomic density. At low densities, the $39P_{3/2}$ yield as a function of electric field exhibits resonances. With increasing density, the linewidths increase until the peaks merge. Even under these extreme conditions, where the Förster resonance processes show little electric-field dependence, the $39P_{3/2}$ population depends quadratically on the total Rydberg atom population, suggesting that a two-body interaction is the dominant process. In order to explain our results, we implement a theoretical model which takes into account the multilevel character of the interactions and Rydberg atom blockade process using only atom pair interactions. The comparison between the experimental data and the model is very good, suggesting that the Förster resonant processes are dominated by two-body interactions up to atomic densities of $3.0\times {10}^{12}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$.

During femtosecond filamentation in air, nitrogen molecules and corresponding molecular ions undergo dissociation due to the high intensity of laser pulses, generating nitrogen atoms and atomic ions. The generated atoms and atomic ions emit luminescence in the UV range, which superposes on those emissions for the neutral and ionic nitrogen molecules. Here we report on a significant difference between the emission behavior of the 391-nm line and the other spectral lines under different pump laser polarizations. We attribute this difference to the contribution of the atomic ions to the luminescence emission around 391 nm. The difference becomes more evident in tightly focusing cases, providing an indirect but effective evidence for the dissociation of nitrogen molecular ions.