Systems of two coupled bosonic species are studied using mean field theory and the quantum Monte Carlo method. The phase diagram is characterized on the basis of both the mobility of the particles (Mott insulating or superfluid) and whether or not the system is magnetic (different populations for the two species). The phase diagram is shown to be population balanced for negative spin-dependent interactions, regardless of whether it is insulating or superfluid. For positive spin-dependent interactions, the superfluid phase is always polarized, and the two populations are imbalanced. However, the Mott-insulating phase with even commensurate filling always has balanced populations. In contrast, the Mott phase with odd commensurate filling has balanced populations in a very strong interaction and polarizes as the interaction gets weaker while still in the Mott phase.

We study the quench from the Mott-insulator to the superfluid phase in the Bose-Hubbard model and investigate the spatial-temporal growth of phase coherence, that is, phase locking between initially uncorrelated sites. To this end, we establish a hierarchy of correlations via a controlled expansion into inverse powers of the coordination number $1/Z$. It turns out that the off-diagonal long-range order spreads with a constant propagation speed, forming local condensate patches, whereas the phase correlator follows a diffusionlike growth rate.

Dynamical instabilities at the interface between two Bose-Einstein condensates that are moving relative to each other are investigated using mean-field and Bogoliubov analyses. Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is dominant when the interface thickness is much smaller than the wavelength of the unstable interface mode, whereas the counter-superflow instability becomes dominant in the opposite case. These instabilities emerge not only in an immiscible system but also in a miscible system where an interface is produced by external potential. Dynamics caused by these instabilities are numerically demonstrated in rotating trapped condensates.

Radiation by the atoms of a resonant medium is a cooperative process in which the medium participates as a whole. In two previous papers we treated this problem for the case of a medium having slab geometry, which, under plane-wave excitation, supports coherent waves that propagate in one dimension. We extend the treatment here to the three-dimensional problem, focusing principally on the case of spherical geometry. By regarding the radiation field as a superposition of electric and magnetic multipole fields of different orders, we express it in terms of suitably defined scalar fields. The latter fields possess a sequence of exponentially decaying eigenmodes corresponding to each multipole order. We consider several examples of spherically symmetric initial excitations of a sphere. Small uniformly excited spheres, we find, tend to radiate superradiantly, while the radiation from a large sphere with an initially excited inner core exhibits temporal oscillations that result from the participation of a large number of coherently excited amplitudes in different modes. The frequency spectrum of the emitted radiation possesses a rich structure, including a frequency gap for large spheres and sharply defined and closely spaced peaks caused by the small frequency shifts and even smaller decay rates characteristic of the majority of eigenmodes.

We show through theory and numerics that when few-cycle femtosecond solitons are generated through cascaded (phase-mismatched) second-harmonic generation, these broadband solitons can emit optical Cherenkov radiation in the form of linear dispersive waves located in the red part of the spectrum. The beating between the dispersive wave and the soliton generates trailing temporal oscillations on the compressed soliton. Insertion of a simple short-wave pass filter after the crystal can restore a clean soliton. On the other hand, bandpass filtering around the dispersive wave peak results in near-transform-limited ultrashort mid-IR pulses with pulse durations much shorter than the input near-IR pulse. The Cherenkov radiation for the crystal considered ($\beta$-barium borate) is found for pump wavelengths in the range $\lambda =0.95–1.45\hspace{0.5em}\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{m}$, and is located in the regime $\lambda =1.5–3.5\hspace{0.5em}\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{m}$. For shorter pump wavelengths, the phase-matching point is located in the absorption region of the crystal, effectively absorbing the generated dispersive wave. By calculating the phase-matching curves for typically used frequency conversion crystals, we point out that the mid-IR absorption in the crystal in many cases automatically will filter away the dispersive wave. Finally, an investigation of recent experimental results uncovers a four-wave-mixing phenomenon related to Cherenkov radiation that is an additional generation mechanism of long-wavelength radiation that can occur during soliton compression. We discuss the conditions that lead to this alternative dynamics rather than generation of Cherenkov radiation.

We investigate the polarization dynamics of random, stationary three-dimensional (3D) electromagnetic fields. For analyzing the time evolution of the instantaneous polarization state, two intensity-normalized polarization autocorrelation functions are introduced, one based on a geometric approach with the Poincaré vectors and the other on energy considerations with the Jones vectors. Both approaches lead to the same conclusions on the rate and strength of the polarization dynamics and enable the definition of a polarization time over which the state of polarization remains essentially unchanged. For fields obeying Gaussian statistics, the two correlation functions are shown to be expressible in terms of quantities characterizing partial 3D polarization and electromagnetic coherence. The 3D degree of polarization is found to have the same meaning in the 3D polarization dynamics as the usual two-dimensional (2D) degree of polarization does with planar fields. The formalism is demonstrated with several examples, and it is expected to be useful in applications dealing with polarization fluctuations of 3D light.

We study the quantum correlations of the radiation emitted by three-level atoms (cascade type) interacting with two driving fields. In the linear regime, and in the Weisskopf-Wigner approximation, we show that the atomic and the two-photon density matrix are equivalent to each other. This facilitates the tomography of the two-mode state to be realized by measurements on either the atomic system or the emitted fields. While, in general, one needs $4^N$ measurements for the tomography of an $N$-photon state, we show that one needs $(N+1){}^2-1$ observables for the tomography of photons emitted by an atomic system. Thus there is an exponential reduction in the number of observables for the reconstruction of the class of $N$-photon states emitted by atoms. We show that the driving field strengths and detunings provide the control parameters for the preparation of a specific target state. Finally, we study the characterization of entanglement of the two-photon state. We observe that a characterization of entanglement in terms of a single parameter is not possible when the system is in a mixed state; therefore, we provide a description in terms of the newly introduced probability distribution for entanglement, in various regimes of interest.

We study multipartite entanglement in a system consisting of indistinguishable fermions. Specifically, we have proposed a geometric entanglement measure for $N$ spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ fermions distributed over $2L$ modes (single-particle states). The measure is defined on the $2L$ qubit space isomorphic to the Fock space for $2L$ single-particle states. This entanglement measure is defined for a given partition of $2L$ modes containing $m⩾2$ subsets. Thus this measure applies to $m⩽2L$ partite fermionic systems where $L$ is any finite number, giving the number of sites. The Hilbert spaces associated with these subsets may have different dimensions. Further, we have defined the local quantum operations with respect to a given partition of modes. This definition is generic and unifies different ways of dividing a fermionic system into subsystems. We have shown, using a representative case, that the geometric measure is invariant under local unitary operators corresponding to a given partition. We explicitly demonstrate the use of the measure to calculate multipartite entanglement in some correlated electron systems.

We study the time evolution of the Casimir-Polder force acting on a neutral atom in front of a perfectly conducting plate, when the system starts its unitary evolution from a partially dressed state. We solve the Heisenberg equations for both atomic and field quantum operators, exploiting a series expansion with respect to the electric charge and an iterative technique. After discussing the behavior of the time-dependent force on an initially partially dressed atom, we analyze a possible experimental scheme to prepare the partially dressed state and the observability of this new dynamical effect.

By using the zero-phonon line emission of an individual organic molecule, we realized a source of indistinguishable single photons in the near infrared. A Hong-Ou-Mandel interference experiment is performed and a two-photon coalescence probability higher than $50\%$ at 2 K is obtained. The contribution of the temperature-dependent dephasing processes to the two-photon interference contrast is studied. We show that the molecule delivers nearly ideal indistinguishable single photons at the lowest temperatures when the dephasing is nearly lifetime limited. This source is used to generate postselected polarization-entangled photon pairs as a test bench for applications in quantum information.

As an intense laser pulse propagates through an underdense plasma, the strong ponderomotive force pushes away the electrons and produces a trailing plasma bubble. In the meantime the pulse itself undergoes extreme nonlinear evolution that results in strong spectral broadening toward the long-wavelength side. By experiment we demonstrate that this process can be utilized to generate ultrashort midinfrared pulses with an energy three orders of magnitude larger than that produced by crystal-based nonlinear optics. The infrared pulse is encapsulated in the bubble before exiting the plasma, hence is not absorbed by the plasma. The process is analyzed experimentally with laser-plasma tomographic measurements and numerically with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. Good agreement is found between theoretical estimation, numerical simulation, and experimental results.

We report the experimental observation of Stückelberg oscillations of matter waves in optical lattices. Extending previous work on Landau-Zener tunneling of Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices, we study the effects of the accumulated phase between two successive crossings of the Brillouin zone edge. Our results agree well with a simple model for multiple Landau-Zener tunneling events taking into account the band structure of the optical lattice.

The quantum reprojection method within the standard adiabatic Born-Oppenheimer approach is derived for multielectron collision systems. The method takes nonvanishing asymptotic nonadiabatic couplings into account and distinguishes asymptotic currents in molecular-state channels and in atomic-state channels. The method is demonstrated for the example of low-energy inelastic Li $+$ Na collisions for which the conventional application of the standard adiabatic Born-Oppenheimer approach fails and leads to paradoxes such as infinite inelastic cross sections.

Nonlocality and quantum entanglement constitute two special features of quantum systems of paramount importance in quantum-information theory (QIT). Essentially regarded as identical or equivalent for many years, they constitute different concepts. Describing nonlocality by means of the maximal violation of two Bell inequalities, we study both entanglement and nonlocality for two and three spins in the $\mathit{XY}$ model. Our results shed light on the description of nonlocality and the possible information-theoretic task limitations of entanglement in an infinite quantum system.

We present theoretical fully differential cross sections (FDCS) for double ionization of helium by $500$ eV and $2$ keV electron impact. Contributions from various reaction mechanisms to the FDCS were calculated separately and compared to experimental data. Our theoretical methods are based on the first Born approximation. Higher-order effects are incorporated using the Monte Carlo event generator technique. Earlier, we successfully applied this approach to double ionization by ion impact, and in the work reported here it is extended to electron impact. We demonstrate that at $500$ eV impact energy, double ionization is dominated by higher-order mechanisms. Even at $2$ keV, double ionization does not predominantly proceed through a pure first-order process.

This paper is concerned with quantum dynamics of a system coupled to a critical reservoir. In this context, we employ the Dicke model which is known to exhibit a superradiant quantum phase transition (QPT) and we allow one of the mirrors to move under a linear restoring force. The electromagnetic field couples to the movable mirror through radiation pressure just like in typical optomechanical setups. We show that, in the thermodynamical limit, the superradiant phase induces a classical driving force on the mirror without causing decoherence.

We compared, experimentally and theoretically, Hanle electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) obtained using Gaussian and $\Pi$-shaped laser beams 3 mm in diameter. The study was done by measuring the transmission of a laser locked to the $F_g=2\to F_e=3$ transition at the $D_2$ line of ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ in a vacuum cell. EIA linewidths obtained for the two laser profiles were significantly different in the range of laser intensities $1$–$4$ mW/cm${}^2$. EIA with the $\Pi$-shaped laser beam has a broad intensity maximum and linewidths larger than those obtained with the Gaussian beam profile. We also studied Hanle EIA by measuring the transmission of selected segments of the entire laser beam by placing a small movable aperture in front of the detector. Waveforms so obtained in Hanle EIA resonances were strongly influenced both by the radial distance of the transmitted segment from the beam center and by the radial profile of the laser beam. We show that outer regions of Gaussian beam, and central regions of the $\Pi$-shaped beam generate the narrowest lines. The different behaviors of EIA owing to different beam profiles revealed by both theory and experiment indicate the importance of the radial profile of the laser beam for proper modeling of coherent effects in alkali metal vapors.

We derive an inequality bounding the strength of temporal correlations for a pair of light beams prepared in a separable state and propagating through dispersive media with opposite signs of group-velocity dispersion. The presented inequality can be violated by entangled states of light, such as photon pairs produced in spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Because the class of separable states covers the entire category of classical fields as a particular case, this result provides an unambiguously quantum feature of nonlocal dispersion cancellation that cannot be reproduced within the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation.

We show that the phase shift of $\frac{\pi }{2}$ is crucial for the phase-space translation covariance of the measured high-amplitude limit observable in eight-port homodyne detection. However, for an arbitrary phase shift $\theta$ we construct explicitly a different nonequivalent projective representation of ${\mathbb{R}}^2$ such that the observable is covariant with respect to this representation. As a result we are able to determine the measured observable for an arbitrary parameter field and phase shift. Geometrically the change in the phase shift corresponds to the tilting of one axis in the phase space of the system.

Decoherence, interpreted broadly, is essentially the leakage of system information into the environment and is often accompanied by dissipation. The basic questions arise: how to quantify decoherence induced by an operation and how to quantitatively compare decoherence induced by different operations. In this paper, based on a joint ancilla-system-environment tripartite purification for the initial system state and the operation, and by exploiting the intrinsic relations between the loss of correlations in the ancilla–system and the correlations established in the system-environment, we characterize and quantify decoherence from a decorrelating perspective. For this purpose, we first address the issue of separating and quantifying the classical and quantum parts of decorrelation. By use of the canonical isomorphism between operations and bipartite states, we propose two intrinsic decorrelation measures: One is the classical decorrelation based on the loss of classical correlations, and the other is the quantum decorrelation based on the loss of quantum correlations. With the help of quantum decorrelation, we introduce an intuitive measure of (quantum) decoherence. We further employ these informational quantities to analyze some widely used channels such as the complete decoherent channel, the depolarizing channel, the bit-flip channel, the transpose depolarizing channel, the amplitude damping channel, and the phase damping channel. Our analysis illustrates the intriguing interplay between classical and quantum decorrelations and sheds some light on the informational nature of decoherence.