We propose a novel scheme for resolving the contribution of inner- and outer-valence electrons in extreme-ultraviolet (XUV)-initiated high-harmonic generation in neon. By probing the atom with a low-energy (below the $2s$ ionization threshold) ultrashort XUV pulse, the $2p$ electron is steered away from the core, while the $2s$ electron is enabled to describe recollision trajectories. By selectively suppressing the $2p$ recollision trajectories, we can resolve the contribution of the $2s$ electron to the high-harmonic spectrum. We apply the classical trajectory model to account for the contribution of the $2s$ electron, which allows for an intuitive understanding of the process.

Phase singularities are dislocations widely studied in optical fields as well as in other areas of physics. With experiment and theory we show that the vectorial nature of light affects the spatial distribution of phase singularities in random light fields. While in scalar random waves phase singularities exhibit spatial distributions reminiscent of particles in isotropic liquids, in vector fields their distribution for the different vector components becomes anisotropic due to the direct relation between propagation and field direction. By incorporating this relation in the theory for scalar fields by Berry and Dennis [Proc. R. Soc. A 456, 2059 (2000)], we quantitatively describe our experiments.

Discrete breathers are ubiquitous structures in nonlinear anharmonic models ranging from the prototypical example of the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam model to Klein-Gordon nonlinear lattices, among many others. We propose a general criterion for the emergence of instabilities of discrete breathers analogous to the well-established Vakhitov-Kolokolov criterion for solitary waves. The criterion involves the change of monotonicity of the discrete breather’s energy as a function of the breather frequency. Our analysis suggests and numerical results corroborate that breathers with increasing (decreasing) energy-frequency dependence are generically unstable in soft (hard) nonlinear potentials.

Topological states of matter have been widely studied as being driven by an external magnetic field, intrinsic spin-orbital coupling, or magnetic doping. Here, we unveil an interaction-driven spontaneous quantum Hall effect (a Chern insulator) emerging in an extended fermion-Hubbard model on a kagome lattice, based on a state-of-the-art density-matrix renormalization group on cylinder geometry and an exact diagonalization in torus geometry. We first demonstrate that the proposed model exhibits an incompressible liquid phase with doublet degenerate ground states as time-reversal partners. The explicit spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking is determined by emergent uniform circulating loop currents between nearest neighbors. Importantly, the fingerprint topological nature of the ground state is characterized by quantized Hall conductance. Thus, we identify the liquid phase as a quantum Hall phase, which provides a “proof-of-principle” demonstration of the interaction-driven topological phase in a topologically trivial noninteracting band.

Muon spin relaxation ($\mu \mathrm{SR}$) experiments on single crystals of the structurally perfect triangular antiferromagnet ${\mathrm{YbMgGaO}}_4$ indicate the absence of both static long-range magnetic order and spin freezing down to 0.048 K in a zero field. Below 0.4 K, the ${\mu }^{+}$ spin relaxation rates, which are proportional to the dynamic correlation function of the ${\mathrm{Yb}}^{3+}$ spins, exhibit temperature-independent plateaus. All these $\mu \mathrm{SR}$ results unequivocally support the formation of a gapless U(1) quantum spin liquid ground state in the triangular antiferromagnet ${\mathrm{YbMgGaO}}_4$.

Dark excitons are of fundamental importance in a broad range of contexts but are difficult to study using conventional optical spectroscopy due to their weak interaction with light. We show how coherent multidimensional spectroscopy can reveal and characterize dark states. Using this approach, we identify parity-forbidden and spatially indirect excitons in InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells and determine details regarding lifetimes, homogeneous and inhomogeneous linewidths, broadening mechanisms, and coupling strengths. The observations of coherent coupling between these states and bright excitons hint at a role for a multistep process by which excitons in the barrier can relax into the quantum wells.

Ferroelectricity usually fades away as materials are thinned down below a critical value. We reveal that the unique ionic-potential anharmonicity can induce spontaneous in-plane electrical polarization and ferroelectricity in monolayer group-IV monochalcogenides $MX$ ($M=\mathrm{Ge}$, Sn; $X=\mathrm{S}$, Se). An effective Hamiltonian has been successfully extracted from the parametrized energy space, making it possible to study the ferroelectric phase transitions in a single-atom layer. The ferroelectricity in these materials is found to be robust and the corresponding Curie temperatures are higher than room temperature, making them promising for realizing ultrathin ferroelectric devices of broad interest. We further provide the phase diagram and predict other potentially two-dimensional ferroelectric materials.

We show that the interaction of an oil-dispersed colloidal particle with an oil-water interface is highly tunable from attractive to repulsive, either by varying the sign of the colloidal charge via charge regulation or by varying the difference in hydrophilicity between the dissolved cations and anions. In addition, we investigate the yet unexplored interplay between the self-regulated colloidal surface charge distribution with the planar double layer across the oil-water interface and the spherical one around the colloid. Our findings explain recent experiments and have direct relevance for tunable Pickering emulsions.

A sharp transition between liquefaction and transient solidification is observed during impact on a granular suspension depending on the initial packing fraction. We demonstrate, via high-speed pressure measurements and a two-phase modeling, that this transition is controlled by a coupling between the granular pile dilatancy and the interstitial fluid pressure generated by the impact. Our results provide a generic mechanism for explaining the wide variety of impact responses in particulate media, from dry quicksand in powders to impact hardening in shear-thickening suspensions like cornstarch.

We report total absorption spectroscopy measurements of ${}^{92}\mathrm{Rb}$, ${}^{96\mathrm{gs}}\mathrm{Y}$, and ${}^{142}\mathrm{Cs}$ $\beta$ decays, which are the most important contributors to the high energy ${\overline{\nu }}_e$ spectral shape in nuclear reactors. These three $\beta$ decays contribute 43% of the ${\overline{\nu }}_e$ flux near 5.5 MeV emitted by nuclear reactors. This ${\overline{\nu }}_e$ energy is particularly interesting due to spectral features recently observed in several experiments including the Daya Bay, Double Chooz, and RENO Collaborations. Measurements were conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by means of proton-induced fission of ${}^{238}\mathrm{U}$ with on-line mass separation of fission fragments and the Modular Total Absorption Spectrometer. We observe a $\beta$-decay pattern that is similar to recent measurements of ${}^{92}\mathrm{Rb}$, with a ground-state to ground-state $\beta$ feeding of 91(3)%. We verify the ${}^{96\mathrm{gs}}\mathrm{Y}$ ground-state to ground-state $\beta$ feeding of 95.5(20)%. Our measurements substantially modify the $\beta$-decay feedings of ${}^{142}\mathrm{Cs}$, reducing the $\beta$ feeding to ${}^{142}\mathrm{Ba}$ states below 2 MeV by 32% when compared with the latest evaluations. Our results increase the discrepancy between the observed and the expected reactor ${\overline{\nu }}_e$ flux between 5 and 7 MeV, the maximum excess increases from $\sim 10\%$ to $\sim 12\%$.

Beryllium is a simple alkali earth metal, but has been the target of intensive studies for decades because of its unusual electron behavior at surfaces. The puzzling aspects include (i) severe deviations from the description of the nearly free-electron picture, (ii) an anomalously large electron-phonon coupling effect, and (iii) giant Friedel oscillations. The underlying origins for such anomalous surface electron behavior have been under active debate, but with no consensus. Here, by means of first-principles calculations, we discover that this pure metal system, surprisingly, harbors the Dirac node line (DNL) that in turn helps to rationalize many of the existing puzzles. The DNL is featured by a closed line consisting of linear band crossings, and its induced topological surface band agrees well with previous photoemission spectroscopy observations on the Be (0001) surface. We further reveal that each of the elemental alkali earth metals of Mg, Ca, and Sr also harbors the DNL and speculate that the fascinating topological property of the DNL might naturally exist in other elemental metals as well.

Numerical results suggest that the quantum Hall effect at $\nu =5/2$ is described by the Pfaffian or anti-Pfaffian state in the absence of disorder and Landau-level mixing. Those states are incompatible with the observed transport properties of GaAs heterostructures, where disorder and Landau-level mixing are strong. We show that the recent proposal of a particle-hole (PH)-Pfaffian topological order by Son is consistent with all experiments. The absence of particle-hole symmetry at $\nu =5/2$ is not an obstacle to the existence of the PH-Pfaffian order since the order is robust to symmetry breaking.

We study, from first principles, the pressure exerted by an active fluid of spherical particles on general boundaries in two dimensions. We show that, despite the nonuniform pressure along curved walls, an equation of state is recovered upon a proper spatial averaging. This holds even in the presence of pairwise interactions between particles or when asymmetric walls induce ratchet currents, which are accompanied by spontaneous shear stresses on the walls. For flexible obstacles, the pressure inhomogeneities lead to a modulational instability as well as to the spontaneous motion of short semiflexible filaments. Finally, we relate the force exerted on objects immersed in active baths to the particle flux they generate around them.

We study odd viscosity in a holographic model of a Weyl semimetal. The model is characterized by a quantum phase transition from a topological semimetal to a trivial semimetal state. Since the model is axisymmetric in three spatial dimensions there are two independent odd viscosities. Both odd viscosity coefficients are nonvanishing in the quantum critical region and nonzero only due to the mixed axial gravitational anomaly. It is therefore a novel example in which the mixed axial gravitational anomaly gives rise to a transport coefficient at first order in derivatives at finite temperature. In the quantum critical region, the physics of viscosities as well as conductivities is governed by the quantum critical point.

We study, in theory and experiment, the quantum properties of correlated light fields measured with click-counting detectors providing incomplete information on the photon statistics. We establish a correlation parameter for the conditional statistics, and we derive the corresponding nonclassicality criteria for detecting conditional quantum correlations. Classical bounds for Pearson’s correlation parameter are formulated that allow us, once they are violated, to determine nonclassical correlations via the joint statistics. On the one hand, we demonstrate nonclassical correlations in terms of the joint click statistics of light produced by a parametric down-conversion source. On the other hand, we verify quantum correlations of a heralded, split single-photon state via the conditional click statistics together with a generalization to higher-order moments. We discuss the performance of the presented nonclassicality criteria to successfully discern joint and conditional quantum correlations. Remarkably, our results are obtained without making any assumptions on the response function, quantum efficiency, and dark-count rate of photodetectors.

We study the formation of micron-sized spark discharges in high-pressure xenon on the nanosecond time scale. The spark’s energy per length is measured through the expansion dynamics of the generated shock wave, and is observed to scale linearly with the spark radius. At the same time, the surface temperature of the spark channel remains constant. Together, these observations allow us to conclude that the spark channel, up to $40\mu \mathrm{m}$ in overall radius, is actually an energetically hollow shell about $20\mu \mathrm{m}$ thick. Further, the energy per nucleus in the shell is about 15 eV, independent of size and density. To reconcile these findings with the opacity to visible light, we appeal to collective screening processes that dramatically lower the effective ionization potential, allowing a much higher electron density than is otherwise expected. Thus, nanosecond measurements of sparks provide access to the thermodynamics and kinetics of strongly correlated plasmas.