Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emission spectra have been measured in charge exchange collisions between Xe${}^{q+}$ ($q=7\text{--}9$) and rare gases at an energy of 20 $q$ keV. We have observed 4, 22, and 39 lines in collisions of Xe${}^{7+}$, Xe${}^{8+}$, and Xe${}^{9+}$. Of these emission lines, four lines of Xe vii, eight lines of Xe viii, and nine lines of Xe ix correspond to newly observed transitions. The identification procedure is described in detail. The aim of this work is to obtain spectroscopic data for multiply charged Xe ions. In addition, the electron capture mechanism is also discussed using the crude classical over-the-barrier model to understand the target dependence of the emission spectra.

We study the ionization dynamics in the soft-x-ray regime for high intensities and short pulses for excitations near the ionization threshold. Using a one-dimensional helium atom model, we compare exact numerical solutions with time-dependent Hartree-Fock results in order to identify the role of electron-electron correlations. At moderate intensities but still in the x-ray and short-pulse regime, we find that the Hartree-Fock theory reproduces well the dynamics of the ground-state occupation, while at high intensities strong correlation effects occur for excitations close to the threshold. From their characteristic momentum distributions, we can identify contributions to the double ionization from sequential three-photon and nonsequential or sequential two-photon processes. At elevated intensities these contributions deviate from their usual intensity scaling due to saturation effects, even though the total double-ionization probability stays below 10%. Furthermore, analysis of the time evolution of the momentum distribution reveals signatures of the energy-time uncertainty which indicate a coherent regime of the dynamics.

We investigate the sub-Doppler laser cooling of bosonic potassium isotopes, whose small hyperfine splitting has so far prevented cooling below the Doppler temperature. We find instead that the combination of a dark optical molasses scheme that naturally arises in this kind of system and an adiabatic ramping of the laser parameters allows us to reach sub-Doppler temperatures for small laser detunings. We demonstrate temperatures as low as $25\pm 3$ $\mu$K and $47\pm 5$ $\mu$K in high-density samples of the two isotopes ${}^{39}$K and ${}^{41}$K, respectively. Our findings should find application to other atomic systems.

The fluctuating and dissipative dynamics of matter-wave dark solitons within harmonically trapped, partially condensed Bose gases is studied both numerically and analytically. A study of the stochastic Gross-Pitaevskii equation, which correctly accounts for density and phase fluctuations at finite temperatures, reveals dark-soliton decay times to be lognormally distributed at each temperature, thereby characterizing the previously predicted long-lived soliton trajectories within each ensemble of numerical realizations [S. P. Cockburn et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 174101 (2010)]. Expectation values for the average soliton lifetimes extracted from these distributions are found to agree well with both numerical and analytic predictions based upon the dissipative Gross-Pitaevskii model (with the same ab initio damping). Probing the regime for which 0.8 $k_{B}T<\mu <1.6$ $k_{B}T$, we find average soliton lifetimes to scale with temperature as $\tau \sim T^{-4}$, in agreement with predictions previously made for the low-temperature regime $k_{B}T\ll \mu$. The model is also shown to capture the experimentally relevant decrease in the visibility of an oscillating soliton due to the presence of background fluctuations.

We present an optimized strategy for the production of tightly confined Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) of ${}^{87}$Rb in a crossed dipole trap with direct loading from a magneto-optical trap. The dipole trap is created with light of a multifrequency fiber laser with a center wavelength of 1070 nm. Evaporative cooling is performed by ramping down the laser power only. A comparison of the resulting atom number in an almost pure BEC to the initial atom number and the value for the gain in phase space density per atom lost confirm that this straightforward strategy is very efficient. We observe that the temporal characteristics of evaporation sequence are strongly influenced by power-dependent two-body losses resulting from enhanced optical pumping to the higher-energy hyperfine state. We characterize these losses and compare them to results obtained with a single-frequency laser at 1030 nm.

We examine spectral properties on one-dimensional (1D) trapped ultracold Fermi atoms loaded on optical lattices by using the dynamical density-matrix renormalization group (DDMRG) method. We find that spectra are very rich due to the interplay of free or repulsive interaction and the harmonic-trap potential. One of the rich examples is that a 1D Tomonaga-Luttinger (TL) liquid spectrum emerges beneath multiple bound-state flat levels in the Mott-plateau phase and the TL spectrum gradually disappears with a partial breakdown of the central Mott plateau by increasing the trap strength. A more striking example is the growth of a distinct low-energy broadened band from the bound-state flat levels together with the breakdown. It demonstrates a carrier doping effect into the Mott phase in optical lattice systems.

We present theoretical tools for predicting and reducing the effects of atomic interactions in Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) interferometry experiments. To address mean-field shifts during free propagation, we derive a robust scaling solution that reduces the three-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation to a set of three simple differential equations valid for any interaction strength. To model the other common components of a BEC interferometer—condensate splitting, manipulation, and recombination—we generalize the slowly varying envelope reduction, providing both analytic handles and dramatically improved simulations. Applying these tools to a BEC interferometer to measure the fine structure constant, $\alpha$ [S. Gupta, K. Dieckmann, Z. Hadzibabic, and D. E. Pritchard, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 140401 (2002)], we find agreement with the results of the original experiment and demonstrate that atomic interactions do not preclude measurement to better than part-per-billion accuracy, even for atomic species with relatively large scattering lengths. These tools help make BEC interferometry a viable choice for a broad class of precision measurements.

The Wigner distribution function (WDF) of a vortex Airy beam is calculated analytically. The WDF provides intuitive pictures of the intriguing features of vorticity in phase space. The nonclassical property of the vortex Airy beam and the Airy beam is analyzed through the negative parts of the WDF. The study shows that destructive interference of certain classical waves can mimic nonclassical lights such as those due to quantum effects.

Coupled nonlinear resonators have potential applications for the integration of multistable photonic devices. The dynamic properties of two coupled-mode nonlinear microcavities made of Kerr material are studied by linear stability analysis. Using a suitable combination of the modal coupling rate and the frequency detuning, it is possible to obtain configurations where a hysteresis loop is included inside other bistable cycles. We show that a single resonator with two modes both linearly and nonlinearly coupled via the cross-Kerr effect can have a multistable behavior. This could be implemented in semiconductor nonlinear whispering-gallery-mode microresonators under modal coupling for all optical signal processing or ternary optical logic applications.

We study the relative stability of different one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) clusters of closely packed localized peaks of the Swift-Hohenberg equation. In the 1D case, we demonstrate numerically the existence of a spatial Maxwell transition point where all clusters involving up to 15 peaks are equally stable. Above (below) this point, clusters become more (less) stable when their number of peaks increases. In the 2D case, since clusters involving more than two peaks may exhibit distinct spatial arrangements, this point splits into a set of Maxwell transition points.

We suggest an experimentally feasible procedure to observe counterflow and paired superfluidity in ultracold atom systems. We study the time evolution of one-dimensional mixtures of bosonic atoms in an optical lattice following an abrupt displacement of an additional weak confining potential. We find that the dynamic responses of the paired superfluid phase for attractive interspecies interactions and the counterflow superfluid phase for repulsive interactions are qualitatively distinct and reflect the quasi-long-range order that characterizes these phases. These findings suggest a clear experimental procedure for their detection, and give an intuitive insight into their dynamics.

The problem of finding the ground state of a frustration-free Hamiltonian carrying only two-body interactions between qubits is known to be solvable in polynomial time. It is also shown recently that, for any such Hamiltonian, there is always a ground state that is a product of single- or two-qubit states. However, it remains unclear whether the whole ground space is of any succinct structure. Here, we give a complete characterization of the ground space of any two-body frustration-free Hamiltonian of qubits. Namely, it is a span of tree tensor network states of the same tree structure. This characterization allows us to show that the problem of determining the ground-state degeneracy is as hard as, but no harder than, its classical analog.

In a previous paper [Phys. Rev. A 81, 063837 (2010)], I proposed a quantum model of the cavity electro-optic modulator, which can coherently couple an optical cavity mode to a microwave resonator mode and enable quantum operations on the two modes, including laser cooling of the microwave resonator, electro-optic entanglement, and backaction-evading optical measurement of a microwave quadrature. In this sequel, I focus on the quantum input-output relations between traveling optical and microwave fields coupled to the cavity electro-optic modulator. With red-sideband optical pumping, the relations are shown to resemble those of a beam splitter for the traveling fields, so that in the ideal case of zero parasitic loss and critical coupling, microwave photons can be coherently up converted to “flying” optical photons with unit efficiency, and vice versa. With blue-sideband pumping, the modulator acts as a nondegenerate parametric amplifier, which can generate two-mode squeezing and hybrid entangled photon pairs at optical and microwave frequencies. These fundamental operations provide a potential bridge between circuit quantum electrodynamics and quantum optics.

The Goos-Hänchen (GH) effect for wave scattering from complex $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric periodic potentials (complex crystals) is theoretically investigated, with specific reference to optical GH shift in photonic crystal slabs with a sinusoidal periodic modulation of both real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant. The analysis highlights some distinct and rather unique features as compared to the GH shift found in ordinary crystals. In particular, as opposed to GH shift in ordinary crystals, which is large at the band gap edges, in complex crystals the GH shift can be large inside the reflection (amplification) band and becomes extremely large as the $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry-breaking threshold is approached.

Recent observation of several microwave transitions in H${}_2$O${}_2$ from the interstellar medium [Bergman et al. Astron. Astrophys. 531, L8 (2011)] raised interest in this molecule as yet another sensitive probe of the tentative variation of the electron-to-proton mass ratio $\mu$. We estimate sensitivity coefficients of the microwave transitions in H${}_2$O${}_2$ to $\mu$ variation. The largest coefficient for 14.8-GHz transition is equal to 37, which is comparable to the highest sensitivities in methanol and an order of magnitude higher than the sensitivity of the tunneling transition in ammonia.

We consider a system with general decoherence and a quadratic dynamical decoupling sequence (QDD) for the coherence control of a qubit coupled to a bath of spins. We investigate the influence of the geometry and of the initial conditions of the bath on the performance of the sequence. The overall performance is quantified by a distance norm $d$. It is expected that $d$ scales with $\tau$, the total duration of the sequence, as ${\tau }^{\min \{N_x,N_z\}+1}$, where $N_x$ and $N_z$ are the number of pulses of the outer and of the inner sequence, respectively. We show both numerically and analytically that the state of the bath can boost the performance of QDD under certain conditions: The scaling of QDD for a given number of pulses can be enhanced by a factor of 2 if the bath is prepared in a highly symmetric state and if the system Hamiltonian is SU(2) invariant.

We have recently proposed a two-dimensional quantum walk where the requirement of a higher dimensionality of the coin space is substituted with the alternance of the directions in which the walker can move [C. Di Franco, M. Mc Gettrick, and Th. Busch, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 080502 (2011)]. For a particular initial state of the coin, this walk is able to perfectly reproduce the spatial probability distribution of the nonlocalized case of the Grover walk. Here, we present a more detailed proof of this equivalence. We also extend the analysis to other initial states in order to provide a more complete picture of our walk. We show that this scheme outperforms the Grover walk in the generation of $x$-$y$ spatial entanglement for any initial condition, with the maximum entanglement obtained in the case of the particular aforementioned state. Finally, the equivalence is generalized to wider classes of quantum walks and a limit theorem for the alternate walk in this context is presented.

We have numerically solved the low-energy excitation spectra of ferromagnetic Bose-Einstein condensates subject to dipolar interparticle interactions. The system is assumed to be harmonically confined by purely optical means, thereby maintaining the spin degree of freedom of the condensate order parameter. Using a zero-temperature spin-1 model, we solve the Bogoliubov excitations for different spin textures, including a spin-vortex state in the absence of external magnetic fields and a rapidly rotating polarized spin texture in a finite homogeneous field. In particular, we consider the effect of dipolar interactions on excitations characteristic of ferromagnetic condensates. The energies of spin waves and magnetic quadrupole modes are found to increase rapidly with the dipolar coupling strength, whereas the energies of density oscillations change only slightly.

We develop a theoretical method going beyond the contact-interaction approximation frequently used in mean-field theories of many-fermion systems, based on the low-energy $T$ matrix of the pair potential to rigorously define the effective radius of the interaction. One of the main consequences of our approach is the possibility to investigate finite-density effects, which are outside the range of validity of approximations based on $\delta$-like potentials. We apply our method to the calculation of density-dependent properties of an ultracold gas of ${}^6$Li atoms at unitarity, whose two-body interaction potential is calculated using ab initio quantum chemistry methods. We find that density effects will be significant in ultracold gases with densities 1 order of magnitude higher than those attained in current experiments.

We studied experimentally and theoretically the evolution of open atomic systems in the constant intensity laser field. The study is performed by analyzing the line shapes of Hanle electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) obtained in different segments of a laser beam cross section of constant intensity, i.e., a $\Pi$-shaped laser beam. Such Hanle EIT resonances were measured using a small movable aperture placed just in front of the photodetector, i.e., after the entire laser beam had passed through the vacuum Rb cell. The laser was locked to the open transition $F_g=2\to F_e=1$ at the $D_1$ line of ${}^{87}$Rb with laser intensities between 0.5 and 4 mW/cm${}^2$. This study shows that the profile of the laser beam determines the processes governing the development of atomic states during the interaction. The resonances obtained near the beam center are narrower than those obtained near the beam edge, but the significant changes of the linewidths occur only near the beam edge, i.e., right after the atom enters the beam. The Hanle EIT resonances obtained near the beam center exhibit two pronounced minima next to the central maximum. The theoretical model reveals that the occurrence of these transmission minima is a joint effect of the preparation of atoms into the dark state and the optical pumping into the uncoupled ground level $F_g=1$. The appearance of the transmission minima, although similar to that observed in the wings of a Gaussian beam [A. J. Krmpot et al., Opt. Express 17, 22491 (2009)], is of an entirely different nature for the $\Pi$-shaped laser beam.