The interaction of photons and coherent quantum systems can be employed to detect electromagnetic radiation with remarkable sensitivity. We introduce a quantum radiometer based on the photon-induced dephasing process of a superconducting qubit for sensing microwave radiation at the subunit photon level. Using this radiometer, we demonstrate the radiative cooling of a 1 K microwave resonator and measure its mode temperature with an uncertainty $\sim 0.01\mathrm{K}$. We thus develop a precise tool for studying the thermodynamics of quantum microwave circuits, which provides new solutions for calibrating hybrid quantum systems and detecting candidate particles for dark matter.

Degeneracies in the energy spectra of physical systems are commonly considered to be either of accidental character or induced by symmetries of the Hamiltonian. We develop an approach to explain degeneracies by tracing them back to symmetries of an isospectral effective Hamiltonian derived by subsystem partitioning. We provide an intuitive interpretation of such latent symmetries by relating them to corresponding local symmetries in the powers of the underlying Hamiltonian matrix. As an application, we relate the degeneracies induced by the rotation symmetry of a real Hamiltonian to a non-Abelian latent symmetry group. It is demonstrated that the rotational symmetries can be broken in a controlled manner while maintaining the underlying more fundamental latent symmetry. This opens up the perspective of investigating accidental degeneracies in terms of latent symmetries.

We theoretically study an impulsively excited quantum bouncer (QB)—a particle bouncing off a surface in the presence of gravity. A pair of time-delayed pulsed excitations is shown to induce a wave-packet echo effect—a partial rephasing of the QB wave function appearing at twice the delay between pulses. In addition, an appropriately chosen observable [here, the population of the ground gravitational quantum state (GQS)] recorded as a function of the delay is shown to contain the transition frequencies between the GQSs, their populations, and partial phase information about the wave-packet quantum amplitudes. The wave-packet echo effect is a promising candidate method for precision studies of GQSs of ultracold neutrons, atoms, and antiatoms confined in closed gravitational traps.

Dissimilar notions of quantum correlations have been established, each being motivated through particular applications in quantum information science and each competing for being recognized as the most relevant measure of quantumness. In this contribution, we experimentally realize a form of quantum correlation that exists even in the absence of entanglement and discord. We certify the presence of such quantum correlations via negativities in the regularized two-mode Glauber-Sudarshan function. Our data show compatibility with an incoherent mixture of orthonormal photon-number states, ruling out quantum coherence and other kinds of quantum resources. By construction, the quantumness of our state is robust against dephasing, thus requiring fewer experimental resources to ensure stability. In addition, we theoretically show how multimode entanglement can be activated based on the generated, nonentangled state. Therefore, we implement a robust kind of nonclassical photon-photon correlated state with useful applications in quantum information processing.

A quantum system subject to continuous measurement and postselection evolves according to a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. We show that, as one increases the strength of postselection, this non-Hermitian Hamiltonian can undergo a spectral phase transition. On one side of this phase transition (for weak postselection), an initially mixed density matrix remains mixed at all times, and an initially unentangled state develops volume-law entanglement; on the other side, an arbitrary initial state approaches a unique pure state with low entanglement. We identify this transition with an exceptional point in the spectrum of the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, at which $PT$ symmetry is spontaneously broken. We characterize the transition as well as the nontrivial steady state that emerges at late times in the mixed phase using exact diagonalization and an approximate, analytically tractable mean-field theory; these methods yield consistent conclusions.

A novel machine-learning algorithm based on single-shot measurements, named single-shot measurement learning, is demonstrated achieving the theoretical optimal accuracy. The method is at least as efficient as existing tomographic schemes and computationally much less demanding. The merits are attributed to the inclusion of weighted randomness in the learning rule governing the exploration of diverse learning routes. These advantages are explored experimentally by a linear-optical setup that is designed to draw the fullest potential of the proposed method. The experimental results show an unprecedented high level of accuracy for qubit-state learning and reproduction exhibiting (nearly) optimal infidelity scaling, $O(N^{-0.983})$, for the number $N$ of unknown state copies, down to $<{10}^{-5}$ without any compensation for experimental nonidealities. Extension to high dimensions is discussed with simulation results.

Masking of quantum information spreads it over nonlocal correlations and hides it from the subsystems. It is known that no operation can simultaneously mask all pure states [Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 230501 (2018)], so in what sense is quantum information masking useful? Here, we extend the definition of quantum information masking to general mixed states, and show that the resource of maskable quantum states is far more abundant than the no-go theorem seemingly suggests. Geometrically, the simultaneously maskable states lays on hyperdisks in the state hypersphere, and strictly contains the broadcastable states. We devise a photonic quantum information masking machine using time-correlated photons to experimentally investigate the properties of qubit masking, and demonstrate the transfer of quantum information into bipartite correlations and its faithful retrieval. The versatile masking machine has decent extensibility, and may be applicable to quantum secret sharing and fault-tolerant quantum communication. Our results provide some insights on the comprehension and potential application of quantum information masking.

The exceptional point, known as the non-Hermitian degeneracy, has special topological structure, leading to various counterintuitive phenomena and novel applications, which are refreshing our cognition of quantum physics. One particularly intriguing behavior is the mode switch phenomenon induced by dynamically encircling an exceptional point in the parameter space. While these mode switches have been explored in classical systems, the experimental investigation in the quantum regime remains elusive due to the difficulty of constructing time-dependent non-Hermitian Hamiltonians in a real quantum system. Here we experimentally demonstrate dynamically encircling the exceptional point with a single nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond. The time-dependent non-Hermitian Hamiltonians are realized utilizing a dilation method. Both the asymmetric and symmetric mode switches have been observed. Our Letter reveals the topological structure of the exceptional point and paves the way to comprehensively explore the exotic properties of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians in the quantum regime.

We analyze the quantum trajectory dynamics of free fermions subject to continuous monitoring. For weak monitoring, we identify a novel dynamical regime of subextensive entanglement growth, reminiscent of a critical phase with an emergent conformal invariance. For strong monitoring, however, the dynamics favors a transition into a quantum Zeno-like area-law regime. Close to the critical point, we observe logarithmic finite size corrections, indicating a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless mechanism underlying the transition. This uncovers an unconventional entanglement transition in an elementary, physically realistic model for weak continuous measurements. In addition, we demonstrate that the measurement aspect in the dynamics is crucial for whether or not a phase transition takes place.

We introduce a novel tensor network structure augmenting the well-established tree tensor network representation of a quantum many-body wave function. The new structure satisfies the area law in high dimensions remaining efficiently manipulatable and scalable. We benchmark this novel approach against paradigmatic two-dimensional spin models demonstrating unprecedented precision and system sizes. Finally, we compute the ground state phase diagram of two-dimensional lattice Rydberg atoms in optical tweezers observing nontrivial phases and quantum phase transitions, providing realistic benchmarks for current and future two-dimensional quantum simulations.

Arguments based on symmetry and thermodynamics may suggest the existence of a ratchetlike lateral Casimir force between two plates at different temperatures and with broken inversion symmetry. We find that this is not sufficient, and at least one plate must be made of nonreciprocal material. This setup operates as a heat engine by transforming heat radiation into mechanical force. Although the ratio of the lateral force to heat transfer in the near field regime diverges inversely with the plates separation, $d$, an Onsager symmetry, which we extend to nonreciprocal plates, limits the engine efficiency to the Carnot value ${\eta }_c$. The optimal velocity of operation in the far field is of the order of $c{\eta }_c$, where $c$ is the speed of light. In the near field regime, this velocity can be reduced to the order of $\overline{\omega }d{\eta }_c$, where $\overline{\omega }$ is a typical material frequency.

Establishing long-distance quantum entanglement, i.e., entanglement transmission, in quantum networks (QN) is a key and timely challenge for developing efficient quantum communication. Traditional comprehension based on classical percolation assumes a necessary condition for successful entanglement transmission between any two infinitely distant nodes: they must be connected by at least a path of perfectly entangled states (singlets). Here, we relax this condition by explicitly showing that one can focus not on optimally converting singlets but on establishing concurrence—a key measure of bipartite entanglement. We thereby introduce a new statistical theory, concurrence percolation theory (ConPT), remotely analogous to classical percolation but fundamentally different, built by generalizing bond percolation in terms of “sponge-crossing” paths instead of clusters. Inspired by resistance network analysis, we determine the path connectivity by series and parallel rules and approximate higher-order rules via star-mesh transforms. Interestingly, we find that the entanglement transmission threshold predicted by ConPT is lower than the known classical-percolation-based results and is readily achievable on any series-parallel networks such as the Bethe lattice. ConPT promotes our understanding of how well quantum communication can be further systematically improved versus classical statistical predictions under the limitation of QN locality—a “quantum advantage” that is more general and efficient than expected. ConPT also shows a percolationlike universal critical behavior derived by finite-size analysis on the Bethe lattice and regular two-dimensional lattices, offering new perspectives for a theory of criticality in entanglement statistics.

The quantum state overlap is the textbook measure of the difference between two quantum states. Yet, it is inadequate to compare the complex configurations of many-body systems. The problem is inherited by the widely employed quantum state fidelity and related distances. We introduce the weighted distances, a new class of information-theoretic measures that overcome these limitations. They quantify how hard it is to discriminate between two quantum states of many particles, factoring in the structure of the required measurement apparatus. Therefore, they can be used to evaluate both the theoretical and the experimental performances of complex quantum devices. We also show that the newly defined “weighted Bures length” between the input and output states of a quantum process is a lower bound to the experimental cost of the transformation. The result uncovers an exact quantum limit to our ability to convert physical resources into computational ones.

The Landauer principle states that at least $k_{B}T\ln 2$ of energy is required to erase a 1-bit memory, with $k_{B}T$ the thermal energy of the system. We study the effects of inertia on this bound using as one-bit memory an underdamped micromechanical oscillator confined in a double-well potential created by a feedback loop. The potential barrier is precisely tunable in the few $k_{B}T$ range. We measure, within the stochastic thermodynamic framework, the work and the heat of the erasure protocol. We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that, in this underdamped system, the Landauer bound is reached with a 1% uncertainty, with protocols as short as 100 ms.

In quantum gases with contact repulsion, the distribution of momenta of the atoms typically decays as $\sim 1/|p{|}^4$ at large momentum $p$. Tan’s relation connects the amplitude of that $1/|p{|}^4$ tail to the adiabatic derivative of the energy with respect to the coupling constant or scattering length of the gas. Here it is shown that the relation breaks down in the one-dimensional Bose gas with contact repulsion, for a peculiar class of stationary states. These states exist thanks to the infinite number of conserved quantities in the system, and they are characterized by a rapidity distribution that itself decreases as $1/|p{|}^4$. In the momentum distribution, that rapidity tail adds to the usual Tan contact term. Remarkably, atom losses, which are ubiquitous in experiments, do produce such peculiar states. The development of the tail of the rapidity distribution originates from the ghost singularity of the wave function immediately after each loss event. This phenomenon is discussed for arbitrary interaction strengths, and it is supported by exact calculations in the two asymptotic regimes of infinite and weak repulsion.

We theoretically and numerically investigate a two-dimensional O(2) model where an order parameter is convected by shear flow. We show that a long-range phase order emerges in two dimensions as a result of anomalous suppression of phase fluctuations by the shear flow. Furthermore, we use the finite-size scaling theory to demonstrate that a phase transition to the long-range ordered state from the disordered state is second order. At a transition point far from equilibrium, the critical exponents turn out to be close to the mean-field value for equilibrium systems.

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a method that distributes a secret key to a sender and a receiver by the transmission of quantum particles (e.g., photons). Device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) is a version of QKD with a stronger notion of security, in that the sender and receiver base their protocol only on the statistics of input and outputs of their devices as inspired by Bell’s theorem. We study the rate at which DIQKD can be carried out for a given bipartite quantum state distributed between the sender and receiver or a quantum channel connecting them. We provide upper bounds on the achievable rate going beyond upper bounds possible for QKD. In particular, we construct states and channels where the QKD rate is significant while the DIQKD rate is negligible. This gap is illustrated for a practical case arising when using standard postprocessing techniques for entangled two-qubit states.