We present thermodynamic studies of a new spin-$1/2$ antiferromagnet containing undistorted kagome lattices—barlowite ${\mathrm{Cu}}_4(\mathrm{OH}{)}_6\mathrm{FBr}$. Magnetic susceptibility gives ${\theta }_{\mathrm{CW}}=-136\mathrm{K}$, while long-range order does not happen until $T_N=15\mathrm{K}$ with a weak ferromagnetic moment $\mu <0.1{\mu }_B/\mathrm{Cu}$. A 60 T magnetic field induces a moment less than $0.5{\mu }_B/\mathrm{Cu}$ at $T=0.6\mathrm{K}$. Specific-heat measurements have observed multiple phase transitions at $T\ll \mid {\theta }_{\mathrm{CW}}\mid$. The magnetic entropy of these transitions is merely 18% of $k_B\ln 2$ per Cu spin. These observations suggest that nontrivial spin textures are realized in barlowite with magnetic frustration. Comparing with the leading spin-liquid candidate herbertsmithite, the superior interkagome environment of barlowite sheds light on new spin-liquid compounds with minimum disorder. The robust perfect geometry of the kagome lattice makes charge doping promising.

Rafts, or functional domains, are transient nano-or mesoscopic structures in the plasma membrane and are thought to be essential for many cellular processes such as signal transduction, adhesion, trafficking, and lipid or protein sorting. Observations of these membrane heterogeneities have proven challenging, as they are thought to be both small and short lived. With a combination of coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations and neutron diffraction using deuterium labeled cholesterol molecules, we observe raftlike structures and determine the ordering of the cholesterol molecules in binary cholesterol-containing lipid membranes. From coarse-grained computer simulations, heterogenous membranes structures were observed and characterized as small, ordered domains. Neutron diffraction was used to study the lateral structure of the cholesterol molecules. We find pairs of strongly bound cholesterol molecules in the liquid-disordered phase, in accordance with the umbrella model. Bragg peaks corresponding to ordering of the cholesterol molecules in the raftlike structures were observed and indexed by two different structures: a monoclinic structure of ordered cholesterol pairs of alternating direction in equilibrium with cholesterol plaques, i.e., triclinic cholesterol bilayers.

Exciton pulses transport excitation and entanglement adiabatically through Rydberg aggregates, assemblies of highly excited light atoms, which are set into directed motion by resonant dipole-dipole interaction. Here, we demonstrate the coherent splitting of such pulses as well as the spatial segregation of electronic excitation and atomic motion. Both mechanisms exploit local nonadiabatic effects at a conical intersection, turning them from a decoherence source into an asset. The intersection provides a sensitive knob controlling the propagation direction and coherence properties of exciton pulses. The fundamental ideas discussed here have general implications for excitons on a dynamic network.

We present an efficient method for the characterization of two coupled discrete quantum systems, one of which can be controlled and measured. For two systems with transition frequencies ${\omega }_q$, ${\omega }_r$, and coupling strength $g$ we show how to obtain estimates of $g$ and ${\omega }_r$ whose error decreases exponentially in the number of measurement shots rather than as a power law expected in simple approaches. Our algorithm can thereby identify $g$ and ${\omega }_r$ simultaneously with high precision in a few hundred measurement shots. This is achieved by adapting measurement settings upon data as it is collected. We also introduce a method to eliminate erroneous estimates with small overhead. Our algorithm is robust against the presence of relaxation and typical noise. Our results are applicable to many candidate technologies for quantum computation, in particular, for the characterization of spurious two-level systems in superconducting qubits or stripline resonators.

For many years, the apparent absence of a phase instability has characterized lasers as peculiar nonlinear oscillators. We show that this unusual feature is solely due to the approximations used in writing the standard models. A new, careful derivation of the fundamental equations, based on codimension 2 bifurcation theory, shows the possible existence of dynamical regimes displaying either a pure phase instability, or mixed phase-amplitude turbulence. A comparison to existing experimental results convincingly shows that the Benjamin-Feir instability, common to all nonlinear wave problems, is a fundamental, satisfactory interpretation for their deterministic multimode dynamics.

An elastic strip is transversely clamped in a curved frame. The induced curvature decreases as the strip opens and connects to its flat natural shape. Various ribbon profiles are measured and the scaling law for the opening length validates a description where the in-plane stretching gradually relaxes the bending stress. An analytical model of the strip profile is proposed and a quantitative agreement is found with both experiments and simulations of the plates equations. This result provides a unique illustration of smooth nondevelopable solutions in thin sheets.

We show that density-dependent synthetic gauge fields may be engineered by combining periodically modulated interactions and Raman-assisted hopping in spin-dependent optical lattices. These fields lead to a density-dependent shift of the momentum distribution, may induce superfluid-to-Mott insulator transitions, and strongly modify correlations in the superfluid regime. We show that the interplay between the created gauge field and the broken sublattice symmetry results, as well, in an intriguing behavior at vanishing interactions, characterized by the appearance of a fractional Mott insulator.

We theoretically and experimentally demonstrate the existence of complete surface acoustic wave band gaps in surface phonon-polariton phononic crystals, in a completely monolithic structure formed from a two-dimensional honeycomb array of hexagonal shape domain-inverted inclusions in single crystal piezoelectric $Z$-cut lithium niobate. The band gaps appear at a frequency of about twice the Bragg band gap at the center of the Brillouin zone, formed through phonon-polariton coupling. The structure is mechanically, electromagnetically, and topographically homogeneous, without any physical alteration of the surface, offering an ideal platform for many acoustic wave applications for photonics, phononics, and microfluidics.

We study the evolution of structural disorder under cooling in supercooled liquids, focusing on covalent networks. We introduce a model for the energy of networks that incorporates weak noncovalent interactions. We show that at low temperature these interactions considerably affect the network topology near the rigidity transition that occurs as the coordination increases. As a result, this transition becomes mean field and does not present a line of critical points previously argued for, the “rigidity window.” Vibrational modes are then not fractons but instead are similar to the anomalous modes observed in packings of particles near jamming. These results suggest an alternative interpretation for the intermediate phase observed in chalcogenides.

In this work we investigate, by means of elastic neutron scattering, the pressure dependence of mean square displacements (MSD) of hydrogen atoms of deeply cooled water confined in the pores of a three-dimensional disordered ${\mathrm{SiO}}_2$ xerogel; experiments have been performed at 250 and 210 K from atmospheric pressure to 1200 bar. The “pressure anomaly” of supercooled water (i.e., a mean square displacement increase with increasing pressure) is observed in our sample at both temperatures; however, contrary to previous simulation results and to the experimental trend observed in bulk water, the pressure effect is smaller at lower (210 K) than at higher (250 K) temperature. Elastic neutron scattering results are complemented by differential scanning calorimetry data that put in evidence, besides the glass transition at about 170 K, a first-order-like endothermic transition occurring at about 230 K that, in view of the neutron scattering results, can be attributed to a liquid-liquid crossover. Our results give experimental evidence for the presence, in deeply cooled confined water, of a crossover occurring at about 230 K (at ambient pressure) from a liquid phase predominant at 210 K to another liquid phase predominant at 250 K; therefore, they are fully consistent with the liquid-liquid transition hypothesis.

We present a class of states with both topological and conventional Landau order that arise out of strongly interacting spinless fermions in fractionally filled and topologically nontrivial bands with Chern number $C=\pm 1$. These quantum states show the features of fractional Chern insulators, such as fractional Hall conductivity and interchange of ground-state levels upon insertion of a magnetic flux. In addition, they exhibit charge order and a related additional trivial ground-state degeneracy. Band mixing and geometric frustration of the charge pattern place these lattice states markedly beyond a single-band description.

We consider the possible phases of microcavity polaritons tuned near a bipolariton Feshbach resonance. We show that, as well as the regular polariton superfluid phase, a “molecular” superfluid exists, with (quasi-)long-range order only for pairs of polaritons. We describe the experimental signatures of this state. Using variational approaches we find the phase diagram (critical temperature, density, and exciton-photon detuning). Unlike for ultracold atoms, the molecular superfluid is not inherently unstable, and our phase diagram suggests it is attainable in current experiments.

We obtain a fundamental instability of the magnetization-switching fronts in superparamagnetic and ferromagnetic materials such as crystals of nanomagnets, ferromagnetic nanowires, and systems of quantum dots with large spin. We develop the instability theory for both linear and nonlinear stages. By using numerical simulations we investigate the instability properties focusing on spin avalanches in crystals of nanomagnets. The instability distorts spontaneously the fronts and leads to a complex multidimensional front dynamics. We show that the instability has a universal physical nature, with a deep relationship to a wide variety of physical systems, such as the Darrieus-Landau instability of deflagration fronts in combustion, inertial confinement fusion, and thermonuclear supernovae, and the instability of doping fronts in organic semiconductors.

The phenomenon of monogamy of Bell inequality violations is interesting both from the fundamental perspective as well as in cryptographic applications such as the extraction of randomness and secret bits. In this article, we derive new and stronger monogamy relations for violations of Bell inequalities in general no-signaling theories. These relations are applicable to the class of binary output correlation inequalities known as xor games, and to free unique games. In many instances of interest, we show that the derived relation provides a significant strengthening over previously known results. Our result connects, for the first time, the property of monogamy with that crucial part of the Bell expression that is necessary for revealing a contradiction with local realistic predictions, thus shifting the paradigm in the field of monogamy of correlations.

We present a measurement of the $CP$-violating weak mixing phase ${\varphi }_s$ using the decay ${\overline{B}}_s^0\to D_s^{+}{D}_s^{-}$ in a data sample corresponding to $3.0{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected with the LHCb detector in $pp$ collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. An analysis of the time evolution of the system, which does not use the constraint $|\lambda |=1$ to allow for the presence of $CP$ violation in decay, yields ${\varphi }_s=0.02\pm 0.17(\text{stat})\pm 0.02(\text{syst})\text{rad}$, $|\lambda |={0.91}_{-0.15}^{+0.18}(\text{stat})\pm 0.02(\text{syst})$. This result is consistent with the standard model expectation.

The existence of a second Higgs doublet in nature could lead to a cosmological first-order electroweak phase transition and explain the origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe. We obtain the spectrum and properties of the new scalars $H_0$, $A_0$, and $H^{\pm }$ that signal such a phase transition and show that the observation of the decay $A_0\to Z{H}_0$ at LHC would be a “smoking gun” signature of these scenarios. We analyze the LHC search prospects for this decay in the $\ell \ell b\overline{b}$ and $\ell \ell W^{+}{W}^{-}$ final states, arguing that current data may be sensitive to this signature in the former channel as well as there being great potential for a discovery in either channel at the very early stages of the 14 TeV run.