Drops placed on very hot solids levitate on a cushion of their own vapor, as discovered by Leidenfrost. This confers to these drops a remarkable mobility, which makes problematic their control and manipulation. Here we show how crenelated surfaces can be used to increase the friction of Leidenfrost drops by a factor on the order of 100, making them decelerate and be trapped on centimetric distances instead of the usual metric ones. We measure and characterize the friction force as a function of the design of the crenelations.

Chaotic spin-wave solitons in magnetic film active feedback rings were observed for the first time. At some ring gain level, one observes the self-generation of a single spin-wave soliton pulse in the ring. When the pulse circulates in the ring, its amplitude varies chaotically with time. Numerical simulations based on a gain-loss nonlinear Schrödinger equation reproduce the observed responses.

We demonstrate the possibility of achieving enhanced frequency-selective near-field radiative heat transfer between patterned (photonic-crystal) slabs at designable frequencies and separations, exploiting a general numerical approach for computing heat transfer in arbitrary geometries and materials based on the finite-difference time-domain method. Our simulations reveal a tradeoff between selectivity and near-field enhancement as the slab-slab separation decreases, with the patterned heat transfer eventually reducing to the unpatterned result multiplied by a fill factor (described by a standard proximity approximation). We also find that heat transfer can be further enhanced at selective frequencies when the slabs are brought into a glide-symmetric configuration, a consequence of the degeneracies associated with the nonsymmorphic symmetry group.

We consider nonlinear evolution of a random wave field under gusty forcing, fluctuating around a constant mean. Here the classical wave turbulence theory that assumes a proximity to stationarity is not applicable. We show by direct numerical simulation that the self-similarity of wave field evolution survives under fluctuating forcing. The wave field statistical characteristics averaged over fluctuations of forcing evolve as if there were a certain constant “effective wind.” The results justify the use of the kinetic equations with forcing averaged over gusts as a good first approximation.

In this Letter, an $N$-body theory for the radiative heat exchange in thermally nonequilibrated discrete systems of finite size objects is presented. We report strong exaltation effects of heat flux which can be explained only by taking into account the presence of many-body interactions. Our theory extends the standard Polder and van Hove stochastic formalism used to evaluate heat exchanges between two objects isolated from their environment to a collection of objects in mutual interaction. It gives a natural theoretical framework to investigate the photon heat transport properties of complex systems at the mesoscopic scale.

Frequency locking without phase locking of two coupled nonlinear oscillators is experimentally demonstrated. This synchronization regime is found for two coupled laser modes, beyond the phase-locking range fixed by Adler’s equation, because of a resonance mechanism. Specifically, we show that the amplitudes of the two modes exhibit strong fluctuations that produce average frequency synchronization, even if the instantaneous phases are unlocked. The experimental results are in good agreement with a theoretical model.

We directly measure the nonlinear optical response in argon and nitrogen in a thin gas target to laser intensities near the ionization threshold. No instantaneous negative nonlinear refractive index is observed, nor is saturation, in contrast with a previous measurement [Opt. Express 17, 13 429 (2009)] and calculations [Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 183902 (2011)]. In addition, we are able to cleanly separate the instantaneous and rotational components of the nonlinear response in nitrogen. In both Ar and ${\mathrm{N}}_2$, the peak instantaneous index response scales linearly with the laser intensity until the point of ionization, whereupon the response turns abruptly negative and $\sim \mathrm{\text{constant}}$, consistent with plasma generation.

We study ultracold collisions in fermionic ytterbium by precisely measuring the energy shifts they impart on the atoms’ internal clock states. Exploiting Fermi statistics, we uncover $p$-wave collisions, in both weakly and strongly interacting regimes. With the higher density afforded by two-dimensional lattice confinement, we demonstrate that strong interactions can lead to a novel suppression of this collision shift. In addition to reducing the systematic errors of lattice clocks, this work has application to quantum information and quantum simulation with alkaline-earth atoms.

We investigate the mechanisms involved in the funneling of optical energy into subwavelength grooves etched on a metallic surface. The key phenomenon is unveiled thanks to the decomposition of the electromagnetic field into its propagative and evanescent parts. We unambiguously show that the funneling is not due to plasmonic waves flowing toward the grooves, but rather to the magnetoelectric interference of the incident wave with the evanescent field, this field being mainly due to the resonant wave escaping from the groove.

We report superluminal propagation in optical fibers using Brillouin lasing oscillation in a ring cavity. Negative group velocity propagation through a 10-m single mode fiber has been experimentally demonstrated. An advancement of 221.2 ns was observed before the input signal, which was achieved with a very high slope efficiency of $211.3\mathrm{ns}/\mathrm{dB}$. This indicates that this way is suitable for long-distance low-loss superluminal propagation via optical fibers. Correspondingly, the group velocity is $-0.151c$ and the group index is $-6.636$—the highest group velocity ever reported for optical fibers.

A two-state oscillator in a viscous liquid is composed of a micron-scale particle whose intrinsic dynamics is defined by linear potentials that undergo configuration-coupled transitions and is externally driven by a piecewise constant periodic force of varying amplitude and frequency. This elementary example of “active matter” has the minimal elements that allow us to study synchronization in the presence of thermal fluctuations. Experiments reveal the presence of synchronized states (and Arnol’d tongues), which we explain using analytical and numerical calculations. The system maintains synchronization by adjusting the phase between the bead and the clock. We discuss the relevance of this model to synchronization in real-world systems, including the role of thermal noise.

We study the photon generation in a transmission line oscillator coupled to a driven qubit in the presence of a dissipative electromagnetic environment. It has been demonstrated previously that a population inversion in the qubit can lead to a lasing state of the oscillator. Here we show that the circuit can also exhibit the effect of “lasing without inversion.” It arises since the coupling to the dissipative environment enhances photon emission as compared to absorption, similar to the recoil effect predicted for atomic systems. While the recoil effect is very weak, and so far elusive, the effect described here should be observable with realistic circuits. We analyze the requirements for system parameters and environment.

We show in the framework of the 1D nonlinear Schrödinger equation that the value of the refraction angle of a fundamental soliton beam passing through an optical lattice can be controlled by adjusting either the shape of an individual waveguide or the relative positions of the waveguides. In the case of the shallow refractive index modulation, we develop a general approach for the calculation of the refraction angle change. The shape of a single waveguide crucially affects the refraction direction due to the appearance of a structural form factor in the expression for the density of emitted waves. For a lattice of scatterers, wave-soliton interference inside the lattice leads to the appearance of an additional geometric form factor. As a result, the soliton refraction is more pronounced for the disordered lattices than for the periodic ones.

We describe a 2D spring-block model for the transition from static to kinetic friction at an elastic-slider–rigid-substrate interface obeying a minimalistic friction law (Amontons-Coulomb). By using realistic boundary conditions, a number of previously unexplained experimental results on precursory microslip fronts are successfully reproduced. From the analysis of the interfacial stresses, we derive a prediction for the evolution of the precursor length as a function of the applied loads, as well as an approximate relationship between microscopic and macroscopic friction coefficients. We show that the stress buildup due to both elastic loading and microslip-related relaxations depends only weakly on the underlying shear crack propagation dynamics. Conversely, crack speed depends strongly on both the instantaneous stresses and the friction coefficients, through a nontrivial scaling parameter.

We report the experimental observation of Richardson dispersion and a double cascade in a thin horizontal fluid flow induced by Faraday waves. The energy spectra and the mean spectral energy flux obtained from particle image velocimetry data suggest an inverse energy cascade with Kolmogorov type scaling $E_k\propto k^{\gamma }$, $\gamma \approx -5/3$ and an $E_k\propto k^{\gamma }$, $\gamma \approx -3$ enstrophy cascade. Particle transport is studied analyzing absolute and relative dispersion as well as the finite size Lyapunov exponent (FSLE) via the direct tracking of real particles and numerical advection of virtual particles. Richardson dispersion with $⟨\Delta R^2(t)⟩\propto t^3$ is observed and is also reflected in the slopes of the FSLE ($\Lambda \propto \Delta R^{-2/3}$) for virtual and real particles.

It is now accepted that the physical forces in ultrasonic cleaning are due to strongly pulsating bubbles driven by the sound field. Here we have a detailed look at bubble induced cleaning flow by analyzing the transport of an individual particle near an expanding and collapsing bubble. The induced particulate transport is compared with a force balance model. We find two important properties of the flow which explain why bubbles are effectively cleaning: During bubble expansion a strong shear layer loosens the particle from the surface through particle spinning and secondly an unsteady boundary layer generates an attractive force, thus collecting the contamination in the bubble’s close proximity.

We introduce a new concept for the manipulation of fluid flow around three-dimensional bodies. Inspired by transformation optics, the concept is based on a mathematical idea of coordinate transformations and physically implemented with anisotropic porous media permeable to the flow of fluids. In two situations—for an impermeable object placed either in a free-flowing fluid or in a fluid-filled porous medium—we show that the object can be coated with an inhomogeneous, anisotropic permeable medium, such as to preserve the flow that would have existed in the absence of the object. The proposed fluid flow cloak eliminates downstream wake and compensates viscous drag, hinting at the possibility of novel propulsion techniques.

We describe a superconducting device capable of producing laser light in the visible range at half of the Josephson generation frequency with the optical phase of the light locked to the superconducting phase difference. It consists of two single-level quantum dots embedded in a $p\mathrm{\text{−}}n$ semiconducting heterostructure and surrounded by a cavity supporting a resonant optical mode. We study decoherence and spontaneous switching in the device.

We demonstrate coherent optical coupling between molecular and plasmon resonances that are well separated in energy. In the presence of metallic nanoparticles, the second harmonic spectrum of organic dyes no longer peaks at the absorption wavelength but is instead blueshifted by 25 nm towards the localized plasmon resonance. The phase of the light generated by the dyes displays a large modulation across the plasmon resonance and no change across the molecular one. The second harmonic signal contributed by the nanoparticles, which is peaked at the plasmon frequency when no molecules are present, similarly displays a shift towards the molecular resonance in their presence. A model based on the interplay of the nonlinear optical near fields is able to account for these observations.

We present the first microscopic theory of transport in quasiperiodically driven environments (“kicked rotors”), as realized in recent atom optic experiments. We find that the behavior of these systems depends sensitively on the value of a dimensionless Planck constant $\tilde{h}$: for irrational values of $\tilde{h}/(4\pi )$ they fall into the universality class of disordered electronic systems and we describe the corresponding localization phenomena. In contrast, for rational values the rotor-Anderson insulator acquires an infinite (static) conductivity and turns into a “supermetal.” We discuss the ensuing possibility of a metal-supermetal quantum phase transition.