Photocurrents are central to understanding and harnessing the interaction of light with matter. Here, we introduce a contact-free method to spatially resolve photocurrent distributions using proximal quantum magnetometers. We interface monolayer ${\mathrm{MoS}}_2$ with a near-surface ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond and map the generated photothermal current distribution through its magnetic-field profile. By synchronizing pulsed photoexcitation with dynamical decoupling of the sensor spin, we extend the sensor’s quantum coherence and resolve time-dependent, two-dimensional current densities as small as $20\mathrm{nA}/\mu \mathrm{m}$, with a projected sensitivity of $200\mathrm{nA}/(\mu \mathrm{m}\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}})$. Our spatially resolved measurements reveal that optical excitation can generate micron-sized photocurrent vortices in ${\mathrm{MoS}}_2$, manifesting a photo-Nernst effect exceeding that of gate-tuned graphene at comparable magnetic fields. We further probe the rise time of the photocurrents and show that thermal diffusion determines its spatial variation. These spatiotemporal capabilities establish an optically accessed, local probe for optoelectronic phenomena, ideally suited to the emerging class of two-dimensional materials, for which making contacts is challenging and can alter the intrinsic material properties.

Following significant progress in the visualization and characterization of Majorana end modes in hybrid systems of semiconducting nanowires and superconducting islands, much attention is devoted to the investigation of the electronic structure at the buried interface between the semiconductor and the superconductor. The properties of that interface and the structure of the electronic wave functions that occupy it determine the functionality and the topological nature of the superconducting state induced therein. Here we study this buried interface by performing spectroscopic mappings of superconducting aluminum islands epitaxially grown in situ on indium arsenide nanowires. We find unexpected robustness of the hybrid system as the direct contact with the aluminum islands does not lead to any change in the chemical potential of the nanowires, nor does it induce a significant band bending in their vicinity. We attribute this to the presence of surface states bound to the facets of the nanowire. Such surface states, which are present also in bare nanowires prior to aluminum deposition, pin the Fermi level, thus rendering the nanowires resilient to surface perturbations. The aluminum islands further display Coulomb blockade gaps and peaks that signify the formation of a resistive tunneling barrier at the InAs-Al interface. The extracted interface resistivity, $\rho \approx 1.3\times {10}^{-6}\mathrm{\Omega }{\mathrm{cm}}^2$, will allow us to proximity induce superconductivity with negligible Coulomb blockade effects by islands with interface area as small as $0.01\mu {\mathrm{m}}^2$. At low energies we identify a potential energy barrier that further suppresses the transmittance through the interface. A corresponding barrier exists in bare semiconductors between surface states and the accumulation layer, induced to maintain charge neutrality. Our observations elucidate the delicate interplay between the resistive nature of the InAs-Al interface and the ability to proximitize superconductivity and tune the chemical potential in semiconductor-superconductor hybrid nanowires.

Qubit measurements are central to quantum information processing. In the field of superconducting qubits, standard readout techniques are limited not only by the signal-to-noise ratio, but also by state relaxation during the measurement. In this work, we demonstrate that the limitation due to relaxation can be suppressed by using the many-level Hilbert space of superconducting circuits: In a multilevel encoding, the measurement is corrupted only when multiple errors occur. Employing this technique, we show that we can directly resolve transmon gate errors at the level of one part in $10^3$. Extending this idea, we apply the same principles to the measurement of a logical qubit encoded in a bosonic mode and detected with a transmon ancilla, implementing a proposal by Hann et al. [Phys. Rev. A 98, 022305 (2018)]. Qubit state assignments are made based on a sequence of repeated readouts, further reducing the overall infidelity. This approach is quite general, and several encodings are studied; the codewords are more distinguishable when the distance between them is increased with respect to photon loss. The trade-off between multiple readouts and state relaxation is explored and shown to be consistent with the photon-loss model. We report a logical assignment infidelity of $5.8\times {10}^{-5}$ for a Fock-based encoding and $4.2\times {10}^{-3}$ for a quantum error correction code (the $S=2$, $N=1$ binomial code). Our results not only improve the fidelity of quantum information applications, but also enable more precise characterization of process or gate errors.

Combinations of nontrivial band topology and long-range magnetic order hold promise for realizations of novel spintronic phenomena, such as the quantum anomalous Hall effect and the topological magnetoelectric effect. Following theoretical advances, material candidates are emerging. Yet, so far a compound that combines a band-inverted electronic structure with an intrinsic net magnetization remains unrealized. ${\mathrm{MnBi}}_2{\mathrm{Te}}_4$ has been established as the first antiferromagnetic topological insulator and constitutes the progenitor of a modular $({\mathrm{Bi}}_2{\mathrm{Te}}_3{)}_n({\mathrm{MnBi}}_2{\mathrm{Te}}_4)$ series. Here, for $n=1$, we confirm a nonstoichiometric composition proximate to ${\mathrm{MnBi}}_4{\mathrm{Te}}_7$. We establish an antiferromagnetic state below 13 K followed by a state with a net magnetization and ferromagnetic-like hysteresis below 5 K. Angle-resolved photoemission experiments and density-functional calculations reveal a topologically nontrivial surface state on the ${\mathrm{MnBi}}_4{\mathrm{Te}}_7(0001)$ surface, analogous to the nonmagnetic parent compound ${\mathrm{Bi}}_2{\mathrm{Te}}_3$. Our results establish ${\mathrm{MnBi}}_4{\mathrm{Te}}_7$ as the first band-inverted compound with intrinsic net magnetization providing a versatile platform for the realization of magnetic topological states of matter.

Continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV QKD) protocols with discrete modulation are interesting due to their experimental simplicity and their great potential for massive deployment in the quantum-secured networks, but their security analysis is less advanced than that of Gaussian modulation schemes. In this work, we apply a numerical method to analyze the security of discrete-modulation protocols against collective attacks in the asymptotic limit, paving the way for a full security proof with finite-size effects. While our method is general for discrete-modulation schemes, we focus on two variants of the CV QKD protocol with quaternary modulation. Interestingly, thanks to the tightness of our proof method, we show that this protocol is capable of achieving much higher key rates over significantly longer distances with experimentally feasible parameters compared with previous security proofs of binary and ternary modulation schemes and also yielding key rates comparable to Gaussian modulation schemes. Furthermore, as our security analysis method is versatile, it allows us to evaluate variations of the discrete-modulated protocols, including direct and reverse reconciliation, and postselection strategies. In particular, we demonstrate that postselection of data in combination with reverse reconciliation can improve the key rates.

We develop a quantum theory of magnetic skyrmions and antiskyrmions in a spin-$1/2$ Heisenberg magnet with frustrating next-nearest-neighbor interactions. Using exact diagonalization we show numerically that a quantum skyrmion exists as a stable many-magnon bound state and investigate its quantum numbers. We then derive a phenomenological Schrödinger equation for the quantum skyrmion and its internal degrees of freedom. We find that quantum skyrmions have highly unusual properties. Their bandwidth is exponentially small and arises from tunneling processes between skyrmion and antiskyrmion. The band structure changes both qualitatively and quantitatively when a single spin is added or removed from the quantum skyrmion, reflecting a locking of angular momentum and spin quantum numbers characteristic for skyrmions. Additionally, while for weak forces the quantum skyrmion is accelerated parallel to the force, it moves in a perpendicular direction for stronger fields.

A normal metal exhibits a valence plasmon, which is a sound wave in its conduction electron density. The mysterious strange metal is characterized by non-Boltzmann transport and violates most fundamental Fermi-liquid scaling laws. A fundamental question is, do strange metals have plasmons? Using momentum-resolved inelastic electron scattering, we recently showed that, rather than a plasmon, optimally doped ${\mathrm{Bi}}_{2.1}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{1.9}{\mathrm{Ca}}_{1.0}{\mathrm{Cu}}_{2.0}{\mathrm{O}}_{8+x}$ (Bi-2212) exhibits a featureless, temperature-independent continuum with a power-law form over most energy and momentum scales [M. Mitrano et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 115, 5392 (2018)]. Here, we show that this continuum is present throughout the fan-shaped, strange metal region of the phase diagram. Outside this region, dramatic changes in spectral weight are observed: In underdoped samples, spectral weight up to 0.5 eV is enhanced at low temperature, biasing the system toward a charge order instability. The situation is reversed in the overdoped case, where spectral weight is strongly suppressed at low temperature, increasing quasiparticle coherence in this regime. Optimal doping corresponds to the boundary between these two opposite behaviors at which the response is temperature independent. Our study suggests that plasmons do not exist as well-defined excitations in Bi-2212 and that a featureless continuum is a defining property of the strange metal, which is connected to a peculiar crossover where the spectral weight change undergoes a sign reversal.

Intrinsic anomalous Nernst effect, like its Hall counterpart, is generated by Berry curvature of electrons in solids. Little is known about its response to disorder. In contrast, the link between the amplitude of the ordinary Nernst coefficient and the mean-free path is extensively documented. Here, by studying ${\mathrm{Co}}_3{\mathrm{Sn}}_2{\mathrm{S}}_2$, a topological half-metallic semimetal hosting sizable and recognizable ordinary and anomalous Nernst responses, we demonstrate an anticorrelation between the amplitudes of carrier mobility and the anomalous $S_{xy}^A$ (the ratio of transverse electric field to the longitudinal temperature gradient in the absence of magnetic field). We argue that the observation, paradoxically, establishes the intrinsic origin of the anomalous Nernst effect in this system. We conclude that various intrinsic off-diagonal coefficients are set by the way the Berry curvature is averaged on a grid involving the mean-free path, the Fermi wavelength, and the de Broglie thermal length.

It is possible to infer the mass and spin of the remnant black hole from binary black hole mergers by comparing the ringdown gravitational wave signal to results from studies of perturbed Kerr spacetimes. Typically, these studies are based on the fundamental quasinormal mode of the dominant $\ell =m=2$ harmonic. By modeling the ringdown of accurate numerical relativity simulations, we find, in agreement with previous findings, that the fundamental mode alone is insufficient to recover the true underlying mass and spin, unless the analysis is started very late in the ringdown. Including higher overtones associated with this $\ell =m=2$ harmonic resolves this issue and provides an unbiased estimate of the true remnant parameters. Further, including overtones allows for the modeling of the ringdown signal for all times beyond the peak strain amplitude, indicating that the linear quasinormal regime starts much sooner than previously expected. This result implies that the spacetime is well described as a linearly perturbed black hole with a fixed mass and spin as early as the peak. A model for the ringdown beginning at the peak strain amplitude can exploit the higher signal-to-noise ratio in detectors, reducing uncertainties in the extracted remnant quantities. These results should be taken into consideration when testing the no-hair theorem.

We report an experimental study of the emergence of nontrivial topological winding and long-range order across the paramagnetic-to-skyrmion lattice transition in the transition metal helimagnet MnSi. Combining measurements of the susceptibility with small-angle neutron scattering, neutron-resonance spin-echo spectroscopy, and all-electrical microwave spectroscopy, we find evidence of skyrmion textures in the paramagnetic state exceeding ${10}^3\AA$, with lifetimes above several ${10}^{-9}\mathrm{s}$. Our experimental findings establish that the paramagnetic-to-skyrmion lattice transition in MnSi is well described by the Landau soft-mode mechanism of weak crystallization, originally proposed in the context of the liquid-to-crystal transition. As a key aspect of this theoretical model, the modulation vectors of periodic small-amplitude components of the magnetization form triangles that add to zero. In excellent agreement with our experimental findings, these triangles of the modulation vectors entail the presence of the nontrivial topological winding of skyrmions already in the paramagnetic state of MnSi when approaching the skyrmion lattice transition.

In this article, we unravel an intimate relationship between two seemingly unrelated concepts: elasticity, that defines the local relations between stress and strain of deformable bodies, and topology, that classifies their global shape. Focusing on Möbius strips, we establish that the elastic response of surfaces with nonorientable topology is nonadditive, nonreciprocal, and contingent on stress history. Investigating the elastic instabilities of nonorientable ribbons, we then challenge the very concept of bulk-boundary correspondence of topological phases. We establish a quantitative connection between the modes found at the interface between inequivalent topological insulators and solitonic bending excitations that freely propagate through the bulk nonorientable ribbons. Beyond the specifics of mechanics, we argue that non-orientability offers a versatile platform to tailor the response of systems as diverse as liquid crystals and photonic and electronic matter.

A statistical theory of rogue waves is proposed and tested against experimental data collected in a long water tank where random waves with different degrees of nonlinearity are mechanically generated and free to propagate along the flume. Strong evidence is given that the rogue waves observed in the tank are hydrodynamic instantons, that is, saddle point configurations of the action associated with the stochastic model of the wave system. As shown here, these hydrodynamic instantons are complex spatiotemporal wave field configurations which can be defined using the mathematical framework of large deviation theory and calculated via tailored numerical methods. These results indicate that the instantons describe equally well rogue waves created by simple linear superposition (in weakly nonlinear conditions) or by nonlinear focusing (in strongly nonlinear conditions), paving the way for the development of a unified explanation to rogue wave formation.

Network growth processes can be understood as generative models of the structure and history of complex networks. This point of view naturally leads to the problem of network archaeology: reconstructing all the past states of a network from its structure—a difficult permutation inference problem. In this paper, we introduce a Bayesian formulation of network archaeology, with a generalization of preferential attachment as our generative mechanism. We develop a sequential Monte Carlo algorithm to evaluate the posterior averages of this model, as well as an efficient heuristic that uncovers a history well correlated with the true one, in polynomial time. We use these methods to identify and characterize a phase transition in the quality of the reconstructed history, when they are applied to artificial networks generated by the model itself. Despite the existence of a no-recovery phase, we find that nontrivial inference is possible in a large portion of the parameter space as well as on empirical data.

Although strong electronic correlations are known to be responsible for some highly unusual behaviors of solids such as metal-insulator transitions, magnetism, and even high-temperature superconductivity, their interplay with recently discovered topological states of matter awaits a full exploration. Here, we use a modern electronic structure method, combining the density functional theory of band electrons with dynamical self-energies of strongly correlated states, to predict that two well-known phases of actinide compound UNiSn, a paramagnetic semiconducting and antiferromagnetic metallic, correspond to topological insulator (TI) and Weyl semimetal (WSM) phases of topological quantum matter. Thus, the famous unconventional insulator-metal transition observed in UNiSn is also a TI-to-WSM transition. Driven by a strong hybridization between U $f$-electron multiplet transitions and band electrons, multiple energy gaps open up in the single-particle spectrum whose topological physics is revealed using the calculation of $Z_2$ invariants in the strongly correlated regime. A simplified physical picture of these phenomena is provided based on a periodic Anderson model of strong correlations and multiple band inversions that occur in this fascinating compound. Studying the topology of interacting electrons reveals interesting opportunities for finding exotic phase transitions in strongly correlated systems.

The possibility of prescribing local interactions between nano- and microscopic components that direct them to assemble in a predictable fashion is a central goal of nanotechnology research. In this article, we advance a new paradigm in which the self-assembly of DNA-functionalized colloidal particles is programmed using linker oligonucleotides dispersed in solution. We find a phase diagram that is surprisingly rich compared to phase diagrams typical of other DNA-functionalized colloidal particles that interact by direct hybridization, including a reentrant melting transition upon increasing linker concentration, and show that multiple linker species can be combined to prescribe many interactions simultaneously. A new theory predicts the observed phase behavior quantitatively without any fitting parameters. Taken together, these experiments and model lay the groundwork for future research in programmable self-assembly, enabling the possibility of programming the hundreds of specific interactions needed to assemble fully addressable, mesoscopic structures, while also expanding our fundamental understanding of the unique phase behavior possible in colloidal suspensions.

We present a 1D repetition code based on the so-called cat qubits as a viable approach toward hardware-efficient universal and fault-tolerant quantum computation. The cat qubits that are stabilized by a two-photon driven-dissipative process exhibit a tunable noise bias where the effective bit-flip errors are exponentially suppressed with the average number of photons. We propose a realization of a set of gates on the cat qubits that preserve such a noise bias. Combining these base qubit operations, we build, at the level of the repetition cat qubit, a universal set of fully protected logical gates. This set includes single-qubit preparations and measurements, not, controlled-not, and controlled-controlled-not (Toffoli) gates. Remarkably, this construction avoids the costly magic state preparation, distillation, and injection. Finally, all required operations on the cat qubits could be performed with slight modifications of existing experimental setups.

Currently, the most accurate and stable clocks use optical interrogation of either a single ion or an ensemble of neutral atoms confined in an optical lattice. Here, we demonstrate a new optical clock system based on an array of individually trapped neutral atoms with single-atom readout, merging many of the benefits of ion and lattice clocks as well as creating a bridge to recently developed techniques in quantum simulation and computing with neutral atoms. We evaluate single-site-resolved frequency shifts and short-term stability via self-comparison. Atom-by-atom feedback control enables direct experimental estimation of laser noise contributions. Results agree well with an ab initio Monte Carlo simulation that incorporates finite temperature, projective readout, laser noise, and feedback dynamics. Our approach, based on a tweezer array, also suppresses interaction shifts while retaining a short dead time, all in a comparatively simple experimental setup suited for transportable operation. These results establish the foundations for a third optical clock platform and provide a novel starting point for entanglement-enhanced metrology, quantum clock networks, and applications in quantum computing and communication with individual neutral atoms that require optical-clock-state control.

The thermal conductivity $\kappa$ of the quasi-2D organic spin-liquid candidate ${\mathrm{EtMe}}_3\mathrm{Sb}[\mathrm{Pd}(\mathrm{dmit}{)}_2{]}_2$ (dmit-131) was measured at low temperatures, down to 0.07 K. We observe a vanishingly small residual linear term ${\kappa }_0/T$, in $\kappa /T$ vs $T$ as $T\to 0$. This shows that the low-energy excitations responsible for the sizable residual linear term $\gamma$ in the specific heat $C$, seen in $C/T$ vs $T$ as $T\to 0$, are localized. We conclude that there are no mobile gapless excitations in this spin-liquid candidate, in contrast with a prior study of dmit-131 that reported a large ${\kappa }_0/T$ value [ , Science 328, 1246 (2010)]. Our study shows that dmit-131 is in fact similar to $\kappa \text{−}(\mathrm{BEDT}\text{−}\mathrm{TTF}{)}_2{\mathrm{Cu}}_2(\mathrm{CN}{)}_3$, another quasi-2D organic spin-liquid candidate where a vanishingly small ${\kappa }_0/T$ and a sizable $\gamma$ are seen. We attribute heat conduction in these organic insulators without magnetic order to phonons undergoing strong spin-phonon scattering, as observed in several other spin-liquid materials.

The ability to retrieve image data through hair-thin optical fibers promises to open up new applications in a range of fields, from biomedical imaging to industrial inspection. Unfortunately, small changes in mechanical deformation and temperature can completely scramble optical information, distorting any resulting images. Correction of these dynamic changes requires measurement of the fiber transmission matrix (TM) in situ immediately before imaging, which typically requires access to both the proximal and distal facets of the fiber simultaneously. As a result, TM calibration is not feasible during most realistic usage scenarios without compromising the thin form factor with bulky distal optics. Here, we introduce a new approach to determine the TM of multimode or multicore optical fibers in a reflection-mode configuration, without requiring access to the distal facet. We propose introducing a thin stack of structured metasurface reflectors at the distal facet of the fiber, to introduce wavelength-dependent, spatially heterogeneous reflectance profiles. We derive a first-order fiber model that compensates these wavelength-dependent changes in the fiber TM and show that, consequently, the reflected data at three wavelengths can be used to unambiguously reconstruct the full TM by an iterative optimization algorithm. Unlike previous approaches, our method does not require the fiber matrix to be unitary, making it applicable to physically realistic fiber systems that have non-negligible power loss. We demonstrate TM reconstruction and imaging first using simulated nonunitary fibers and noisy reflection matrices, then using larger experimentally measured TMs of a densely packed multicore fiber (MCF), and finally using experimentally measured multiwavelength TMs recorded from a step-index multimode fiber (MMF). Parallelization of multiwavelength in situ measurements could enable experimental characterization times comparable with state-of-the-art transmission-mode fiber TM experiments. Our findings pave the way for online TM calibration in situ in hair-thin optical fibers.