We demonstrate the Casimir interaction between two ferromagnetic boundary surfaces using the dynamic atomic force microscope. The experimental data are found to be in excellent agreement with the predictions of the Lifshitz theory for magnetic boundary surfaces combined with the plasma model approach. It is shown that for magnetic materials the role of hypothetical patch potentials is opposite to that required for reconciliation of the data with the Drude model.

The interfaces of ${\mathrm{LaAlO}}_3/{\mathrm{SrTiO}}_3$ and $({\mathrm{LaAlO}}_3{)}_x({\mathrm{SrTiO}}_3{)}_{1-x}/{\mathrm{SrTiO}}_3$ heterostructures have been investigated by soft x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for different layer thicknesses across the insulator-to-metal interface transition. The valence band and Fermi edge were probed using resonant photoemission across the Ti $L_{2,3}$ absorption edge. The presence of a Fermi-edge signal originating from the partially filled Ti $3d$ orbitals is only found in the conducting samples. No Fermi-edge signal could be detected for insulating samples below the critical thickness. Furthermore, the angular dependence of the Fermi intensity allows the determination of the spatial extent of the conducting electron density perpendicular to the interface.

Using the framework of geometry-based fundamental-measure theory, we develop a classical density functional for hard polyhedra and their mixtures and apply it to inhomogeneous fluids of Platonic solids near a hard wall. As revealed by Monte Carlo simulations, the faceted shape of the polyhedra leads to complex layering and orientational ordering near the wall, which is excellently reproduced by our theory. These effects can be verified in real-space experiments on polyhedral colloids.

Microrheological studies of phospholipid monolayers, bilayers, and other Langmuir monolayer systems are traditionally performed by observing the thermal fluctuations of tracers attached to the membrane or interface. Measurements of this type obtain surface moduli that are orders of magnitude different from those obtained using macroscopic or active techniques. These large discrepancies can result from uncertainties in the tracer’s coupling to the monolayer or the local disruption of the monolayer by the tracer. To avoid such problems, we perform a microrheological experiment with the tracer particle placed at a known depth beneath the monolayer; this avoids the issues mentioned at the cost of generating a weaker, purely hydrodynamic coupling between the tracer and the monolayer. We calculate the appropriate response functions for this submerged particle microrheology and demonstrate the technique on three model monolayer systems.

We investigate force-induced and temperature-induced unfolding of proteins using the combination of a Gaussian network model and a crack propagation model based on “bond”-breaking independent events. We assume the existence of threshold values for the mean strain and strain fluctuations that dictate bond rupture. Surprisingly, we find that this stepwise process usually leads to a few cooperative, first-order-like, transitions in which several bonds break simultaneously, reminiscent of the “avalanches” seen in disordered networks.

Many processes in living cells are controlled by biochemical substances regulating active stresses. The cytoplasm is an active material with both viscoelastic and liquid properties. We incorporate the active stress into a two-phase model of the cytoplasm which accounts for the spatiotemporal dynamics of the cytoskeleton and the cytosol. The cytoskeleton is described as a solid matrix that together with the cytosol as an interstitial fluid constitutes a poroelastic material. We find different forms of mechanochemical waves including traveling, standing, and rotating waves by employing linear stability analysis and numerical simulations in one and two spatial dimensions.

We study the structure of binary monolayers of large ($3\mu \mathrm{m}$ diameter) very hydrophobic ($A$) and large ($3\mu \mathrm{m}$ diameter) hydrophilic ($B$) or small ($1\mu \mathrm{m}$ diameter) hydrophilic ($C$) silica particles at an octane-water interface. By tuning the composition and packing geometry of the mixed monolayer, we find that a rich variety of two-dimensional hexagonal superlattices of mixed $A/B$ or $A/C$ clusters are formed, stabilized by short-ranged electrostatic induced dipole interactions. The cluster structures obtained are in excellent agreement with zero temperature calculations, indicating that the self-assembly process can be effectively controlled.

The IceCube Collaboration recently reported a stringent upper limit on the high energy neutrino flux from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which provides a meaningful constraint on the standard internal shock model. Recent broadband electromagnetic observations of GRBs also challenge the internal shock paradigm for GRBs, and some competing models for $\gamma$-ray prompt emission have been proposed. We describe a general scheme for calculating the GRB neutrino flux, and compare the predicted neutrino flux levels for different models. We point out that the current neutrino flux upper limit starts to constrain the standard internal shock model. The dissipative photosphere models are also challenged if the cosmic ray luminosity from GRBs is at least 10 times larger than the $\gamma$-ray luminosity. If the neutrino flux upper limit continues to go down in the next few years, then it would suggest the following possibilities: (i) the photon-to-proton luminosity ratio in GRBs is anomalously high for shocks, which may be achieved in some dissipative photosphere models and magnetic dissipation models; or (ii) the GRB emission site is at a larger radius than the internal shock radius, as expected in some magnetic dissipation models such as the internal collision-induced magnetic reconnection and turbulence model.

For a broad range of values of magnetic monopole mass and charge, the abundance of monopoles trapped inside Earth would be expected to be enhanced in the mantle beneath the geomagnetic poles. A search for magnetic monopoles was conducted using the signature of an induced persistent current following the passage of igneous rock samples through a SQUID-based magnetometer. A total of 24.6 kg of rocks from various selected sites, among which 23.4 kg are mantle-derived rocks from the Arctic and Antarctic areas, was analyzed. No monopoles were found, and a 90% confidence level upper limit of $9.8\times {10}^{-5}/\mathrm{g}$ is set on the monopole density in the search samples.

The direct manipulation of charge oscillations has emerged as a new perspective in chemical reaction control. Here, we demonstrate, in a joint experimental and theoretical study, that the electron dynamics of a molecule is efficiently steered by controlling the interplay of a driving femtosecond laser pulse with the photoinduced charge oscillation. These oscillations have a typical Bohr period of around 1 fs for valence electrons; therefore, control has to be exerted on a shorter time scale. Specifically, we show how precision pulse shaping is used to manipulate the coupled electron and nuclear dynamics in order to address different bound electronic target states in a molecule. We present a strong-field coherent control mechanism which is understood in terms of a simple classical picture and at the same time verified by solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. This mechanism is universally applicable and opens a wide spectrum of applications in the reaction control of complex systems.

High-field terahertz (THz) single-cycle pulses with $1.5\mathrm{MV}/\mathrm{cm}$ are generated by optical rectification in the stilbazolium salt crystal 4-N,N-dimethylamino-4’-N’-methyl-stilbazolium 2,4,6-trimethylbenzenesulfonate. We show experimentally that the generated THz transient carrying 5 octaves (0.15 to 5.5 THz) undergoes a complex time-frequency evolution when tightly focused, and we present a model based on three independent oscillating dipoles capable to describe this anomalous field evolution. Finally, we present a method to control the absolute phase of such supercontinuum THz pulses as an essential tool for future field-sensitive investigations.

Optimal single electron sources emit regular streams of particles, displaying no low-frequency charge current noise. Because of the wave packet nature of the emitted particles, the energy is, however, fluctuating, giving rise to heat current noise. We investigate theoretically this quantum source of heat noise for an emitter coupled to an electronic probe in the hot-electron regime. The distribution of temperature and potential fluctuations induced in the probe is shown to provide direct information on the single-particle wave function properties and display strong nonclassical features.

A combined experimental and theoretical study of doping individual Fe atoms into ${\mathrm{Bi}}_2{\mathrm{Se}}_3$ is presented. It is shown through a scanning tunneling microscopy study that single Fe atoms initially located at hollow sites on top of the surface (adatoms) can be incorporated into subsurface layers by thermally activated diffusion. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy in combination with ab initio calculations suggest that the doping behavior changes from electron donation for the Fe adatom to neutral or electron acceptance for Fe incorporated into substitutional Bi sites. According to first principles calculations within density functional theory, these Fe substitutional impurities retain a large magnetic moment, thus presenting an alternative scheme for magnetically doping the topological surface state. For both types of Fe doping, we see no indication of a gap at the Dirac point.

Selenium substitution drastically increases the transition temperature of iridium ditelluride (${\mathrm{IrTe}}_2$) to a diamagnetic superstructure from 278 to 560 K. Transmission electron microscopy experiments revealed that this enhancement is accompanied by the evolution of nonsinusoidal structure modulations from $q=1/5(10\overline{1})$ to $q=1/6(10\overline{1})$ types. These comprehensive results are consistent with the concept of the destabilization of polymeric Te-Te bonds at the transition, the temperature of which is increased by chemical and hydrostatic pressure and by the substitution of Te with the more electronegative Se. This temperature-induced depolymerization transition in ${\mathrm{IrTe}}_2$ is unique in crystalline inorganic solids.

The linear dispersion of the low-dimensional acoustic surface plasmon (ASP) opens perspectives in energy conversion, transport, and confinement far below optical frequencies. Although the ASP exists in a wide class of materials, ranging from metal surfaces and ultrathin films to graphene and topological insulators, its properties are still largely unexplored. Taking Au(111) as a model system, our combined experimental and theoretical study revealed an intriguing interplay between collective and single particle excitations, causing the ASP associated with the Shockley surface state to be embedded within the intraband transitions without losing its sharp character and linear dispersion.

We study the structure of electronic states in individual PbS nanocrystal quantum dots by scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) using one-to-two monolayer nanocrystal films treated with 1, 2-ethanedithiols (EDT). Up to six individual valence and conduction band states are resolved for a range of quantum dot sizes. The measured states’ energies are in good agreement with calculations using the $\mathbf{k}·\mathbf{p}$ four-band envelope function formalism. A comparison of STS and optical absorption spectra indicates that some of the absorption features can only be explained by asymmetric transitions involving the states of different symmetries (e.g., $S$ and $P$ or $P$ and $D$), which points towards the relaxation of the parity selection rules in these nanostructures. STS measurements also reveal a midgap feature, which is likely similar to one observed in previous charge transport studies of EDT-treated quantum dot films.

We present force-clamp data on the collapse of ubiquitin polyproteins from a highly extended state to the folded length, in response to a quench in the force from 110 pN to 5 or 10 pN. Using a recent method for free-energy reconstruction from the observed nonequilibrium trajectories, we find that their statistics is captured by simple diffusion along the end-to-end length. The estimated diffusion coefficient of $\sim 100{\mathrm{nm}}^2{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ is significantly slower than expected from viscous effects alone, possibly because of the internal degrees of freedom of the protein. The free-energy profiles give validity to a physical model in which the multiple protein domains collapse all at once and the role of the force is approximately captured by the Bell model.

We consider measurement-based quantum computation (MBQC) on thermal states of the interacting cluster Hamiltonian containing interactions between the cluster stabilizers that undergoes thermal phase transitions. We show that the long-range order of the symmetry breaking thermal states below a critical temperature drastically enhances the robustness of MBQC against thermal excitations. Specifically, we show the enhancement in two-dimensional cases and prove that MBQC is topologically protected below the critical temperature in three-dimensional cases. The interacting cluster Hamiltonian allows us to perform MBQC even at a temperature 1 order of magnitude higher than that of the free cluster Hamiltonian.

We introduce an approach to quantum information processing where the information is stored in the motional degrees of freedom of nanomechanical devices. The qubits of our approach are formed by the two lowest energy levels of mechanical resonators, which are tuned to be strongly anharmonic by suitable electrostatic fields. Single qubit rotations are conducted by radio-frequency voltage pulses that are applied to individual resonators. Two-qubit entangling gates in turn are implemented via a coupling of two qubits to a common optical resonance of a high finesse cavity. We find that gate fidelities exceeding 99% can be achieved for realistic experimental parameters.

Single nucleon pickup reactions were performed with a $18.1\mathrm{MeV}/\mathrm{nucleon}$ ${}^{14}\mathrm{O}$ beam on a deuterium target. Within the coupled reaction channel framework, the measured cross sections were compared to theoretical predictions and analyzed using both phenomenological and microscopic overlap functions. The missing strength due to correlations does not show significant dependence on the nucleon separation energy asymmetry over a wide range of 37 MeV, in contrast with nucleon removal data analyzed within the sudden-eikonal formalism.