We study melting mechanisms in single and polycrystalline colloidal films composed of diameter-tunable microgel spheres with short-ranged repulsive interactions and confined between two glass walls. Thick films ($>4$ layers), thin-films ($\le 4$ layers), and monolayers exhibit different melting behaviors. Thick films melt from grain boundaries in polycrystalline solid films and from film-wall interfaces in single-crystal films; a liquid-solid coexistence regime is observed in thick films but vanishes at a critical thickness of 4 layers. Thin solid films (2 to 4 layers) melt into the liquid phase in one step from both grain boundaries and from within crystalline domains. Monolayers melt in two steps with a middle hexatic phase.

We report on an Hanbury Brown–Twiss experiment probing the statistics of microwave photons emitted by a tunnel junction in the shot-noise regime at low temperature. By measuring the cross correlation of the fluctuations of the occupation numbers of the photon modes of both detection branches, we show that while the statistics of electrons is Poissonian, the photons obey chaotic statistics. This is observed even for low photon occupation number when the voltage across the junction is close to $h\nu /e$.

We report a large set of experimental data which demonstrates that a simple yield stress fluid, i.e., which does not present aging or thixotropy, exhibits transient shear banding before reaching a steady state characterized by a homogeneous, linear velocity profile. The duration of the transient regime decreases as a power law with the applied shear rate $\dot{\gamma }$. This power-law behavior, observed here in carbopol dispersions, does not depend on the gap width and on the boundary conditions for a given sample preparation. For $\dot{\gamma }\lesssim 0.1{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$, heterogeneous flows could be observed for as long as ${10}^5\mathrm{s}$. These local dynamics account for the ultraslow stress relaxation observed at low shear rates.

The symmetry energy of nuclear matter is a fundamental ingredient in the investigation of exotic nuclei, heavy-ion collisions, and astrophysical phenomena. New data from heavy-ion collisions can be used to extract the free symmetry energy and the internal symmetry energy at subsaturation densities and temperatures below 10 MeV. Conventional theoretical calculations of the symmetry energy based on mean-field approaches fail to give the correct low-temperature, low-density limit that is governed by correlations, in particular, by the appearance of bound states. A recently developed quantum-statistical approach that takes the formation of clusters into account predicts symmetry energies that are in very good agreement with the experimental data. A consistent description of the symmetry energy is given that joins the correct low-density limit with quasiparticle approaches valid near the saturation density.

Single-file transport of water into carbon nanotubes is experimentally demonstrated for the first time through the splitting of the radial breathing mode (RBM) vibration in Raman spectra of bile salt solubilized tubes when both empty (closed) and water-filled (open-ended) tubes are present. ${\mathrm{D}}_2\mathrm{O}$ filling is observed for a wide range of diameters, $d$, down to very thin tubes [e.g., (5,3) tube, $d=0.548\mathrm{nm}$] for which only a single water molecule fits in the cross section of the internal nanotube channel. The shift in RBM frequency upon filling is found to display a very complex dependence on nanotube diameter and chirality, in support of a different yet well-defined ordering and orientation of water molecules at room temperature. Large shifts of the electronic transitions are also observed.

We apply a method based on the theory of Markov processes to fractal-generated turbulence and obtain joint probabilities of velocity increments at several scales. From experimental data we extract a Fokker-Planck equation which describes the interscale dynamics of the turbulence. In stark contrast to all documented boundary-free turbulent flows, the multiscale statistics of velocity increments, the coefficients of the Fokker-Planck equation, and dissipation-range intermittency are all independent of $R_{\lambda }$ (the characteristic ratio of inertial to viscous forces in the fluid). These properties define a qualitatively new class of turbulence.

We consider the fully overheated single-electron transistor, where the heat balance is determined entirely by electron transfers. We find three distinct transport regimes corresponding to cotunneling, single-electron tunneling, and a competition between the two. We find an anomalous sensitivity to temperature fluctuations at the crossover between the two latter regimes that manifests in an exceptionally large Fano factor of current noise.

The Lieb-Robinson bound shows the existence of a maximum speed of signal propagation in discrete quantum mechanical systems with local interactions. This generalizes the concept of relativistic causality beyond field theory, and provides a powerful tool in theoretical condensed matter physics and quantum information science. Here, we extend the scope of this seminal result by considering general Markovian quantum evolution, where we prove that an equivalent bound holds. In addition, we use the generalized bound to demonstrate that correlations in the stationary state of a Markov process decay on a length scale set by the Lieb-Robinson velocity and the system’s relaxation time.

Neutrinos in a core-collapse supernova undergo coherent flavor transformations in their own background. We explore this phenomenon during the cooling stage of the explosion. Our three-flavor calculations reveal qualitatively new effects compared to a two-flavor analysis. These effects are especially clearly seen for the inverted mass hierarchy: we find a different pattern of spectral “swaps” in the neutrino spectrum and a novel “mixed” spectrum for the antineutrinos. A brief discussion of the relevant physics is presented, including the instability of the two-flavor evolution trajectory, the three-flavor pattern of spectral “swaps,” and partial nonadiabaticity of the evolution.

We present experimental observation of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) on a single macroscopic artificial “atom” (superconducting quantum system) coupled to open 1D space of a transmission line. Unlike in an optical media with many atoms, the single-atom EIT in 1D space is revealed in suppression of reflection of electromagnetic waves, rather than absorption. The observed almost 100% modulation of the reflection and transmission of propagating microwaves demonstrates full controllability of individual artificial atoms and a possibility to manipulate the atomic states. The system can be used as a switchable mirror of microwaves and opens a good perspective for its applications in photonic quantum information processing and other fields.

Calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) is the major volume phase in the matrix of Portland cement concrete. Total x-ray scattering measurements with synchrotron x rays on synthetic CSH(I) shows nanocrystalline ordering with a particle diameter of 3.5(5) nm, similar to a size-broadened 1.1 nm tobermorite crystal structure. The CSH component in hydrated tricalcium silicate is found to be similar to CSH(I). Only a slight bend and additional disorder within the CaO sheets is required to explain its nanocrystalline structure.

Torsional oscillator experiments on solid ${}^4\mathrm{He}$ show frequency changes which suggest mass decoupling, but the onset is broad and is accompanied by a dissipation peak. We have measured the elastic shear modulus over a broad frequency range, from 0.5 Hz to 8 kHz, and observe similar behavior—stiffening and a dissipation peak. These features are associated with a dynamical crossover in a thermally activated relaxation process in a disordered system rather than a true phase transition. If there is a transition to a dc response, e.g., to a supersolid state, it must occur below 55 mK.

We show theoretically that a simple one-dimensional system (such as metallic wire) can display quantum spin pumping possibly without pushing any charge. It is achieved by applying two slowly varying orthogonal gate electric fields on different sections of the wire, thereby generating local spin-orbit (Rashba) terms such that unitary transformations at different places do not commute. This construction is a unique manifestation of a spin-orbit observable effect in purely one-dimensional systems with potentials respecting time-reversal symmetry.

A new microscopy technique is introduced, image scanning microscopy (ISM), which combines conventional confocal-laser scanning microscopy with fast wide-field CCD detection. The technique allows for doubling the lateral optical resolution in fluorescence imaging. The physical principle behind ISM is similar to structured illumination microscopy, by combining the resolving power of confocal-laser scanning microscopy with that of a wide-field imaging microscopy. This Letter describes the theoretical foundation and experimental realization of ISM.

The helium pair potential was computed including relativistic and quantum electrodynamics contributions as well as improved accuracy adiabatic ones. Accurate asymptotic expansions were used for large distances $R$. Error estimates show that the present potential is more accurate than any published to date. The computed dissociation energy and the average $R$ for the ${}^4\mathrm{He}_2$ bound state are $1.62\pm 0.03\mathrm{mK}$ and $47.1\pm 0.5\AA$. These values can be compared with the measured ones: ${1.1}_{-0.2}^{+0.3}\mathrm{mK}$ and $52\pm 4\AA$ [R. E. Grisenti et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2284 (2000)].

We experimentally investigate how disorder comes about in parametrically excited waves on a fluid surface (Faraday waves). We find that the transition from an ordered pattern to disorder corresponding to “defect-mediated turbulence” is mediated by a spatially incoherent oscillatory phase. This phase consists of highly damped waves that propagate through the effectively elastic lattice defined by the pattern. They have a well-defined frequency, velocity, and transverse polarization. As these waves decay within a few lattice spaces, they are spatially and temporally uncorrelated at larger scales.

We predict a new branch of surface Josephson plasma waves (SJPWs) in layered superconductors for frequencies higher than the Josephson plasma frequency. In this frequency range, the permittivity tensor components along and transverse to the layers have different signs, which is usually associated with negative refraction. However, for these frequencies, the bulk Josephson plasma waves cannot be matched with the incident and reflected waves in the vacuum, and, instead of the negative-refractive properties, abnormal surface modes appear within the frequency band expected for bulk modes. We also discuss the excitation of high-frequency SJPWs by means of the attenuated-total-reflection method.

Currently, laser cooling schemes are fundamentally based on the weak coupling regime. This requirement sets the trap frequency as an upper bound to the cooling rate. In this work we present a numerical study that shows the feasibility of cooling in the strong-coupling regime which then allows cooling rates that are faster than the trap frequency with experimentally feasible parameters. The scheme presented here can be applied to trapped atoms or ions as well as to mechanical oscillators. It can also cool medium sized ion chains close to the ground state.

Cooperative scattering of light by an extended object such as an atomic ensemble or a dielectric sphere is fundamentally different from scattering from many pointlike scatterers such as single atoms. Homogeneous distributions tend to scatter cooperatively, whereas fluctuations of the density distribution increase the disorder and suppress cooperativity. In an atomic cloud, the amount of disorder can be tuned via the optical thickness, and its role can be studied via the radiation force exerted by the light on the atomic cloud. Monitoring cold ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms released from a magneto-optical trap, we present the first experimental signatures of radiation force reduction due to cooperative scattering. The results are in agreement with an analytical expression interpolating between the disorder and the cooperativity-dominated regimes.

Wave functions of electrically neutral systems can be used as information carriers to replace real charges in the present Si-based circuit, whose further integration will result in a possible disaster where current leakage is unavoidable with insulators thinned to atomic levels. We have experimentally demonstrated a new logic gate based on the temporal evolution of a wave function. An optically tailored vibrational wave packet in the iodine molecule implements four- and eight-element discrete Fourier transform with arbitrary real and imaginary inputs. The evolution time is 145 fs, which is shorter than the typical clock period of the current fastest Si-based computers by 3 orders of magnitudes.