We present a two-tone heterodyne optical readout scheme to extract unequal-time density correlations along an arbitrary stationary interaction path from a pancake-shaped Bose-Einstein condensate, using a modulated laser probe. Analyzing the measurement noise both from imprecision and backaction, we identify the standard quantum limit for the signal-extraction scheme, and examine how a class of two-mode squeezed initial states can be used to push beyond this limit. As an application, we show how the readout scheme can be used for an experimentally feasible realization of acceleration dependence of quantum-vacuum fluctuations in the system, including the analog spacetime circular motion Unruh effect. The scheme is adaptable beyond Bose-Einstein condensates, providing nondestructive access to unequal-time correlations in quantum fluids.

We report universal bound states of microwave-shielded ultracold molecules that solely depend on the strengths of long-range dipolar interaction and microwave coupling. Under a highly elliptic microwave field, few-molecule scatterings in three dimensions are shown to be governed by effective one-dimensional (1D) models, which well reproduce the tetratomic bound state and the Born-Oppenheimer potential in three-molecule sector. For hexatomic systems comprising three identical molecules, we find a much deeper bound state than the tetratomic one, with binding energy exceeding twice the latter. Strikingly, these bound states display Bose-Fermi duality as facilitated by the effective 1D scattering with a large repulsive core from angular fluctuations. For large molecule ensembles, our results suggest the formation of elongated self-bound droplets with crystalline patterns in both bosonic and fermionic molecules.

Optical bound states in the continuum (BICs) are polarization singularities with integer topological charges ($\nu$) in momentum space, whose far-field radiation vanishes in the surrounding radiative states. Here, we study the dynamic evolution of topological charges in symmetry-protected BICs within bilayer metasurfaces. Governed by threefold rotation symmetry ($C_3$), the topological charges obey $\nu =3n+1$ ($n\in \mathbb{Z}$). Theoretically and experimentally, we demonstrate that merely tuning the spacer thickness of the bilayer metasurfaces induces a topological transition from a fundamental charge ($\nu =1$, $n=0$) to a high-level charge ($\nu =-2$, $n=-1$) without modifying symmetry. Perturbation theory reveals this transition occurs when the first derivative of the far-field radiation with respect to the Bloch wave number $k$ vanishes at $\mathrm{\Gamma }$, induced by destructive bilayer interference. This interference simultaneously enhances the quality factors of near-$\mathrm{\Gamma }$ resonances and alters their scaling laws from $\mathcal{O}(k^{-2})$ to $\mathcal{O}(k^{-4})$. Our work introduces a symmetry-preserved mechanism to dynamically control BIC topology.

Inertial confinement fusion is likely to require significant improvements in technology and design for large targets to implode at high driver energies. To assess the potential for benefits, we report on nuclear performance as a function of target radius $R_{\mathrm{t}}$ in direct-drive cryogenic implosions as performed on the OMEGA laser. The neutron yield and areal density are found to increase as $R_{\mathrm{t}}^{5.0\pm 0.2}$ and $R_{\mathrm{t}}^{1.8\pm 0.2}$, respectively, and exhibit a much stronger dependence on target radius than previous studies have assumed. As this Letter demonstrates, these types of sensitivities should be expected when implosions are unstable, and have been degraded by a range of multidimensional effects in 3D. If the imperfections in a target and laser system are fixed in magnitude, it follows that larger implosions have higher relative quality, and approach criteria to ignite much more quickly than commonly appreciated.

We develop a unified theory of weakly probed differential observables for currents and noise in transport experiments. Our findings uncover a set of universal transport relations between thermoelectric and noise properties of a system probed through a tunnel contact, with the Wiedemann-Franz law being just one example of such universality between charge and heat currents. We apply this theory to various quantum systems, including multichannel Kondo, quantum Hall and Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev quantum dots, resonant impurity, and two-stage Kondo models and demonstrate that each of the microscopic theories is characterized by a set of universal relations connecting conductance and thermoelectrics with noise. Violations of these relations indicate additional energy scales emerging in a system.

The existence of polar nanoregions (PNRs) endows relaxor ferroelectrics with peculiar behaviors, which is explained using the compositional fluctuation theory (CFT). Here, by designing relaxor ferroelectric films with the same configurational entropy ($S_{\text{config}}$), namely ${\mathrm{ATiO}}_3$ and ${\mathrm{PbBO}}_3$, we show that the compositional heterogeneity is not a prerequisite for PNR formation. Transmission electron microscope experiments show that PNRs exist in both cubic films, and only the ${\mathrm{PbBO}}_3$ film shows remarkable compositional fluctuation, i.e., the formation of PNRs in ${\mathrm{ATiO}}_3$ is not related with the CFT. First-principles calculations indicate that while the mixing enthalpies of element pairs in ${\mathrm{ATiO}}_3$ are generally close to 0, resulting in a nearly homogeneous compositional distribution, those of some element pairs in ${\mathrm{PbBO}}_3$ are large negative values, indicating that the compositional fluctuation is rooted in the large negative mixing enthalpy. This Letter offers a new perspective on the CFT in relaxor ferroelectrics.

The optical selection rules dictate symmetry-allowed and forbidden transitions, playing a decisive role in engineering exciton quantum states and designing optoelectronic devices. While both the real (quantum metric) and imaginary (Berry curvature) parts of quantum geometry contribute to optical transitions, the conventional theory of optical selection rules in solids incorporates only Berry curvature. Here, we propose quantum-metric-based optical selection rules. We unveil a universal quantum metric and oscillator strength correspondence for linear polarization of light and establish valley-contrasted optical selection rules that lock orthogonal linear polarizations to distinct valleys. Tight-binding and first-principles calculations confirm our theory in two models (altermagnet and Kane-Mele) and monolayer $d$-wave altermagnet ${\mathrm{V}}_2\mathrm{SeSO}$. This work provides a quantum-metric paradigm for valley-based spintronic and optoelectronic applications.

With the advent of physical qubits exhibiting strong noise bias, it becomes increasingly relevant to identify which quantum gates can be efficiently implemented on error-correcting s designed to address a single dominant error type. Here, we consider $[n,k,d]$-classical stabilizer s addressing bit-flip errors where $n$, $k$, and $d$ are the numbers of physical and logical qubits, and the code distance, respectively. We prove that operations essential for achieving a universal logical gate set necessarily require complex unitary circuits to be implemented. Specifically, these implementation circuits either consists of $h$ layers of $r$-transversal operations on $c$ code blocks such that $c^{h-1}{r}^h\ge d$ or of $h$ gates, each operating on at most $r$ physical qubits on the same code block, such that $hr\ge d$. Similar constraints apply not only to classical codes designed to correct phase-flip errors, but also to quantum stabilizer codes tailored to biased noise. This motivates a closer examination of alternative logical gate constructions using, e.g., magic state distillation and cultivation within the framework of biased-noise stabilizer codes.

We introduce a variational Monte Carlo framework that combines neural-network quantum states with the Lorentz integral transform technique to compute the dynamical properties of self-bound quantum many-body systems in continuous Hilbert spaces. While broadly applicable to various quantum systems, including atoms and molecules, in this initial application we focus on the photoabsorption cross section of light nuclei, where benchmarks against numerically exact techniques are available. Our accurate theoretical predictions are complemented by robust uncertainty quantification, enabling meaningful comparisons with experiments. We demonstrate that a relatively simple nuclear Hamiltonian—based on a leading-order pionless EFT expansion and known to accurately reproduce ground-state energies of nuclei with $A\le 40$—also provides a reliable description of the photoabsorption cross section.

We use resonant x-ray scattering at the nickel ${\mathrm{L}}_{2,3}$ edges to investigate the interplay between orbital degrees of freedom and charge density waves (CDWs) in the superconductor ${\mathrm{BaNi}}_2({\mathrm{As}}_{1\text{−}x}{\mathrm{P}}_x{)}_2$. Both the incommensurate and commensurate CDWs in this system exhibit strong resonant enhancement with distinct energy and polarization dependencies, indicative of orbital ordering. Azimuthal-angle-dependent measurements reveal a lowering of the local Ni site symmetry, consistent with monoclinic or lower point group symmetry. The scattering signatures of both CDWs are dominated by contributions from Ni $d_{xz,yz}$ orbitals, with similar orbital character despite their distinct wave vectors. These findings point to a shared orbital-driven formation mechanism and provide new insight into the symmetry breaking and orbital and nematic fluctuations in the high-temperature regime of the superconductor ${\mathrm{BaNi}}_2({\mathrm{As}}_{1\text{−}x}{\mathrm{P}}_x{)}_2$.

The anomalous Nernst effect (ANE), generating a voltage perpendicular to a temperature gradient due to magnetization, is closely linked to the Berry curvature (BC) near the Fermi energy in topological magnets. We report an enhanced spontaneous ANE in the ferromagnetic Kondo lattice ${\mathrm{CeCo}}_2{\mathrm{As}}_2$, which features Kondo-screened cerium-based $4f$ moments embedded in a ferromagnetic $d$-electron framework. The observed large anomalous Nernst coefficient, greater than the Seebeck coefficient, is attributed to the strong BC present in the $f$-orbital-dominated flat bands. The enhanced ANE in ${\mathrm{CeCo}}_2{\mathrm{As}}_2$ serves as a signature of the Fermi energy pinning within the topological flat band, highlighting the correlation-driven topology in the Kondo lattice.

Quantum Hall edge states in proximity to a superconductor (SC) usually acquire a nonquantized electron-to-hole conversion probability in transport, due to nonuniversal SC couplings and disorders. With counterpropagating modes, we show that the situation can be the opposite in the $\nu =2/3$ fractional quantum Hall (FQH) edge states with SC proximity, where disordered SC couplings can reconstruct the edge states into an infinite set of stable phases with quantized electron-to-hole conversion probability along a long edge. Each phase is dominated by a disordered SC coupling that tunnels $\pm |q_N|$ Cooper pairs, which can take values $|q_N|=1$, 4, 15, etc. We predict that this gives rise to a quantized downstream resistance $R_d=h/(2q_N^2{e}^2)$ in an FQH-SC junction, serving as a quantized electrical transport signature beyond the Hall conductance. Higher-order nonlinear transport due to irrelevant Cooper pair tunneling or vortex dissipation is further studied, which becomes dominant when the edge is in a normal phase. Our results apply to both the single-layer state (as a particle-hole conjugate of $\nu =1/3$) and the bilayer Halperin-(112) state, revealing a rich landscape of disorder-stabilized phases in FQH edge states with SC proximity, and may as well apply to fractional Chern insulators recently observed at the same filling.

The magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) is investigated in hematite, a collinear antiferromagnetic insulator, across a broad wavelength spectrum. By combining the optical measurements with magnetometry results, we unambiguously demonstrate that the Néel-order contribution dominates the MOKE signal, while contributions from net magnetization and external magnetic fields are negligible. This conclusion is quantitatively supported by first-principles calculations, and qualitatively by a symmetry analysis that the Néel contribution appears at the first order in spin-orbit coupling while the magnetization contribution starts only at the third order. This study clarifies the altermagnetic origin of the pronounced MOKE in hematite, underscoring the potential of altermagnets as a promising new class of magneto-optical materials.

We propose plasmonic diffraction under quasiresonant regime of surface plasmon (quasi-SPR) that exhibits broad incident-angle responsivity. Numerical simulations reveal that quasi-SPR induces efficient and large-angle diffraction toward the transmission side over a wide range of oblique incidences by tuning the metal grating period to satisfy the Rayleigh anomaly and by optimizing the grating width and height to maximize diffraction efficiency at normal incidence. In a backside-illuminated silicon image sensor integrated with metal gratings, near-infrared absorption in silicon exceeded 40% for incident angles up to $\pm 18°$ within a limited thickness of $3.3\mathrm{\mu m}$. The angular absorption profile reflects the inherently broad response of quasi-SPR and provides a versatile approach to enhance light-matter interaction in compact optoelectronic devices.

Using proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$ in 2016–2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $140{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$, the first full reconstruction of the three vector $B$ meson states, $B^{*+}$, $B^{*0}$, and $B_s^{*0}$, is performed. The mass differences between the excited mesons and their corresponding ground states are measured to be $m(B^{*+})-m(B^{+})=45.277\pm 0.039\pm 0.027\mathrm{MeV}$, $m(B^{*0})-m(B^0)=45.471\pm 0.056\pm 0.028\mathrm{MeV}$, and $m(B_s^{*0})-m(B_s^0)=49.407\pm 0.132\pm 0.041\mathrm{MeV}$, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. These results improve on the precision of previous measurements by an order of magnitude.