We study the dynamics of two identical atoms resonantly coupled to a single-mode cavity under practical feedback control, and focus on the detection inefficiency. The entanglement is induced to vanish in finite time by the inefficiency of detection. Counterintuitively, the asymptotic entanglement and quantum discord can be increased by the inefficiency of detection. The noise of detection triggers the control field to create entanglement and discord when no photons are emitted from the atoms. Furthermore, sudden change happens to the dynamics of entanglement.

Consider a discrete-time quantum walk on the $N$-cycle subject to decoherence both on the coin and the position degrees of freedom. By examining the evolution of the density matrix of the system, we derive some conclusions about the asymptotic behavior of the system. When $N$ is odd, the density matrix of the system tends, in the long run, to the maximally mixed state, independent of the initial state. When $N$ is even, although the behavior of the system is not necessarily asymptotically stationary, in this case too an explicit formulation is obtained of the asymptotic dynamics of the system. Moreover, this approach enables us to specify the limiting behavior of the mutual information, viewed as a measure of quantum entanglement between subsystems (coin and walker). In particular, our results provide efficient theoretical confirmation of the findings of previous authors, who have arrived at their results through extensive numerical simulations. Our results can be attributed to an important theorem which, for a generalized random unitary operation, explicitly identifies the structure of all of its eigenspaces corresponding to eigenvalues of unit modulus.

The limitations on the production and profitability of entanglement in a harmonic chain under strong driving are considered. We report on the limits of attainable entanglement for a given set of squeezings of the eigenmodes, showing that, the higher the entanglement, the more oscillatory and thus less easy to profit from. We also comment on propagation properties of entanglement, discussing the role of fast rotating terms and illustrating several issues with the example of a sudden switch of the coupling.

We study the process of heat transfer through an entangled pair of two-level systems, demonstrating the role of quantum correlations in this nonequilibrium process. While quantum correlations generally degrade with increasing the temperature bias, introducing spatial asymmetry leads to an intricate behavior: connecting the qubits unequally to the reservoirs, one finds that quantum correlations persist and increase with the temperature bias when the system is more weakly linked to the hot reservoir. In the reversed case, linking the system more strongly to the hot bath, the opposite, more natural behavior is observed, with quantum correlations being strongly suppressed upon increasing the temperature bias.

The spurious interaction of quantum systems with their environment known as decoherence leads, as a function of time, to a decay of coherence of superposition states. Since the interactions between system and environment are local, they can also cause a loss of spatial coherence: correlations between spatially distant parts of the system are lost and the equilibrium states can become localized. This effect limits the distance over which quantum information can be transmitted, e.g., along a spin chain. We investigate this issue in a nuclear magnetic resonance quantum simulator, where it is possible to monitor the spreading of quantum information in a three-dimensional network: states that are initially localized on individual spins (qubits) spread under the influence of a suitable Hamiltonian apparently without limits. If we add a perturbation to this Hamiltonian, the spreading stops and the system reaches a limiting size, which becomes smaller as the strength of the perturbation increases. This limiting size appears to represent a dynamical equilibrium. We present a phenomenological model to describe these results.

We characterize the completely positive trace-preserving maps on qutrits (qutrit channels) according to their covariance and symmetry properties. Both discrete and continuous groups are considered. It is shown how each symmetry group restricts arbitrariness in the parameters of the channel to a very small set. Although the explicit examples are related to qutrit channels, the formalism is sufficiently general to be applied to qudit channels.

Comprehensive spectroscopic studies of hot and ultracold samples of NaCs molecules were combined to complete the investigation of the $(3)\Omega =1$ $\leftarrow$ $X$ ${}^1{\Sigma }^{+}$ transition for the NaCs molecule. Polarization labeling, photoassociation, and pulsed laser depletion spectroscopy were used to collect data on rovibrational levels of the $(3)\Omega =1$ state [here described as the $c$ ${}^3{\Sigma }^{+}$ state in Hund’s case (a) notation]. The highest observed level was $v=72$ located $~$5 GHz below the atomic asymptote Na($3{\hspace{0.5em}}^2{S}_{1/2}$) $+$ Cs($6{\hspace{0.5em}}^2{P}_{3/2}$). Approximately 1400 levels were used to construct the potential energy curve of the $(3)\Omega =1$ state for the full range of interatomic distances.

Absolute cross-section measurements for valence-shell photoionization of Ar${}^{+}$ ions are reported for photon energies ranging from 27.4 to 60.0 eV. The data, taken by merging beams of ions and synchrotron radiation at a photon energy resolution of 10 meV, indicate that the primary ion beam was a statistically weighted mixture of the ${}^2{P}_{3/2}^o$ ground state and the ${}^2{P}_{1/2}^o$ metastable state of Ar${}^{+}$. Photoionization of this Cl-like ion is characterized by multiple Rydberg series of autoionizing resonances superimposed on a direct photoionization continuum. Observed resonance line shapes indicate interference between indirect and direct photoionization channels. Resonance features are spectroscopically assigned and their energies and quantum defects are tabulated. The measurements are satisfactorily reproduced by theoretical calculations based on an intermediate coupling semirelativistic Breit-Pauli approximation.

Complete population transfer in a four-coupled-modes system is analyzed from a geometrical point of view. An analytical solution of the dynamics is written by the use of two distinct frequencies, the generalization of the single Rabi frequency of the two-state dynamics. We also present its visualization on two separate Bloch spheres with two independent torque equations. With this scheme we analytically derive the requirements for complete population transfer in a four-state quantum system. Interestingly, the solutions are found to be linked to fundamental number theory, whereas complete population transfer occurs only if the ratios between coupling coefficients exactly match a set of Pythagorean triples.

We study the enhancement of spin coherence with periodic, concatenated, or Uhrig dynamical decoupling $N$-pulse sequences in a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate, where the intrinsic dynamical instability in such a ferromagnetically interacting condensate causes spin decoherence and eventually leads to a multiple spatial-domain structure or a spin texture. Our results show that all three sequences successfully enhance the spin coherence by pushing the wave vector of the most unstable mode in the condensate to a larger value. Among the three sequences with the same number of pulses, the concatenated one shows the best performance in preserving the spin coherence. More interestingly, we find that all three sequences exactly follow the same enhancement law, $k_{-}{T}^{1/2}=c$, with $k_{-}$ the wave vector of the most unstable mode, $T$ the sequence period, and $c$ a sequence-dependent constant. Such a law between $k_{-}$ and $T$ is also derived analytically for an attractive scalar Bose-Einstein condensate subjected to a periodic dynamical decoupling sequence.

We consider ultracold bosons in a two-dimensional square optical lattice described by the Bose-Hubbard model. In addition, an external time-dependent sinusoidal force is applied to the system, which shakes the lattice along one of the diagonals. The effect of the shaking is to renormalize the nearest-neighbor-hopping coefficients, which can be arbitrarily reduced, can vanish, or can even change sign, depending on the shaking parameter. Therefore, it is necessary to account for higher-order-hopping terms, which are renormalized differently by the shaking, and to introduce anisotropy into the problem. We show that the competition between these different hopping terms leads to finite-momentum condensates with a momentum that may be tuned via the strength of the shaking. We calculate the boundaries between the Mott insulator and the different superfluid phases and present the time-of-flight images expected to be observed experimentally. Our results open up possibilities for the realization of bosonic analogs of the Fulde, Ferrel, Larkin, and Ovchinnikov phase describing inhomogeneous superconductivity.

We numerically investigate, using the time evolving block decimation algorithm, the quantum transport of ultracold bosonic atoms in a double-well optical lattice through slow and periodic modulation of the lattice parameters (intra- and inter-well tunneling, chemical potential, etc.). The transport of atoms does not depend on the rate of change of the parameters (as along as the change is slow) and can distribute atoms in optical lattices at the quantized level without involving external forces. The transport of atoms depends on the atom filling in each double well and the interaction between atoms. In the strongly interacting region, the bosonic atoms share the same transport properties as noninteracting fermions with quantized transport at the half filling and no atom transport at the integer filling. In the weakly interacting region, the number of the transported atoms is proportional to the atom filling. We show the signature of the quantum transport from the momentum distribution of atoms that can be measured in the time-of-flight image. A semiclassical transport model is developed to explain the numerically observed transport of bosonic atoms in the noninteracting and strongly interacting limits. The scheme may serve as an quantized battery for atomtronics applications.

We report on an analytical solution of Maxwell’s equations for the propagation of surface plasmon polaritons on a right circular cone. The problem was solved for THz frequencies in real metals and was therefore derived using the Leontovich approximation, which is valid for media with small surface impedances. The solution also accounts for both surface plasmon polaritons that are axisymmetric and those that have an angular structure in a plane normal to the cone’s axis. This was an important consideration since it is crucial for describing surface phenomena such as surface-enhanced absorption, fluorescence, and Raman scattering. Our findings predict a total reflection of surface plasmon polaritons at the cone’s apex, which was experimentally verified by an absence of light emitted from a heated cone’s tip into the far-field region.

Propagation of ultrashort optical pulses in a dense resonant medium is considered in the semiclassical limit. In our analysis, we place emphasis on several main points. First, we study transformations of spectra in the process of pulse propagation and interactions with another pulse. The second point involves the transient processes (including pulse compression) connected with self-induced transparency soliton formation inside the medium. Finally, the third aspect is the study of collisions of co- and counterpropagating pulses in the medium. In the last case, the investigation of symmetric and asymmetric collisions shows the possibility of effectively controlling the parameters of transmitted radiation.

The $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric potential $V_0[\cos (2\pi x/a)+i\lambda \sin (2\pi x/a)]$ has a completely real spectrum for $\lambda ⩽1$ and begins to develop complex eigenvalues for $\lambda >1$. At the symmetry-breaking threshold $\lambda =1$ some of the eigenvectors become degenerate, giving rise to a Jordan-block structure for each degenerate eigenvector. In general this is expected to result in a secular growth in the amplitude of the wave. However, it has been shown in a recent paper by Longhi, by numerical simulation and by the use of perturbation theory, that for a broad initial wave packet this growth is suppressed, and instead a saturation leading to a constant maximum amplitude is observed. We revisit this problem by explicitly constructing the Bloch wave functions and the associated Jordan functions and using the method of stationary states to find the dependence on the longitudinal distance $z$ for a variety of different initial wave packets. This allows us to show in detail how the saturation of the linear growth arises from the close connection between the contributions of the Jordan functions and those of the neighboring Bloch waves.

We find the allowed complex overlaps for $N$ equidistant pure quantum states. The accessible overlaps define a petal-shaped area on the Argand plane. Each point inside the petal represents a set of $N$ linearly independent pure states and each point on its contour represents a set of $N$ linearly dependent pure states. We find the optimal probabilities of success of discriminating unambiguously in which of the $N$ equidistant states the system is. We show that the phase of the involved overlap plays an important role in the probability of success. For a fixed overlap modulus, the success probability is highest for the set of states with an overlap with phase equal to zero. In this case, if the process fails, then the information about the prepared state is lost. For states with a phase different from zero, the information could be obtained with an error-minimizing measurement protocol.

The angle-resolved photoelectron spectrum of F${}_2{}^{-}$, exposed to a strong infrared laser pulse, is significantly different from the spectrum of F${}^{-}$ obtained under the same experimental conditions. The experimental results are used to test the theory based on the molecular strong-field approximation. Both the dressed and the undressed versions of this theory fail to reproduce the F${}_2{}^{-}$ spectrum. One origin for this discrepancy is that photodetachment of F${}^{-}$ produced by strong-field dissociation of F${}_2{}^{-}$ needs to be considered.

By testing nonlocality, the security of entanglement-based quantum key distribution (QKD) can be enhanced to being “device-independent.” Here we ask whether such a strong form of security could also be established for one-way (prepare and measure) QKD. While fully device-independent security is impossible, we show that security can be guaranteed against individual attacks in a semi-device-independent scenario. In the latter, the devices used by the trusted parties are noncharacterized, but the dimensionality of the quantum systems used in the protocol is assumed to be bounded. Our security proof relies on the analogies between one-way QKD, dimension witnesses, and random-access codes.