We describe and implement a method to restore the state of a single qubit, in principle perfectly, after it has partially collapsed. The method resembles the classical Hahn spin echo but works on a wider class of relaxation processes, in which the quantum state partially leaves the computational Hilbert space. It is not guaranteed to work every time, but successful outcomes are heralded. We demonstrate, using a single trapped ion, a better performance from this recovery method than can be obtained employing projection and postselection alone. The demonstration features a novel qubit implementation that permits both partial collapse and coherent manipulations with high fidelity.

Flat space cosmology spacetimes are exact time-dependent solutions of three-dimensional gravity theories, such as Einstein gravity or topologically massive gravity. We exhibit a novel kind of phase transition between these cosmological spacetimes and the Minkowski vacuum. At sufficiently high temperature, (rotating) hot flat space tunnels into a universe described by flat space cosmology.

We propose a method to determine the total magnetic susceptibility of strongly interacting matter by lattice QCD simulations and present numerical results for the theory with two light flavors, which suggest a weak magnetic activity in the confined phase and the emergence of strong paramagnetism in the deconfined, quark-gluon plasma phase.

Proton-nucleus collisions ($p+A$) at LHC energies provide a rigorous test of color glass condensate (CGC), a model proposed to describe the high energy limit of quantum chromodynamics. In the CGC the average multiplicity of charged particles at midrapidity in $p+A$ collisions depends logarithmically on the number of participants, $N_{\mathrm{part}}$. In contrast, the wounded nucleon model of independent nucleon-nucleon scatterings, verified at RHIC energies, predicts that multiplicity in $p+A$ depends linearly on $N_{\mathrm{part}}$. We argue that the dependence of mean multiplicity on $N_{\mathrm{part}}$ in $p+A$ collisions at LHC energies can single out a model of particle production, thus offering a stringent test of the CGC and the wounded nucleon model. Based on this observation we propose a novel experimental test of color coherence in $p+A$ collisions.

We develop a nonperturbative theoretical framework to treat collisions with generic anisotropic interactions in quasi-one-dimensional geometries. Our method avoids the limitations of pseudopotential theory and allows us to include accurately long-range anisotropic interactions. For ultracold dipolar collisions in a harmonic waveguide we predict dipolar confinement-induced resonances (DCIRs) which are attributed to different angular momentum states. The analytically derived resonance condition reveals in detail the interplay of the confinement with the anisotropic nature of the dipole-dipole interactions. The results are in excellent agreement with ab initio numerical calculations confirming the robustness of the presented approach. The exact knowledge of the positions of DCIRs may pave the way for the experimental realization of, e.g., Tonks-Girardeau-like or super-Tonks-Girardeau-like phases in effective one-dimensional dipolar gases.

We experimentally demonstrate synthesis and in situ analysis of multimode plasmonic excitations in two-wire transmission lines supporting a symmetric and an antisymmetric eigenmode. To this end we irradiate an incoupling antenna with a diffraction-limited excitation spot exploiting a polarization- and position-dependent excitation efficiency. Modal analysis is performed by recording the far-field emission of two mode-specific spatially separated emission spots at the far end of the transmission line. To illustrate the power of the approach we selectively determine the group velocities of symmetric and antisymmetric contributions of a multimode ultrafast plasmon pulse.

Chemical-mechanical transduction mechanisms which can actuate the movement of colloids through liquids are highly sought after as engines to propel miniaturized micro- and nanobots. One mechanism involves harnessing the long-range van der Waals attractive forces between the colloid and solute molecules dissolved in the liquid around the particle. If a concentration gradient of this solute is applied across the particle, then the imbalance in the van der Waals attraction drives the particle towards the higher concentration of solute. We present a molecular dynamics simulation using Lennard-Jones interactions between molecules of the solvent, solute, and colloid cluster which include short-range repulsive and long-range attractive potentials. The simulations demonstrate that a solute gradient can propel nanosized colloids, and that the velocity decreases with the colloid size. The solute-colloid short-range repulsive interactions are observed to be restricted to a region of specifically adsorbed solutes on the particle surface which are symmetrically adsorbed and do not contribute to the motion. The size of this region provides a cutoff for a continuum level description of the motion, and with this cutoff, continuum calculations are in excellent agreement with the molecular dynamics simulation results, completing a description of the propulsion from the nano- to the microscale.

Modern, high-brightness electron beams such as those from plasma wakefield accelerators and free-electron laser linacs continue the drive to ever-shorter bunch durations. In low-charge operation ($\sim 20\mathrm{pC}$), bunches shorter than 10 fs are reported at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). Though suffering from a loss of phase information, spectral diagnostics remain appealing as compact, low-cost bunch duration monitors suitable for deployment in beam dynamics studies and operations instrumentation. Progress in middle-infrared (MIR) imaging has led to the development of a single-shot, MIR prism spectrometer to characterize the corresponding LCLS coherent beam radiation power spectrum for few-femtosecond scale bunch length monitoring. In this Letter, we report on the spectrometer installation as well as the temporal reconstruction of 3 to 60 fs-long LCLS electron bunch profiles using single-shot coherent transition radiation spectra.

The interaction of laser pulses with thin grating targets, having a periodic groove at the irradiated surface, is experimentally investigated. Ultrahigh contrast ($\sim {10}^{12}$) pulses allow us to demonstrate an enhanced laser-target coupling for the first time in the relativistic regime of ultrahigh intensity $>{10}^{19}\mathrm{W}/{\mathrm{cm}}^2$. A maximum increase by a factor of 2.5 of the cutoff energy of protons produced by target normal sheath acceleration is observed with respect to plane targets, around the incidence angle expected for the resonant excitation of surface waves. A significant enhancement is also observed for small angles of incidence, out of resonance.

We demonstrate the experimental implementation of an optical lattice that allows for the generation of large homogeneous and tunable artificial magnetic fields with ultracold atoms. Using laser-assisted tunneling in a tilted optical potential, we engineer spatially dependent complex tunneling amplitudes. Thereby, atoms hopping in the lattice accumulate a phase shift equivalent to the Aharonov-Bohm phase of charged particles in a magnetic field. We determine the local distribution of fluxes through the observation of cyclotron orbits of the atoms on lattice plaquettes, showing that the system is described by the Hofstadter model. Furthermore, we show that for two atomic spin states with opposite magnetic moments, our system naturally realizes the time-reversal-symmetric Hamiltonian underlying the quantum spin Hall effect; i.e., two different spin components experience opposite directions of the magnetic field.

We experimentally implement the Harper Hamiltonian for neutral particles in optical lattices using laser-assisted tunneling and a potential energy gradient provided by gravity or magnetic field gradients. This Hamiltonian describes the motion of charged particles in strong magnetic fields. Laser-assisted tunneling processes are characterized by studying the expansion of the atoms in the lattice. The band structure of this Hamiltonian should display Hofstadter’s butterfly. For fermions, this scheme should realize the quantum Hall effect and chiral edge states.

First measurements of the self-dynamics of liquid water in the GPa range are reported. The GPa range has here become accessible through a new setup for the Paris-Edinburgh press specially conceived for quasielastic neutron scattering studies. A direct measurement of both the translational and rotational diffusion coefficients of water along the 400 K isotherm up to 3 GPa, corresponding to the melting point of ice VII, is provided and compared with molecular dynamics simulations. The translational diffusion is observed to strongly decrease with pressure, though its variation slows down for pressures higher than 1 GPa and decouples from that of the shear viscosity. The rotational diffusion turns out to be insensitive to pressure. Through comparison with structural data and molecular dynamics simulations, we show that this is a consequence of the rigidity of the first neighbors shell and of the invariance of the number of hydrogen bonds of a water molecule under high pressure. These results show the inadequacy of the Stokes-Einstein-Debye equations to predict the self-diffusive behavior of water at high temperature and high pressure, and challenge the usual description of hot dense water behaving as a simple liquid.

We report the assembly of magic number $({\mathrm{C}}_{60}{)}_m\mathrm{\text{−}}(\mathrm{Au}{)}_n$ complexes on the Au(111) surface. These complexes have a unique structure consisting of a single atomic layer Au island wrapped by a self-selected number (seven, ten, or twelve) of ${\mathrm{C}}_{60}$ molecules. The smallest structure consisting of 7 ${\mathrm{C}}_{60}$ molecules and 19 Au atoms, stable up to 400 K, has a preferred orientation on the surface. We propose a globalized metal-organic coordination mechanism for the stability of the $({\mathrm{C}}_{60}{)}_m\mathrm{\text{−}}(\mathrm{Au}{)}_n$ complexes.

We show that the resistance of the $\nu =5/2$ quantum Hall state, confined to an interferometer, oscillates with the magnetic field consistent with an Ising-type non-Abelian state. In three quantum Hall interferometers of different sizes, resistance oscillations at $\nu =7/3$ and integer filling factors have the magnetic field period expected if the number of quasiparticles contained within the interferometer changes so as to keep the area and the total charge within the interferometer constant. Under these conditions, an Abelian state such as the (3, 3, 1) state would show oscillations with the same period as at an integer quantum Hall state. However, in an Ising-type non-Abelian state there would be a rapid oscillation associated with the “even-odd effect” and a slower one associated with the accumulated Abelian phase due to both the Aharonov-Bohm effect and the Abelian part of the quasiparticle braiding statistics. Our measurements at $\nu =5/2$ are consistent with the latter.

Transverse magnetothermoelectric effects are studied in Permalloy thin films grown on MgO and GaAs substrates and compared to those grown on suspended ${\mathrm{SiN}}_x$ membranes. The transverse voltage along platinum strips patterned on top of the Permalloy films is measured versus the external magnetic field as a function of the angle and temperature gradients. After the identification of the contribution of the planar and anomalous Nernst effects, we find an upper limit for the transverse spin Seebeck effect, which is several orders of magnitude smaller than previously reported.

We explore the initial moments of impact between two dense granular clusters in a two-dimensional geometry. The particles are composed of solid ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ and are levitated on a hot surface. Upon collision, the propagation of a dynamic “jamming front” produces a distinct regime for energy dissipation in a granular gas in which the translational kinetic energy decreases by over 90%. Experiments and associated simulations show that the initial loss of kinetic energy obeys a power law in time $\Delta E=-K{t}^{3/2}$, a form that can be predicted from kinetic arguments.

We show that the ramp dynamics of phonons in a one-dimensional ion trap can be used for both generating multiparticle entangled states and motional state cooling of a string of trapped ions. We study such ramp dynamics using an effective Bose-Hubbard model which describes these phonons at low energies and show that specific protocols, involving site-specific dynamical tuning of the on-site potential of the model, can be used to generate entangled states and to achieve motional state cooling without involving electronic states of the ions. We compare and contrast our schemes for these to the earlier suggested ones and discuss specific experiments to realize the suggested protocols.

We present a novel spectroscopy protocol based on optimal control of a single quantum system. It enables measurements with quantum-limited sensitivity (${\eta }_{\omega }\propto (1/\sqrt{T_2^{*}})$, $T_2^{*}$ denoting the system’s coherence time) but has an orders of magnitude larger dynamic range than pulsed spectroscopy methods previously employed for this task. We employ this protocol to image nanoscale magnetic fields with a single scanning nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond. Here, our scheme enables quantitative imaging of a strongly inhomogeneous field in a single scan without closed-loop control, which has previously been necessary to achieve this goal.

We demonstrate a zero-dead-time operation of atomic clocks. This clock reduces sensitivity to local oscillator noise, integrating as nearly $1/\tau$ whereas a clock with dead time integrates as $1/{\tau }^{1/2}$ under identical conditions. We contend that a similar scheme may be applied to improve the stability of optical clocks.

We present the calculation of the cross section for Higgs boson production in association with a top quark pair plus one jet, at next-to-leading-order accuracy in QCD. All mass dependence is retained without recurring to any approximation. After including the complete next-to-leading-order QCD corrections, we observe a strong reduction in the scale dependence of the result. We also show distributions for the invariant mass of the top quark pair, with and without the additional jet, and for the transverse momentum and the pseudorapidity of the Higgs boson. Results for the virtual contributions are obtained with a novel reduction approach based on integrand decomposition via the Laurent expansion, as implemented in the library, NINJA. Cross sections and differential distributions are obtained with an automated setup which combines the GOSAM and SHERPA frameworks.