We investigate equilibration processes shortly after sudden perturbations are applied to ultracold trapped superfluids. We show the similarity of phase imprinting and localized density depletion perturbations, both of which initially are found to produce “phase walls.” These planar defects are associated with a sharp gradient in the phase. Importantly they relax following a quite general sequence. Our studies, based on simulations of the complex time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation, address the challenge posed by these experiments: how a superfluid eventually eliminates a spatially extended planar defect. The processes involved are necessarily more complex than equilibration involving simpler line vortices. An essential mechanism for relaxation involves repeated formation and loss of vortex rings near the trap edge.

We demonstrate that stationary localized solutions (discrete solitons) exist in one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard lattices with gain and loss in a semiclassical regime. Stationary solutions, by definition, are robust and do not demand state preparation. Losses, unavoidable in experiments, are not a drawback, but a necessary ingredient for these modes to exist. The semiclassical calculations are complemented with their classical limit and dynamics based on a Gutzwiller ansatz. We argue that circuit quantum electrodynamic architectures are ideal platforms for realizing the physics developed here. Finally, within the input-output formalism, we explain how to experimentally access the different phases, including the solitons, of the chain.

We propose a scheme for a deterministic controlled-phase gate between two photons that is based on the strong interaction between two stationary collective Rydberg excitations in an atomic ensemble outside the regime of Rydberg blockade. The distance-dependent character of the interaction causes both a momentum displacement of the collective excitations and unwanted entanglement between them. We show that these effects can be overcome by swapping the collective excitations in space and by optimizing the geometry, resulting in a photon-photon gate with high fidelity and efficiency.

We consider a matter wave packet of cold atom gas impinging upon a step potential created by an optical light field. In the presence of spin-orbit coupling, the atomic eigenstates contain two types of evanescent states, one of which is an ordinary evanescent state with a pure imaginary wave vector while the other possesses a complex wave vector and is recognized as an oscillating evanescent state. We show that the presence and interplay of these two types of evanescent states can give rise to two different mechanisms for total internal reflection, and thus lead to an unusual Goos-Hänchen (GH) effect. As a result, not only large positive but also large negative GH shifts can be observed in the reflected atomic beam. The dependence of the GH shift on the incident angle, energy, and height of the step potential is studied numerically.

We propose a method of accelerating the speed of evolution of an open system by an external classical driving field for a qubit in a zero-temperature structured reservoir. It is shown that, with a judicious choice of the driving strength of the applied classical field, a speed-up evolution of an open system can be achieved in both the weak system-environment couplings and the strong system-environment couplings. By considering the relationship between non-Makovianity of environment and the classical field, we can drive the open system from the Markovian to the non-Markovian regime by manipulating the driving strength of the classical field. That is the intrinsic physical reason that the classical field may induce the speed-up process. In addition, the role of this classical field on the variation of quantum evolution speed in the whole decoherence process is discussed.

Many current problems of interest in quantum nonequilibrium are described by time-local master equations (TLMEs) for the density matrix that are not of the Lindblad form, that is, that are not strictly probability-conserving and/or Markovian. Here we describe a generic approach by which the system of interest that obeys the TLME is coupled to an ancilla, such that the dynamics of the combined system-plus-ancilla is Markovian and thus described by a Lindblad equation. This in turn allows us to recover the properties of the original TLME dynamics from a physical unraveling of this associated Lindblad dynamics. We discuss applications of this generic mapping in two areas of current interest. The first one is that of “thermodynamics of trajectories”, where non-Lindblad master equations encode the large-deviation properties of the dynamics, and we show that the relevant large-deviation functions (i.e., dynamical free energies) can be recovered from appropriate observables of the ancilla. The second one is that of quantum filters, where we show that tracking a quantum system undergoing a continuous homodyne measurement with another quantum system of the same size will inherently be inefficient in our framework.

We show that any unitary operator on the $d_A\times d_B$ system $\left(d_A\ge 2\right)$ can be decomposed into the product of at most $4d_A-5$ controlled unitary operators. The number can be reduced to $2d_A-1$ when $d_A$ is a power of two. We also prove that three controlled unitaries can implement a bipartite complex permutation operator, and discuss the connection to an analogous result on classical reversible circuits. We further show that any $n$-partite unitary on the space ${\mathbb{C}}^{d_1}\otimes \cdots \otimes {\mathbb{C}}^{d_n}$ is the product of at most $[2{\prod }_{j=1}^{n-1}(2d_j-2)-1]$ controlled unitary gates, each of which is controlled from $n-1$ systems. We also decompose any bipartite unitary into the product of a simple type of bipartite gate and some local unitaries. We derive dimension-independent upper bounds for the controlled-not gate cost or entanglement cost of bipartite permutation unitaries (with the help of ancillas of fixed size) as functions of the Schmidt rank of the unitary. It is shown that such costs under a simple protocol are related to the log-rank conjecture in communication complexity theory via the link of nonnegative rank.

We analyze an optomechanical system that can be used to efficiently transfer a quantum state between an optical cavity and a distant mechanical oscillator coupled to a second optical cavity. We show that for a moderate mechanical $Q$ factor it is possible to achieve a transfer efficiency of $99.4\%$ by using adjustable cavity damping rates and destructive interference. We also show that the quantum mechanical oscillator can be used as a quantum memory device with an efficiency of $96\%$ employing a pulsed optomechanical coupling. Although the mechanical dissipation slightly decreases the efficiency, its effect can be significantly reduced by designing a high-$Q$ mechanical oscillator.

Many approximations within density-functional theory spuriously predict that a many-electron system can dissociate into fractionally charged fragments. Here, we revisit the case of dissociated diatomic molecules, known to exhibit this problem when studied within standard approaches, including the local spin-density approximation (LSDA). By employing our recently proposed [E. Kraisler and L. Kronik, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 126403 (2013)] ensemble generalization we find that asymptotic fractional dissociation is eliminated in all systems examined, even if the underlying exchange correlation (xc) is still the LSDA. Furthermore, as a result of the ensemble-generalization procedure, the Kohn-Sham potential develops a spatial step between the dissociated atoms, reflecting the emergence of the derivative discontinuity in the xc energy functional. This step, predicted in the past for the exact Kohn-Sham potential and observed in some of its more advanced approximate forms, is a desired feature that prevents any fractional charge transfer between the system's fragments. It is usually believed that simple xc approximations such as the LSDA cannot develop this step. Our findings show, however, that ensemble generalization to fractional electron densities automatically introduces the desired step even to the most simple approximate xc functionals and correctly predicts asymptotic integer dissociation.

Recently, the lattice shaking technique has been used to couple different Bloch bands resonantly. For the one-dimensional (1D) case in which shaking is along only one direction, experimental observation of domain-wall formation has been explained by superfluid Ising transition. Inspired by these, we generalize to a two-dimensional case in which shaking is along two orthogonal directions. Analogous to the 1D case, we find three different phases, the normal superfluid (NSF) phase, the $D_4$ symmetry-breaking superfluid $\left(D_4\mathrm{SF}\right)$ phase, and the Mott insulator (MI) phase. Furthermore, we demonstrate that an interaction effect induced by inhomogeneous band mixing can modify the critical shaking amplitude. Unlike in the 1D case, shaking types also can modify the critical shaking amplitude. We also construct a low-energy effective field theory to study the quantum criticality of bosons near the tricritical point of NSF, $D_4\mathrm{SF}$, and MI phases. Moreover, we find a Bose liquid with anisotropically algebraic order and propose to change a Bose-Einstein condensate into a noncondensed Bose liquid by tuning the shaking amplitude approaching the critical value.

We predict the general feasibility and demonstrate the design of the continuous-wave terahertz laser operating between Landau levels in graphene placed on a polar substrate in a magnetic field of order 1 T. Steady-state population inversion under a continuous-wave optical pumping becomes possible due to surface-phonon-mediated relaxation of carriers. The scheme is scalable to other materials with massless Dirac fermions, for example, surface states in three-dimensional topological insulators such as ${\mathrm{Bi}}_2{\mathrm{Se}}_3$ or ${\mathrm{Bi}}_2{\mathrm{Te}}_3$.

We consider the information flow on a system observable $X$ corresponding to a positive-operator-valued measure under a quantum measurement process $Y$ described by a completely positive instrument from the viewpoint of the relative entropy. We establish a sufficient condition for the relative-entropy conservation law which states that the average decrease in the relative entropy of the system observable $X$ equals the relative entropy of the measurement outcome of $Y$, i.e., the information gain due to measurement. This sufficient condition is interpreted as an assumption of classicality in the sense that there exists a sufficient statistic in a joint successive measurement of $Y$ followed by $X$ such that the probability distribution of the statistic coincides with that of a single measurement of $X$ for the premeasurement state. We show that in the case when $X$ is a discrete projection-valued measure and $Y$ is discrete, the classicality condition is equivalent to the relative-entropy conservation for arbitrary states. The general theory on the relative-entropy conservation is applied to typical quantum measurement models, namely, quantum nondemolition measurement, destructive sharp measurements on two-level systems, a photon counting, a quantum counting, homodyne and heterodyne measurements. These examples except for the nondemolition and photon-counting measurements do not satisfy the known Shannon-entropy conservation law proposed by Ban [M. Ban, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 32, 1643 (1999)], implying that our approach based on the relative entropy is applicable to a wider class of quantum measurements.

The Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality test is widely used as a means of invalidating the local deterministic theories and a tool of device-independent quantum cryptographic tasks. There exists a randomness (free will) loophole in the test, which is widely believed impossible to be closed perfectly, that is, certain random inputs are required for the test. Following a randomness quantification method used in literature, we investigate the randomness required in the test under various assumptions. By comparing the results, we conclude that, in order to make the test result reliable, it is more important to rule out the correlation between multiple runs than the correlation between two parties.

Recent theoretical and experimental developments in the field of electron-vortex-beam physics have raised questions about what exactly this novelty in the field of electron microscopy (and other fields, such as particle physics) really provides. An important part of the answer to these questions lies in scattering theory. The present investigation explores various aspects of inelastic quantum scattering theory for cylindrically symmetric beams with orbital angular momentum. The model system of Coulomb scattering on a hydrogen atom provides the setting to address various open questions: How is momentum transferred? Do vortex beams selectively excite atoms, and how can one employ vortex beams to detect magnetic transitions? The analytical approach presented here provides answers to these questions. OAM transfer is possible, but not through selective excitation; rather, by pre- and postselection one can filter out the relevant contributions to a specific signal.

We study theoretically the interaction between two species of ultracold atoms confined in two layers of a finite separation and demonstrate the existence of confinement-induced interlayer bound and quasibound molecules: These excitonlike interlayer molecules appear for both positive and negative scattering lengths and exist even for layer separations many times larger than the interspecies scattering length. The lifetime of the quasibound molecules grows exponentially with increasing layer separation and the molecules can therefore be observed in simple shaking experiments, as we demonstrate through detailed many-body calculations. These quasibound molecules can also give rise to interspecies Feshbach resonances, enabling one to control geometrically the interaction between the two species by changing the layer separation. Rather counterintuitively, the species can be made strongly interacting, by actually increasing their spatial separation. The separation-induced interlayer resonances provide a powerful tool for the experimental control of interspecies interactions and enables one to realize novel quantum phases of multicomponent quantum gases.

Experimental and theoretical studies are performed to investigate guiding of 4.5-keV ${\mathrm{Ar}}^{7+}$ ions through a conical macrocapillary. The tilt angle of the capillary axis relative to the incident beam is varied within $0^{\circ }–2^{\circ }$. The experiments are performed using a glass capillary whose bulk conductivity could be varied by changing its temperature from $24{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}–110{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$. At lower temperatures a minimum in the transmitted ion intensity is observed in the forward direction. After strongly increasing the electrical conductivity of the capillary by increasing its temperature to $110{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C},$ the transmission profile becomes geometrical without a forward minimum. The experimental data are compared with theoretical results, which are based on simulations previously developed for nanocapillaries and a straight macrocapillary. Both the surface and bulk conductivities are implemented in the calculations, providing clear evidence that the bulk conductivity is dominant. The major experimental features are reproduced by the simulations, providing evidence for the mechanisms producing the forward minimum.

We present finite-temperature, lattice Monte Carlo calculations of the particle number density, compressibility, pressure, and Tan's contact of an unpolarized system of short-range, attractively interacting spin-1/2 fermions in one spatial dimension, i.e., the Gaudin-Yang model. In addition, we compute the second-order virial coefficients for the pressure and the contact, both of which are in excellent agreement with the lattice results in the low-fugacity regime. Our calculations yield universal predictions for ultracold atomic systems with broad resonances in highly constrained traps. We cover a wide range of couplings and temperatures and find results that support the existence of a strong-coupling regime in which the thermodynamics of the system is markedly different from the noninteracting case. We compare and contrast our results with identical systems in higher dimensions.