Equilibrium vortex formation in rotating binary Bose gases with a rotating frequency higher than the harmonic trapping frequency is investigated theoretically. We consider the system being evaporatively cooled to form condensates and a combined numerical scheme is applied to ensure the binary system being in an authentic equilibrium state. To keep the system stable against the large centrifugal force of ultrafast rotation, a quartic trapping potential is added to the existing harmonic part. Using the Thomas-Fermi approximation, a critical rotating frequency ${\Omega }_c$ is derived, which characterizes the structure with or without a central density hole. Vortex structures are studied in detail with rotation frequency both above and below ${\Omega }_c$ and with respect to the miscible, symmetrically separated, and asymmetrically separated phases in their nonrotating ground-state counterparts.

Investigations of the quantum interference in laser-assisted photoionization by an attosecond extreme ultraviolet (xuv) pulse shows an approximately constant value for the total photoionizations for different laser intensities. The square of the full width at half maximum of a photoelectron energy spectrum (PES) linearly depends on the laser intensity. By determining the laser-related phase of each streaked electron and using a transfer equation with linear corrections, an analytically quick method is proposed for precisely reconstructing the xuv pulse intensity (chirp) from one (two) measured PES(s) with a theoretical root-mean-square temporal (energy) difference of less than 1 attosecond (0.1 eV).

We calculate the radiative characteristics of emission from a system of entangled atoms which can have a relative distance larger than the emission wavelength. We develop a quantum multipath interference approach which explains both super- and subradiance though the entangled states have zero dipole moment. We derive a formula for the radiated intensity in terms of different interfering pathways. We further show how the interferences lead to directional emission from atoms prepared in symmetric $W$ states. As a byproduct of our work we show how Dicke’s classic result can be understood in terms of interfering pathways. In contrast to the previous works on ensembles of atoms, we focus on finite numbers of atoms prepared in well characterized states.

High-order harmonic generation by few-cycle 800 nm laser pulses in neon gas in the presence of a strong terahertz (THz) field is investigated numerically with propagation effects taken into account. Our calculations show that the combination of THz fields with up to 12 fs laser pulses can be an effective gating technique to generate single attosecond pulses. We show that in the presence of the strong THz field only a single attosecond burst can be phase matched, whereas radiation emitted during other half cycles disappears during propagation. The cutoff is extended and a wide supercontinuum appears in the near-field spectra, extending the available spectral width for isolated attosecond pulse generation from 23 to 93 eV. We demonstrate that phase-matching effects are responsible for the generation of isolated attosecond pulses, even in conditions when single-atom response yields an attosecond pulse train.

We show that the inherent entanglement of the ground state of strongly correlated systems can be exploited for both classical and quantum communications. Our strategy is based on a single-qubit rotation that encodes information in the entangled nature of the ground state. In classical communication, our mechanism conveys more than one bit of information in each shot, just as dense coding does, without demanding long-range entanglement. In our scheme for quantum communication, the quality is higher than the widely studied attaching scenarios. Moreover, we propose to implement this way of communication in optical lattices.

A general quantum channel can be represented in terms of a unitary interaction between the information-carrying system and a noisy environment. In this paper the minimal number of quantum Gaussian environmental modes required to provide a unitary dilation of a multimode bosonic Gaussian channel is analyzed for both pure and mixed environments. We compute this quantity in the case of pure environment corresponding to the Stinespring representation and give an improved estimate in the case of mixed environment. The computations rely, on one hand, on the properties of the generalized Choi-Jamiolkowski state and, on the other hand, on an explicit construction of the minimal dilation for arbitrary bosonic Gaussian channel. These results introduce a new quantity reflecting “noisiness” of bosonic Gaussian channels and can be applied to address some issues concerning transmission of information in continuous variables systems.

In this article, we develop a numerical method to find optimal control pulses that accounts for the separation of timescales between the variation of the input control fields and the applied Hamiltonian. In traditional numerical optimization methods, these timescales are treated as being the same. While this approximation has had much success, in applications where the input controls are filtered substantially or mixed with a fast carrier, the resulting optimized pulses have little relation to the applied physical fields. Our technique remains numerically efficient in that the dimension of our search space is only dependent on the variation of the input control fields, while our simulation of the quantum evolution is accurate on the timescale of the fast variation in the applied Hamiltonian.

This paper proposes a quantum protocol for a cheat-sensitive commitment of a classical bit. Alice, the receiver of the bit, can examine dishonest Bob, who changes or postpones his choice. Bob, the sender of the bit, can examine dishonest Alice, who violates concealment. For each round-trip case, Alice sends one of two spin states |$S$±⟩ by choosing basis $S$ at random from two conjugate bases $X$ and $Y$. Bob chooses basis $C$ ∈ {$X$,$Y$} to perform a measurement and returns a resultant state |$C$±⟩. Alice then performs a measurement with the other basis $R$ (≠$S$) and obtains an outcome |$R$±⟩. In the opening phase, she can discover dishonest Bob, who unveils a wrong basis with a faked spin state, or Bob can discover dishonest Alice, who infers basis $C$ but destroys |$C$±⟩ by setting $R$ to be identical to $S$ in the commitment phase. If a classical bit is coded in a block of $m$ × $n$ qubit particles, impartial examinations and probabilistic security criteria can be achieved.

The target dependence for projectile electron loss is investigated using experimental data taken from the literature. Impact energies range from a few tens of eV/u to tens of MeV/u. For energies less than several MeV/u, the target dependences are shown to be very similar, independent of projectile species and charge state. Overall, however, with increasing impact energy the cross-section dependence on the target nuclear charge systematically increases. It is shown that none of the existing cross-section target scaling models reproduce these features. A model, based on Born scaling and including both the antiscreening and screening contributions to projectile electron loss, is developed. With the inclusion of relativistic effects, which increase the contribution from both channels at high energies, and “target saturation” effects, which reduce the contribution from the screening term for heavy targets and lower impact energies, this model describes quite reasonably all available experimental data. A simple scaling formula that reproduces the measured atomic number and impact velocity dependences is provided. This formula is applicable for projectile electron loss in collisions with either atomic or molecular targets and for impact energies ranging from a few to tens of MeV/u.

We devise experimental schemes that are able to mimic uniform and staggered magnetic fluxes acting on ultracold two-electron atoms, such as ytterbium atoms, propagating in a honeycomb lattice. The atoms are first trapped into two independent state-selective triangular lattices and then further exposed to a suitable configuration of resonant Raman laser beams. These beams induce hops between the two triangular lattices and make atoms move in a honeycomb lattice. Atoms traveling around each unit cell of this honeycomb lattice pick up a nonzero phase. In the uniform case, the artificial magnetic flux sustained by each cell can reach about two flux quanta, thereby realizing a cold-atom analog of the Harper model with its notorious Hofstadter’s butterfly structure. Different condensed-matter phenomena such as the relativistic integer and fractional quantum Hall effects, as observed in graphene samples, could be targeted with this scheme.

We study the physics of a three-component Fermi gas in an optical lattice, in the presence of a three-body constraint arising due to strong three-body loss. Using analytical and numerical techniques, we show that an atomic color superfluid phase is formed in this system and undergoes phase separation between unpaired fermions and superfluid pairs. This phase separation survives well above the critical temperature, giving a clear experimental signature of the three-body constraint.

For paving the way to novel applications in quantum simulation, computation, and technology, increasingly large quantum systems have to be steered with high precision. It is a typical task amenable to numerical optimal control to turn the time course of pulses, i.e., piecewise constant control amplitudes, iteratively into an optimized shape. Here, we present a comparative study of optimal-control algorithms for a wide range of finite-dimensional applications. We focus on the most commonly used algorithms: GRAPE methods which update all controls concurrently, and Krotov-type methods which do so sequentially. Guidelines for their use are given and open research questions are pointed out. Moreover, we introduce a unifying algorithmic framework, DYNAMO (dynamic optimization platform), designed to provide the quantum-technology community with a convenient matlab-based tool set for optimal control. In addition, it gives researchers in optimal-control techniques a framework for benchmarking and comparing newly proposed algorithms with the state of the art. It allows a mix-and-match approach with various types of gradients, update and step-size methods as well as subspace choices. Open-source code including examples is made available at http://qlib.info.

We present an exhaustive overview of optical absorption and laser-induced fluorescence lines of Ba atoms in liquid and solid helium matrices in visible and near-infrared spectral ranges. Due to the increased density of isolated atoms, we have found a large number of spectral lines that were not observed in condensed helium matrices before. We have also measured the lifetimes of metastable states. The lowest ${}^3{D}_1$ metastable state has lifetime of 2.6 s and can be used as an intermediate state in two-step excitations of high-lying states. Various matrix-induced radiationless population transfer channels have been identified.

We theoretically investigate the electronic dynamics in the hydrogen molecular ion at fixed intermediate internuclear distances in two-dimensional space for the electron in a linearly polarized laser field. Our results of numerical simulations confirm the predictions of multiple bursts of ionization within a half cycle of the laser field oscillation as recently reported for one-dimensional models. Based on the analysis of the Floquet states for a two-state model of the molecular ion, we discuss the relation of the multiple ionization bursts to the so-called charge-resonance-enhanced ionization phenomenon and the momentum gates.

In a recent combined experimental and theoretical paper for the total photoionization cross section of helium up to the single-ionization threshold $I_{13}$, we had shown that Ericson fluctuations were absent, although the Ericson regime had already been reached. In the present paper, we study the autocorrelation functions of the total photoionization cross section below $I_9\text{--}{I}_{13}$ and find that these are essentially identical to that of an artificial spectrum with Ericson fluctuations. Consequently, we have to conclude that the autocorrelation function alone—although its Lorentzian-like shape for small displacements $\varepsilon$ has been used by some authors—is a necessary but is not a sufficient proof for the existence of Ericson fluctuations. In the present case of He, the absence of Ericson fluctuations is a consequence of a strong hierarchy between the transitions belonging to different series with approximate quantum numbers that still exist in this region; this causes the spectra to be dominated by the principal series.

Subwavelength position measurement of quantum particles is discussed. Our setup is based on a closed-loop driving-field configuration, which enforces a sensitivity of the particle dynamics to the phases of the applied fields. Thus, running wave fields are sufficient, avoiding limitations associated with standing-wave-based localization schemes. Reversing the directions of the driving laser fields switches between different magnification levels for the position determination. This allows us to optimize the localization, and at the same time eliminates the need for additional classical measurements common to all previous localization schemes based on spatial periodicity.

We propose a theoretical scheme to show the possibility of achieving the quantum ground-state cooling of a vibrating micromechanical membrane inside a high-finesse optical cavity by a back-action cooling approach. The scheme is based on an intensity-dependent coupling of the membrane to the intracavity radiation pressure field. We find the exact expression for the position and momentum variances of the membrane by solving the linearized quantum Langevin equations in the steady state, conditioned by the Routh-Hurwitz criterion. We show that, by varying the Lamb-Dicke parameter and the membrane's reflectivity, one can effectively control the mean number of excitations of vibration of the membrane and can cool down the system to micro-Kelvin temperatures.

We have observed time-varying spin relaxation of trapped cold atoms due to photon scattering in blue-detuned, crossed, hollow Laguerre-Gaussian beams. These beams are formed by imparting an azimuthal phase of $\ell \phi$ to a Gaussian beam, where $\ell$ is an integer, and have an intensity distribution that scales with $r^{2\ell }$ to the lowest order. For all degrees of anharmonicity, we observe a time-varying spin-relaxation rate due to energy-dependent photon scattering. For $\ell =8$, we directly measure temperature-dependent scattering rates and show that by removing the most energetic atoms from the trap, a more purely spin-polarized sample remains. The results agree well with Monte Carlo simulations, and we present a simple functional form for the spin-relaxation curves.

We present a scheme for generating and homodyne detecting of continuous-variable entanglement of bright optical beams with a large wavelength difference by utilizing an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) and an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) simultaneously. Entangled optical beams at 0.8 and 1.5 μm are generated from the OPA; the seed beams injected in the OPA as well as the local oscillators at the two wavelengths needed for homodyne detection are provided by the OPO. The entangler is a ring resonator involving a second-order nonlinear crystal that is pumped from two opposite directions. In one direction the pump power is above the oscillation threshold and the optical nonlinear resonator operates as an OPO. In the other direction the pump power is below the threshold and it operates as a phase-sensitive frequency nondegenerate optical parametric amplifier. Our scheme combines the advantages of both OPO and OPA quantum optical devices and opens another avenue for preparation and homodyne detection of high quality bright entangled light with a large wavelength difference.

We derive an asymptotic formula for the Wigner $12j$ symbol, in the limit of one small and 11 large angular momenta. There are two kinds of asymptotic formulas for the $12j$ symbol with one small angular momentum. We present the first kind of formula in this paper. Our derivation relies on the techniques developed in the semiclassical analysis of the Wigner $9j$ symbol [L. Yu and R. G. Littlejohn, Phys. Rev. A 83, 052114 (2011)], where we used a gauge-invariant form of the multicomponent WKB wave functions to derive asymptotic formulas for the $9j$ symbol with small and large angular momenta. When applying the same technique to the $12j$ symbol in this paper, we find that the spinor is diagonalized in the direction of an intermediate angular momentum. In addition, we find that the geometry of the derived asymptotic formula for the $12j$ symbol is expressed in terms of the vector diagram for a $9j$ symbol. This illustrates a general geometric connection between asymptotic limits of the various $3nj$ symbols. This work contributes an asymptotic formula for the $12j$ symbol to the quantum theory of angular momentum, and serves as a basis for finding asymptotic formulas for the Wigner $15j$ symbol with two small angular momenta.