Collective motions emerging from the interaction of autonomous mobile individuals play a key role in many phenomena, from the growth of bacterial colonies to the coordination of robotic swarms. For these collective behaviors to take hold, the individuals must be able to emit, sense, and react to signals. When dealing with simple organisms and robots, these signals are necessarily very elementary; e.g., a cell might signal its presence by releasing chemicals and a robot by shining light. An additional challenge arises because the motion of the individuals is often noisy; e.g., the orientation of cells can be altered by Brownian motion and that of robots by an uneven terrain. Therefore, the emphasis is on achieving complex and tunable behaviors from simple autonomous agents communicating with each other in robust ways. Here, we show that the delay between sensing and reacting to a signal can determine the individual and collective long-term behavior of autonomous agents whose motion is intrinsically noisy. We experimentally demonstrate that the collective behavior of a group of phototactic robots capable of emitting a radially decaying light field can be tuned from segregation to aggregation and clustering by controlling the delay with which they change their propulsion speed in response to the light intensity they measure. We track this transition to the underlying dynamics of this system, in particular, to the ratio between the robots’ sensorial delay time and the characteristic time of the robots’ random reorientation. Supported by numerics, we discuss how the same mechanism can be applied to control active agents, e.g., airborne drones, moving in a three-dimensional space. Given the simplicity of this mechanism, the engineering of sensorial delay provides a potentially powerful tool to engineer and dynamically tune the behavior of large ensembles of autonomous mobile agents; furthermore, this mechanism might already be at work within living organisms such as chemotactic cells.

A clear demonstration of topological superconductivity (TS) and Majorana zero modes remains one of the major pending goals in the field of topological materials. One common strategy to generate TS is through the coupling of an $s$-wave superconductor to a helical half-metallic system. Numerous proposals for the latter have been put forward in the literature, most of them based on semiconductors or topological insulators with strong spin-orbit coupling. Here, we demonstrate an alternative approach for the creation of TS in graphene-superconductor junctions without the need for spin-orbit coupling. Our prediction stems from the helicity of graphene’s zero-Landau-level edge states in the presence of interactions and from the possibility, experimentally demonstrated, of tuning their magnetic properties with in-plane magnetic fields. We show how canted antiferromagnetic ordering in the graphene bulk close to neutrality induces TS along the junction and gives rise to isolated, topologically protected Majorana bound states at either end. We also discuss possible strategies to detect their presence in graphene Josephson junctions through Fraunhofer pattern anomalies and Andreev spectroscopy. The latter, in particular, exhibits strong unambiguous signatures of the presence of the Majorana states in the form of universal zero-bias anomalies. Remarkable progress has recently been reported in the fabrication of the proposed type of junctions, which offers a promising outlook for Majorana physics in graphene systems.

By coupling a macroscopic mechanical oscillator to two microwave cavities, we simultaneously prepare and monitor a nonclassical steady state of mechanical motion. In each cavity, correlated radiation pressure forces induced by two coherent drives engineer the coupling between the quadratures of light and motion. We, first, demonstrate the ability to perform a continuous quantum nondemolition measurement of a single mechanical quadrature at a rate that exceeds the mechanical decoherence rate, while avoiding measurement backaction by more than 13 dB. Second, we apply this measurement technique to independently verify the preparation of a squeezed state in the mechanical oscillator, resolving quadrature fluctuations 20% below the quantum noise.

The realization of nanophotonic optical isolators with high optical isolation even at ultralow light levels and low optical losses is an open problem. Here, we employ the link between the local polarization of strongly confined light and its direction of propagation to realize low-loss nonreciprocal transmission through a silica nanofiber at the single-photon level. The direction of the resulting optical isolator is controlled by the spin state of cold atoms. We perform our experiment in two qualitatively different regimes, i.e., with an ensemble of cold atoms where each atom is weakly coupled to the waveguide and with a single atom strongly coupled to the waveguide mode. In both cases, we observe simultaneously high isolation and high forward transmission. The isolator concept constitutes a nanoscale quantum optical analog of microwave ferrite resonance isolators, can be implemented with all kinds of optical waveguides and emitters, and might enable novel integrated optical devices for fiber-based classical and quantum networks.

We discuss a non-Fermi liquid gapless metallic surface state of the topological band insulator. It has an odd number of gapless Dirac fermions coupled to a noncompact $U(1)$ gauge field. This can be viewed as a vortex dual to the conventional Dirac fermion surface state. This surface duality is a reflection of a bulk dual description discussed recently for the gauged topological insulator. All the other known surface states can be conveniently accessed from the dual Dirac liquid, including the surface quantum Hall state, the Fu-Kane superconductor, the gapped symmetric topological order and the “composite Dirac liquid.” We also discuss the physical properties of the dual Dirac liquid and its connection to the half-filled Landau level.

Biological systems are influenced by random processes at all scales, including molecular, demographic, and behavioral fluctuations, as well as by their interactions with a fluctuating environment. We previously established microbial closed ecosystems (CES) as model systems for studying the role of random events and the emergent statistical laws governing population dynamics. Here, we present long-term measurements of population dynamics using replicate digital holographic microscopes that maintain CES under precisely controlled external conditions while automatically measuring abundances of three microbial species via single-cell imaging. With this system, we measure spatiotemporal population dynamics in more than 60 replicate CES over periods of months. In contrast to previous studies, we observe strongly deterministic population dynamics in replicate systems. Furthermore, we show that previously discovered statistical structure in abundance fluctuations across replicate CES is driven by variation in external conditions, such as illumination. In particular, we confirm the existence of stable ecomodes governing the correlations in population abundances of three species. The observation of strongly deterministic dynamics, together with stable structure of correlations in response to external perturbations, points towards a possibility of simple macroscopic laws governing microbial systems despite numerous stochastic events present on microscopic levels.

Work and quantum correlations are two fundamental resources in thermodynamics and quantum information theory. In this work, we study how to use correlations among quantum systems to optimally store work. We analyze this question for isolated quantum ensembles, where the work can be naturally divided into two contributions: a local contribution from each system and a global contribution originating from correlations among systems. We focus on the latter and consider quantum systems that are locally thermal, thus from which any extractable work can only come from correlations. We compute the maximum extractable work for general entangled states, separable states, and states with fixed entropy. Our results show that while entanglement gives an advantage for small quantum ensembles, this gain vanishes for a large number of systems.

Linear optical quantum computing (LOQC) seems attractively simple: Information is borne entirely by light and processed by components such as beam splitters, phase shifters, and detectors. However, this very simplicity leads to limitations, such as the lack of deterministic entangling operations, which are compensated for by using substantial hardware overheads. Here, we quantify the resource costs for full-scale LOQC by proposing a specific protocol based on the surface code. With the caveat that our protocol can be further optimized, we report that the required number of physical components is at least 5 orders of magnitude greater than in comparable matter-based systems. Moreover, the resource requirements grow further if the per-component photon-loss rate is worse than $10^{-3}$ or the per-component noise rate is worse than $10^{-5}$. We identify the performance of switches in the network as the single most influential factor influencing resource scaling.

Using pulsed optical excitation and read-out along with single-phonon-counting techniques, we measure the transient backaction, heating, and damping dynamics of a nanoscale silicon optomechanical crystal cavity mounted in a dilution refrigerator at a base temperature of $T_f\approx 11\mathrm{mK}$. In addition to observing a slow (approximately 740-ns) turn-on time for the optical-absorption-induced hot-phonon bath, we measure for the 5.6-GHz “breathing” acoustic mode of the cavity an initial phonon occupancy as low as $⟨n⟩=0.021\pm 0.007$ (mode temperature $T_{\min }\approx 70\mathrm{mK}$) and an intrinsic mechanical decay rate of ${\gamma }_0=328\pm 14\mathrm{Hz}$ ($Q_m\approx 1.7\times {10}^7$). These measurements demonstrate the feasibility of using short pulsed measurements for a variety of quantum optomechanical applications despite the presence of steady-state optical heating.

Localized heating of a gas by intense laser pulses leads to interesting acoustic, hydrodynamic, and optical effects with numerous applications in science and technology, including controlled wave guiding and remote atmosphere sensing. Rotational excitation of molecules can serve as the energy source for raising the gas temperature. Here, we study the dynamics of energy transfer from the molecular rotation to heat. By optically imaging a cloud of molecular superrotors, created with an optical centrifuge, we experimentally identify two separate and qualitatively different stages of its evolution. The first nonequilibrium “gyroscopic” stage is characterized by the modified optical properties of the centrifuged gas—its refractive index and optical birefringence, owing to the ultrafast directional molecular rotation, which survives tens of collisions. The loss of rotational directionality is found to overlap with the release of rotational energy to heat, which triggers the second stage of thermal expansion. The crossover between anisotropic rotational and isotropic thermal regimes is in agreement with recent theoretical predictions and our hydrodynamic calculations.

We propose a universal, on-chip quantum transducer based on surface acoustic waves in piezoactive materials. Because of the intrinsic piezoelectric (and/or magnetostrictive) properties of the material, our approach provides a universal platform capable of coherently linking a broad array of qubits, including quantum dots, trapped ions, nitrogen-vacancy centers, or superconducting qubits. The quantized modes of surface acoustic waves lie in the gigahertz range and can be strongly confined close to the surface in phononic cavities and guided in acoustic waveguides. We show that this type of surface acoustic excitation can be utilized efficiently as a quantum bus, serving as an on-chip, mechanical cavity-QED equivalent of microwave photons and enabling long-range coupling of a wide range of qubits.

In the quantum version of a Trojan-horse attack, photons are injected into the optical modules of a quantum key distribution system in an attempt to read information direct from the encoding devices. To stop the Trojan photons, the use of passive optical components has been suggested. However, to date, there is no quantitative bound that specifies such components in relation to the security of the system. Here, we turn the Trojan-horse attack into an information leakage problem. This allows us to quantify the system security and relate it to the specification of the optical elements. The analysis is supported by the experimental characterization, within the operation regime, of reflectivity and transmission of the optical components most relevant to security.

It has long been recognized that the diffusion of adsorbed molecules and clusters is the key controlling factor in most dynamical processes occurring on surfaces and in nanoscale-confined spaces. The ability to manipulate diffusion is essential for achieving efficient transport in nano- and microstructures and for many other applications. Through simulations and experiments, we found that under the influence of mechanical oscillations, the diffusion coefficient in nanoscale-confined regions can be greatly enhanced. This effect occurs due to bifurcations of particle trajectories caused by the reconstruction of the energy landscape during oscillations. We derive a parameter-free analytical model for the enhanced diffusion that is in excellent agreement with results of our numerical simulations. The oscillation-induced enhancement of diffusion may have interesting and promising applications in such areas as directed molecular transport, sorting of particles, and tribology. Here, our findings have been applied to studies of mechanical cleaning of surfaces from contamination. Through both experiments and simulations, we have shown that using an oscillating slider, one can significantly reduce the concentration of contaminants in a confined region, which is crucial for achieving superlow friction.

Weyl semimetals are a class of materials that can be regarded as three-dimensional analogs of graphene upon breaking time-reversal or inversion symmetry. Electrons in a Weyl semimetal behave as Weyl fermions, which have many exotic properties, such as chiral anomaly and magnetic monopoles in the crystal momentum space. The surface state of a Weyl semimetal displays pairs of entangled Fermi arcs at two opposite surfaces. However, the existence of Weyl semimetals has not yet been proved experimentally. Here, we report the experimental realization of a Weyl semimetal in TaAs by observing Fermi arcs formed by its surface states using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Our first-principles calculations, which match remarkably well with the experimental results, further confirm that TaAs is a Weyl semimetal.

We investigate the influence of exciton-phonon coupling on the dynamics of a strongly coupled quantum dot-photonic crystal cavity system and explore the effects of this interaction on different schemes for nonclassical light generation. By performing time-resolved measurements, we map out the detuning-dependent polariton lifetime and extract the spectrum of the polariton-to-phonon coupling with unprecedented precision. Photon-blockade experiments for different pulse-length and detuning conditions (supported by quantum optical simulations) reveal that achieving high-fidelity photon blockade requires an intricate understanding of the phonons’ influence on the system dynamics. Finally, we achieve direct coherent control of the polariton states of a strongly coupled system and demonstrate that their efficient coupling to phonons can be exploited for novel concepts in high-fidelity single-photon generation.

Energy of propagating electromagnetic waves can be fully absorbed in a thin lossy layer, but only in a narrow frequency band, as follows from the causality principle. On the other hand, it appears that there are no fundamental limitations on broadband matching of thin resonant absorbing layers. However, known thin absorbers produce significant reflections outside of the resonant absorption band. In this paper, we explore possibilities to realize a thin absorbing layer that produces no reflected waves in a very wide frequency range, while the transmission coefficient has a narrow peak of full absorption. Here we show, both theoretically and experimentally, that a thin resonant absorber, invisible in reflection in a very wide frequency range, can be realized if one and the same resonant mode of the absorbing array unit cells is utilized to create both electric and magnetic responses. We test this concept using chiral particles in each unit cell, arranged in a periodic planar racemic array, utilizing chirality coupling in each unit cell but compensating the field coupling at the macroscopic level. We prove that the concept and the proposed realization approach also can be used to create nonreflecting layers for full control of transmitted fields. Our results can have a broad range of potential applications over the entire electromagnetic spectrum including, for example, perfect ultracompact wave filters and selective multifrequency sensors.

The interaction between light and matter can give rise to novel topological states. This principle was recently exemplified in Floquet topological insulators, where classical light was used to induce a topological electronic band structure. Here, in contrast, we show that mixing single photons with excitons can result in new topological polaritonic states—or “topolaritons.” Taken separately, the underlying photons and excitons are topologically trivial. Combined appropriately, however, they give rise to nontrivial polaritonic bands with chiral edge modes allowing for unidirectional polariton propagation. The main ingredient in our construction is an exciton-photon coupling with a phase that winds in momentum space. We demonstrate how this winding emerges from the finite-momentum mixing between $s$-type and $p$-type bands in the electronic system and an applied Zeeman field. We discuss the requirements for obtaining a sizable topological gap in the polariton spectrum and propose practical ways to realize topolaritons in semiconductor quantum wells and monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides.

Strong-field physics is currently experiencing a shift towards the use of mid-IR driving wavelengths. This is because they permit conducting experiments unambiguously in the quasistatic regime and enable exploiting the effects related to ponderomotive scaling of electron recollisions. Initial measurements taken in the mid-IR immediately led to a deeper understanding of photoionization and allowed a discrimination among different theoretical models. Ponderomotive scaling of rescattering has enabled new avenues towards time-resolved probing of molecular structure. Essential for this paradigm shift was the convergence of two experimental tools: (1) intense mid-IR sources that can create high-energy photons and electrons while operating within the quasistatic regime and (2) detection systems that can detect the generated high-energy particles and image the entire momentum space of the interaction in full coincidence. Here, we present a unique combination of these two essential ingredients, namely, a 160-kHz mid-IR source and a reaction microscope detection system, to present an experimental methodology that provides an unprecedented three-dimensional view of strong-field interactions. The system is capable of generating and detecting electron energies that span a 6 order of magnitude dynamic range. We demonstrate the versatility of the system by investigating electron recollisions, the core process that drives strong-field phenomena, at both low (meV) and high (hundreds of eV) energies. The low-energy region is used to investigate recently discovered low-energy structures, while the high-energy electrons are used to probe atomic structure via laser-induced electron diffraction. Moreover, we present, for the first time, the correlated momentum distribution of electrons from nonsequential double ionization driven by mid-IR pulses.

Combining superconductors ($S$) and ferromagnets ($F$) offers the opportunity to create a new class of superconducting spintronic devices. In particular, the $S/F$ interface can be specifically engineered to convert singlet Cooper pairs to spin-polarized triplet Cooper pairs. The efficiency of this process can be studied using a so-called triplet spin valve (TSV), which is composed of two $F$ layers and a $S$ layer. When the magnetizations in the two $F$ layers are not collinear, singlet pairs are drained from the $S$ layer, and triplet generation is signaled by a decrease of the critical temperature $T_c$. Here, we build highly efficient TSVs using a 100% spin-polarized half-metallic ferromagnet, ${\mathrm{CrO}}_2$. The application of out-of-plane magnetic fields results in an extremely strong suppression of $T_c$, by well over a Kelvin. The observed effect is an order of magnitude larger than previous studies on TSVs with standard ferromagnets. Furthermore, we clearly demonstrate that this triplet proximity effect is strongly dependent on the transparency and spin activity of the interface. Our results are particularly important in view of the growing interest in generating long-range triplet supercurrents for dissipationless spintronics.

The best reported resolution in optical failure analysis of silicon chips is 120-nm half pitch demonstrated by Semicaps Private Limited, whereas the current and future industry requirement for 10-nm node technology is 100-nm half pitch. We show the first experimental evidence for resolution of features with 100-nm half pitch buried in silicon ($\lambda /10.6$), thus fulfilling the industry requirement. These results are obtained using near-infrared reflection-mode imaging using a solid immersion lens. The key novel feature of our approach is the choice of an appropriately sized collection pinhole. Although it is usually understood that, in general, resolution is improved by using the smallest pinhole consistent with an adequate signal level, it is found that in practice for silicon chips there is an optimum pinhole size, determined by the generation of induced currents in the sample. In failure analysis of silicon chips, nondestructive imaging is important to avoid disturbing the functionality of integrated circuits. High-resolution imaging techniques like SEM or TEM require the transistors to be exposed destructively. Optical microscopy techniques may be used, but silicon is opaque in the visible spectrum, mandating the use of near-infrared light and thus poor resolution in conventional optical microscopy. We expect our result to change the way semiconductor failure analysis is performed.