It has been a long time belief that, with increasing the scattering strength of multiple scattering media, the transport of light gradually slows down and, eventually, comes to a halt corresponding to a localized state. Here we present experimental evidence that different stages emerge in this evolution, which cannot be described by classical diffusion with conventional scaling arguments. A microscopic model captures the relevant aspects of electromagnetic wave propagation and explains the competing mechanisms that prevent the three-dimensional wave localization. We demonstrate that strong evanescent-field couplings hinder the localization of wave resonances and, therefore, impede the slowing down of diffusion. The emerging out of equilibrium steady-state process resembles the diffusion of classical particles in spatially correlated random potentials and the thermalization of matter waves due to atomic collisions.

Certain nonuniform strain applied to graphene flakes has been shown to induce pseudo-Landau levels in the single-particle spectrum, which can be rationalized in terms of a pseudomagnetic field for electrons near the Dirac points. However, this Landau level structure is, in general, approximate and restricted to low energies. Here, we introduce a family of strained bipartite tight-binding models in arbitrary spatial dimension $d$ and analytically prove that their entire spectrum consists of perfectly degenerate pseudo-Landau levels. This construction generalizes the case of triaxial strain on graphene’s honeycomb lattice to arbitrary $d$; in $d=3$, our model corresponds to tetraxial strain on the diamond lattice. We discuss general aspects of pseudo-Landau levels in arbitrary $d$.

We analyze the quantum quench dynamics in the formation of a phase-biased superconducting nanojunction. We find that in the absence of an external relaxation mechanism and for very general conditions the system gets trapped in a metastable state, corresponding to a nonequilibrium population of the Andreev bound states. The use of the time-dependent full counting statistics analysis allows us to extract information on the asymptotic population of even and odd many-body states, demonstrating that a universal behavior, dependent only on the Andreev state energy, is reached in the quantum point contact limit. These results shed light on recent experimental observations on quasiparticle trapping in superconducting atomic contacts.

Quantum measurements on a two-level system can have more than two independent outcomes, and in this case, the measurement cannot be projective. Measurements of this general type are essential to an operational approach to quantum theory, but so far, the nonprojective character of a measurement can only be verified experimentally by already assuming a specific quantum model of parts of the experimental setup. Here, we overcome this restriction by using a device-independent approach. In an experiment on pairs of polarization-entangled photonic qubits we violate by more than 8 standard deviations a Bell-like correlation inequality that is valid for all sets of two-outcome measurements in any dimension. We combine this with a device-independent verification that the system is best described by two qubits, which therefore constitutes the first device-independent certification of a nonprojective quantum measurement.

To exploit a given physical system for quantum information processing, it is critical to understand the different types of noise affecting quantum control. Distinguishing coherent and incoherent errors is extremely useful as they can be reduced in different ways. Coherent errors are generally easier to reduce at the hardware level, e.g., by improving calibration, whereas some sources of incoherent errors, e.g., $T_2^{*}$ processes, can be reduced by engineering robust pulses. In this work, we illustrate how purity benchmarking and randomized benchmarking can be used together to distinguish between coherent and incoherent errors and to quantify the reduction in both of them due to using optimal control pulses and accounting for the transfer function in an electron spin resonance system. We also prove that purity benchmarking provides bounds on the optimal fidelity and diamond norm that can be achieved by correcting the coherent errors through improving calibration.

We discuss the use of atom interferometry as a tool to search for dark matter (DM) composed of virialized ultralight fields (VULFs). Previous work on VULF DM detection using accelerometers has considered the possibility of equivalence-principle-violating effects whereby gradients in the dark matter field can directly produce relative accelerations between media of differing composition. In atom interferometers, we find that time-varying phase signals induced by coherent oscillations of DM fields can also arise due to changes in the atom rest mass that can occur between light pulses throughout the interferometer sequence as well as changes in Earth’s gravitational field. We estimate that several orders of magnitude of unexplored phase space for VULF DM couplings can be probed due to these new effects.

We experimentally study $2p$ photoionization of neon dimers (${\mathrm{Ne}}_2$) at a photon energy of $h\nu =36.56\mathrm{eV}$. By postselection of ionization events which lead to a dissociation into ${\mathrm{Ne}}^{+}+\mathrm{Ne}$ we obtain the photoelectron angular emission distribution in the molecular frame. This distribution is symmetric with respect to the direction of the charged vs neutral fragment. It shows an inverted Cohen-Fano double slit interference pattern of two spherical waves emitted coherently but with opposite phases from the two atoms of the dimer.

We identify and explore a high orbital angular momentum (OAM) harmonics generation and amplification mechanism that manipulates the OAM independently of any other laser property, by preserving the initial laser wavelength, through stimulated Raman backscattering in a plasma. The high OAM harmonics spectra can extend at least up to the limiting value imposed by the paraxial approximation. We show with theory and particle-in-cell simulations that the orders of the OAM harmonics can be tuned according to a selection rule that depends on the initial OAM of the interacting waves. We illustrate the high OAM harmonics generation in a plasma using several examples including the generation of prime OAM harmonics. The process can also be realized in any nonlinear optical Kerr media supporting three-wave interactions.

We provide an analytic solution to the problem of system-bath dynamics under the effect of high-frequency driving that has applications in a large class of settings, such as driven-dissipative many-body systems. Our method relies on discrete symmetries of the system-bath Hamiltonian and provides the time evolution operator of the full system, including bath degrees of freedom, without weak-coupling or Markovian assumptions. An interpretation of the solution in terms of the stroboscopic evolution of a family of observables under the influence of an effective static Hamiltonian is proposed, which constitutes a flexible simulation procedure of nontrivial Hamiltonians. We instantiate the result with the study of the spin-boson model with time-dependent tunneling amplitude. We analyze the class of Hamiltonians that may be stroboscopically accessed for this example and illustrate the dynamics of system and bath degrees of freedom.

Detector-device-independent quantum key distribution (DDI-QKD) held the promise of being robust to detector side channels, a major security loophole in quantum key distribution (QKD) implementations. In contrast to what has been claimed, however, we demonstrate that the security of DDI-QKD is not based on postselected entanglement, and we introduce various eavesdropping strategies that show that DDI-QKD is in fact insecure against detector side-channel attacks as well as against other attacks that exploit devices’ imperfections of the receiver. Our attacks are valid even when the QKD apparatuses are built by the legitimate users of the system themselves, and thus, free of malicious modifications, which is a key assumption in DDI-QKD.

We present a method to deform (generically non-Abelian) $T$ duals of two-dimensional $\sigma$ models, which preserves classical integrability. The deformed models are identified by a linear operator $\omega$ on the dualized subalgebra, which satisfies the 2-cocycle condition. We prove that the so-called homogeneous Yang-Baxter deformations are equivalent, via a field redefinition, to our deformed models when $\omega$ is invertible. We explain the details for deformations of $T$ duals of principal chiral models, and present the corresponding generalization to the case of supercoset models.

The quantum electrodynamics (QED) corrections are directly incorporated into the most accurate treatment of the correlation corrections for ions with complex electronic structure of interest to metrology and tests of fundamental physics. We compared the performance of four different QED potentials for various systems to access the accuracy of QED calculations and to make a prediction of highly charged ion properties urgently needed for planning future experiments. We find that all four potentials give consistent and reliable results for ions of interest. For the strongly bound electrons, the nonlocal potentials are more accurate than the local potential.

Using a purely electrostatic positron beam, the total cross section of positrons scattering from ${\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}$ has been measured for the first time with a high angular discrimination ($\simeq 1°$) against forward scattered projectiles. Results are presented in the energy range (10–300) eV. Significant deviations from previous measurements are found which are, if ascribed entirely to the angular acceptances of various experimental systems, in quantitative accord with ab initio theoretical predictions of the differential elastic scattering cross section.

Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a ladder system involving a Rydberg level is known to yield giant optical nonlinearities for the probe field, even in the few-photon regime. This enhancement is due to the strong dipole-dipole interactions between Rydberg atoms and the resulting excitation blockade phenomenon. In order to study such highly correlated media, ad hoc models or low-excitation assumptions are generally used to tackle their dynamical response to optical fields. Here, we study the behavior of a cavity Rydberg-EIT setup in the nonequilibrium quantum field formalism, and we obtain analytic expressions for elastic and inelastic components of the cavity transmission spectrum, valid up to higher excitation numbers than previously achieved. This allows us to identify and interpret a polaritonic resonance structure, to our knowledge unreported so far.

Dynamics of coupled chaotic oscillators on a network are studied using coupled maps. Within a broad range of parameter values representing the coupling strength or the degree of elements, the system repeats formation and split of coherent clusters. The distribution of the cluster size follows a power law with the exponent $\alpha$, which changes with the parameter values. The number of positive Lyapunov exponents and their spectra are scaled anomalously with the power of the system size with the exponent $\beta$, which also changes with the parameters. The scaling relation $\alpha \sim 2(\beta +1)$ is uncovered, which is universal independent of parameters and among random networks.

We analyze the recently measured anomalous transport properties of an ultracold gas through a ballistic constriction [S. Krinner et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 113, 8144 (2016)]. The quantized conductance observed at weak interactions increases severalfold as the gas is made strongly interacting, which cannot be explained by the Landauer theory of single-channel transport. We show that this phenomenon is due to the multichannel Andreev reflections at the edges of the constriction, where the interaction and confinement result in a superconducting state. Andreev processes convert atoms of otherwise reflecting channels into the condensate propagating through the constriction, leading to a significant excess conductance. Furthermore, we find the spin conductance being suppressed by superconductivity; the agreement with experiment provides an additional support for our model.

We introduce a paradigm for accurate design of metasurfaces for intricate beam manipulation, implementing functionalities previously considered impossible to achieve with passive lossless elements. The key concept involves self-generation of auxiliary evanescent fields which facilitate the required local power conservation, without interfering with the device performance in the far field. We demonstrate our scheme by presenting exact reactive solutions to the challenging problems of reflectionless beam splitting and perfect reflection, verified via full wave simulations.

We use scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to study magnetic Fe impurities intentionally doped into the high-temperature superconductor ${\mathrm{Bi}}_2{\mathrm{Sr}}_2\mathrm{Ca}\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{u}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_{8+\delta }$. Our spectroscopic measurements reveal that Fe impurities introduce low-lying resonances in the density of states at ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_1\approx 4\mathrm{meV}$ and ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_2\approx 15\mathrm{meV}$, allowing us to determine that, despite having a large magnetic moment, potential scattering of quasiparticles by Fe impurities dominates magnetic scattering. In addition, using high-resolution spatial characterizations of the local density of states near and away from Fe impurities, we detail the spatial extent of impurity-affected regions as well as provide a local view of impurity-induced effects on the superconducting and pseudogap states. Our studies of Fe impurities, when combined with a reinterpretation of earlier STM work in the context of a two-gap scenario, allow us to present a unified view of the atomic-scale effects of elemental impurities on the pseudogap and superconducting states in hole-doped cuprates; this may help resolve a previously assumed dichotomy between the effects of magnetic and nonmagnetic impurities in these materials.

We investigate valley dynamics associated with trions in monolayer tungsten diselenide (${\mathrm{WSe}}_2$) using polarization resolved two-color pump-probe spectroscopy. When tuning the pump and probe energy across the trion resonance, distinct trion valley polarization dynamics are observed as a function of energy and attributed to the intravalley and intervalley trions in monolayer ${\mathrm{WSe}}_2$. We observe no decay of a near-unity valley polarization associated with the intravalley trions during $\sim 25\mathrm{ps}$, while the valley polarization of the intervalley trions exhibits a fast decay of $\sim 4\mathrm{ps}$. Furthermore, we show that resonant excitation is a prerequisite for observing the long-lived valley polarization associated with the intravalley trion. The exceptionally robust valley polarization associated with resonantly created intravalley trions discovered here may be explored for future valleytronic applications such as valley Hall effects.