Quantum Phenomena Research Articles

Large area single crystal gold of single nanometer thickness for nanophotonics

Two-dimensional single crystal metals, in which the behavior of highly confined optical modes is intertwined with quantum phenomena, are highly sought after for next-generation technologies. Here, we report large area (>104 μm2), single crystal two-dimensional gold flakes (2DGFs) with thicknesses down to a single nanometer level, employing an atomic-level precision chemical etching approach. The decrease of the thickness down to such scales leads to the quantization of the electronic states, endowing 2DGFs with quantum-confinement-augmented optical nonlinearity, particularly leading to more than two orders of magnitude enhancement in harmonic generation compared with their thick polycrystalline counterparts. The nanometer-scale thickness and single crystal quality makes 2DGFs a promising platform for realizing plasmonic nanostructures with nanoscale optical confinement. This is demonstrated by patterning 2DGFs into nanoribbon arrays, exhibiting strongly confined near infrared plasmonic resonances with high quality factors. The developed 2DGFs provide an emerging platform for nanophotonic research and open up opportunities for applications in ultrathin plasmonic, optoelectronic and quantum devices.

Comments to Megascopic Quantum Phenomena

We present here the incompleteness of the Copenhagen interpretation regarding the impossibility of explaining the transition from the exact quantum mechanics to the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, where the inaccurate method captures phenomena like spontaneous symmetry breaking, but this is impossible to achieve with exact equations. The solution to this dilemma lies in the revision of quantum field theory which bounds together internal and external (vibrational, translational, and rotational) degrees of freedom in a similar way as the Lorentz transformation deals with space and time. This is the only way how to exactly mathematically justify the corrections beyond the Born-Oppenheimer approximation (Born-Huang ansatz). The consequences are overwhelming: It reveals the wrong BCS theory of superconductivity, derived on the basis of the incomplete quantum field, and all erroneous theories inspired by the BCS one (e.g. Higgs mechanism). Moreover, the second Bohr complementarity emerges from the mechanical wholeness and field fragmentation, opening the door for the megascopic mirror of the microscopic Copenhagen interpretation and for the explanation of megascopic quantum phenomena. Finally, we get an entirely new look at the meaning of physics and chemistry: The first one deals with microscopic and the second one with megascopic phenomena.

Intertwined Van Hove Singularities as a Mechanism for Loop Current Order in Kagome Metals.

Recent experiments on kagome metals AV_{3}Sb_{5} (A=Cs,Rb,K) indicated spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking in the charge density wave state in the absence of static magnetization. The loop current order (LCO) is proposed as its cause, but a microscopic model explaining the emergence of LCO through electronic correlations has not been firmly established. We show that the coupling between van Hove singularities with distinct mirror symmetries is a key ingredient to generate LCO ground state. By constructing an effective model, we find that when multiple van Hove singularities with opposite mirror eigenvalues are close in energy, the nearest-neighbor electron repulsion favors a ground state with coexisting LCO and charge bond order. It is then demonstrated that this mechanism applies to the kagome metals AV_{3}Sb_{5}. Our findings provide an intriguing mechanism of LCO and pave the way for a deeper understanding of complex quantum phenomena in kagome systems.

PtTe2 photodetectors with negative photoconductivity under different wavelength laser irradiation

Platinum telluride (PtTe2), as a newly emerged type II Dirac semimetal, has attracted much attention. Due to its excellent linear dispersive band structure and ultra-high carrier mobility, PtTe2 show great potential in the new quantum phenomena, topological phase transitions, unconventional superconductivity and other photodetecting fields. In this paper, we report the negative photoelectric effect of photodetectors based on the type II Dirac semimetal PtTe2 film under the laser irradiation of 405 nm, 532 nm and 808 nm. Under the condition of applying 1 V voltage, the R of the PtTe2 device under 405 nm laser irradiation was 20 A/W and the D* was 6.9×109 Jones; the R of the PtTe2 device under 532 nm laser irradiation was 1.3 A/W and the D* was 4.1×108 Jones; the R of the PtTe2 device under 808 nm laser irradiation was 0.6 A/W and the D* was 2.1×108 Jones. Under normal atmospheric pressure and room temperature conditions, we observed a negative photoconductivity phenomenon for the PtTe2 device, where the change in photoconductivity is attributed to the light-induced desorption of O or H2O molecules from the surface of the material. In addition, a single-site scanning imaging system based on a PtTe2 photodetector was designed to test the detection capability of the device. The analysis of the photocurrent effect produced by the PtTe2 device further deepens the understanding of the photoconductivity mechanism in the field of photodetection.

A versatile single-photon-based quantum computing platform

Quantum computing aims at exploiting quantum phenomena to efficiently perform computations that are unfeasible even for the most powerful classical supercomputers. Among the promising technological approaches, photonic quantum computing offers the advantages of low decoherence, information processing with modest cryogenic requirements, and native integration with classical and quantum networks. So far, quantum computing demonstrations with light have implemented specific tasks with specialized hardware, notably Gaussian boson sampling, which permits the quantum computational advantage to be realized. Here we report a cloud-accessible versatile quantum computing prototype based on single photons. The device comprises a high-efficiency quantum-dot single-photon source feeding a universal linear optical network on a reconfigurable chip for which hardware errors are compensated by a machine-learned transpilation process. Our full software stack allows remote control of the device to perform computations via logic gates or direct photonic operations. For gate-based computation, we benchmark one-, two- and three-qubit gates with state-of-the art fidelities of 99.6 ± 0.1%, 93.8 ± 0.6% and 86 ± 1.2%, respectively. We also implement a variational quantum eigensolver, which we use to calculate the energy levels of the hydrogen molecule with chemical accuracy. For photon native computation, we implement a classifier algorithm using a three-photon-based quantum neural network and report a six-photon boson sampling demonstration on a universal reconfigurable integrated circuit. Finally, we report on a heralded three-photon entanglement generation, a key milestone toward measurement-based quantum computing.

Stokes vector characterization by strongly measuring weak values.

We report the implementation of a non-standard procedure to perform Stokes polarimetry, which was recently proposed by considering weak value measurements. Our procedure is not restricted to weak measurements but applies for both weak and strong couplings between the observable being measured; the polarization (spin) vector; and the measuring device, the "pointer." In optics, the polarization-pointer coupling is usually implemented with a birefringent crystal. This applies in the weak coupling regime. We overcame this limitation by using an alternative setup in which one can go from weak to strong couplings by tuning a moveable mirror. We carried out our proof-of-concept experiments with a laser beam, the image of which was recorded and processed on a charge-coupled device. Our results illustrate that some concepts, originally introduced in a quantum context, in fact refer to properties that are common to both quantum and classical phenomena.

Electric‐Field‐Induced in‐Plane Anisotropy of Superconducting Transition Temperature for FeSe0.5Te0.5 Thin Films

AbstractSuperconductor/ferroelectric heterostructures are very important for fundamental research and applications since superconductivity can be controlled by electric fields via ferroelectric polarization/piezostrain. Superconductivity is a macroscopic quantum phenomenon and it is commonly believed that the in‐plane superconducting transition temperature (Tc) should be isotropic for superconductors with crystal structures of stacking layers (quasi 2D). Here, the observation of piezostrain‐induced in‐plane anisotropy of Tc in FeSe0.5Te0.5 (FST) thin films grown on ferroelectric single crystals is reported. The as‐prepared FST shows a tetragonal phase with equal in‐plane lattice parameters and an absence of in‐plane anisotropy of Tc. Upon applying electric fields, piezostrain induces a difference in the in‐plane lattice parameters (a‐b) and in‐plane anisotropy of Tc. The in‐plane anisotropy of Tc correlates with a‐b and becomes more remarkable for larger values of a‐b. Some possible extrinsic effects are ruled out by experiments and analysis. A possible mechanism is proposed involving electronic nematicity and inhomogeneous superconductivity in FST to account for this unusual phenomenon. This work is significant for uncovering the exotic nature of unconventional superconductors, as well as applications.

Surface doping manipulation of the insulating ground states in Ta2Pd3Te5 and Ta2Ni3Te5

Abstract Manipulating emergent quantum phenomena is a key issue for understanding the underlying physics and contributing to possible applications. Here we study the evolution of insulating ground states of Ta2Pd3Te5 and Ta2Ni3Te5 under in-situ surface potassium deposition via angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Our results confirm the excitonic insulator character of Ta2Pd3Te5. Upon surface doping, the size of its global gap decreases obviously. After a deposition time of more than 7 min, the potassium atoms induce a metal–insulator phase transition and make the system recover to a normal state. In contrast, our results show that the isostructural compound Ta2Ni3Te5 is a conventional insulator. The size of its global gap decreases upon surface doping, but persists positive throughout the doping process. Our results not only confirm the excitonic origin of the band gap in Ta2Pd3Te5, but also offer an effective method for designing functional quantum devices in the future.

Quantum Criticality in Open Quantum Spin Chains with Nonreciprocity.

We investigate the impact of nonreciprocity on universality and critical phenomena in open quantum interacting many-body systems. Nonreciprocal open quantum systems often have an exotic spectral sensitivity to boundary conditions, known as the Liouvillian skin effect (LSE). By considering an open quantum XXZ spin chain that exhibits LSE, we demonstrate the existence of a universal scaling regime that is not affected by the presence of the LSE. We resolve the critical exponents, which differ from those of free fermions, via tensor network methods and demonstrate that observables exhibit a universal scaling collapse, irrespective of the reciprocity. We find that the LSE only becomes relevant when a healing length scale ξ_{heal} at the system's edge (which is different from the localization length of the eigenstate of the Liouvillian) exceeds the system size, allowing edge properties to dominate the physics. We expect this result to be a generic feature of nonreciprocal models in the vicinity of a critical point. The driven-dissipative quantum criticality we observe has no classical analog and stems from the existence of multiple dark states.

Quantum exchange symmetry induces charge diffusion and trapping in ultracold gases

For a homonuclear ion-atom system, we show that the exchange symmetry leads to special outcomes for ion transport that manifest themselves in ultracold experiments. We compute the two body charge hopping probabilities and rates, which are used to model charge hopping in the dynamics of an ultracold 6/7 Li+ ion immersed within an ultracold gas of 6/7 Li atoms at micro-Kelvin temperatures. We show that the charge hopping and collisional diffusion compete, giving unique results leading to charge trapping in regions of high atomic density gradient. These investigations in ion-atom systems open a new approach to probe quantum phenomena in various systems with exchange symmetry.

Revisiting the bound states of a confined delta potential

The stationary states of a particle under the influence of a delta potential confined by impenetrable walls are investigated using the method of expansion in orthogonal functions. The eigenfunctions of the time-independent Schrödinger equation are expressed in closed form by using a pair of closed-form expressions for series available in the literature. The analysis encompasses both attractive and repulsive potentials with arbitrary couplings. Confinement significantly impacts the quantum states and introduces a scenario of double degeneracy including the ground state. Analysis extends to discuss the transition to unconfinement. This research holds particular significance for educators and students engaged in mathematical methods applied to physics and quantum mechanics within undergraduate courses, offering valuable insights into the complex relationships among profiles of potentials, boundary conditions, and the resulting quantum phenomena.

Proximity effect of emergent field from spin ice in an oxide heterostructure.

Geometrical frustration endows magnets with degenerate ground states, resulting in exotic spin structures and quantum phenomena. Such magnets, called quantum magnets, can display non-coplanar spin textures and be a viable platform for the topological Hall effect driven by "emergent field." However, most quantum magnets are insulators, making it challenging to electrically detect associated fluctuations and excitations. Here, we probe magnetic transitions in the spin ice insulator Dy2Ti2O7, a prototypical quantum magnet, as emergent magnetotransport phenomena at the heterointerface with the nonmagnetic metal Bi2Rh2O7. Angle-dependent longitudinal resistivity exhibits peaks at the magnetic phase boundaries of spin ice due to domain boundary scattering. In addition, the anomalous Hall resistivity undergoes a sign change with the magnetic transition in Dy2Ti2O7, reflecting the inversion of the emergent field. These findings, on the basis of epitaxial techniques, connect the fundamental research on insulating quantum magnets to their potential electronic applications, possibly leading to transformative innovations in quantum technologies.

Construction of Ideal One-Dimensional Spin Chains by Topochemical Dehydration/Rehydration Route.

One-dimensional (1D) Heisenberg antiferromagnets are of great interest due to their intriguing quantum phenomena. However, the experimental realization of such systems with large spin S remains challenging because even weak interchain interactions induce long-range ordering. In this study, we present an ideal 1D S = 5/2 spin chain antiferromagnet achieved through a multistep topochemical route involving dehydration and rehydration. By desorbing three water molecules from (2,2'-bpy)FeF3(H2O)·2H2O (2,2'-bpy = 2,2'-bipyridyl) at 150 °C and then intercalating two water molecules at room temperature (giving (2,2'-bpy)FeF3·2H2O 1), the initially isolated FeF3ON2 octahedra combine to form corner-sharing FeF4N2 octahedral chains, which are effectively separated by organic and added water molecules. Mössbauer spectroscopy reveals significant dynamical fluctuations down to 2.7 K, despite the presence of strong intrachain interactions. Moreover, results from electron spin resonance (ESR) and heat capacity measurements indicate the absence of long-range order down to 0.5 K. This controlled topochemical dehydration/rehydration approach is further extended to (2,2'-bpy)CrF3·2H2O with S = 3/2 1D chains, thus opening the possibility of obtaining other low-dimensional spin lattices.

Effect of zero-point motion on properties of quantum particles adsorbed on a substrate

We qualitatively investigate the effect of zero-point motion (ZPM) on the structure and properties of a film composed of quantum particles adsorbed on a graphite substrate. The amplitude of ZPM is controlled by a change of the particle mass while keeping the interactions fixed. In that sense it is assumed that the interactions can be controlled by future doping methods. The worm-algorithm path integral Monte Carlo (WAPIMC) method is applied to simulate this system in the grand-canonical ensemble, where particles can be exchanged with the external particle reservoir. Another method, namely the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method for bosons is additionally applied to verify some of the WAPIMC results and to provide further information on the entropy and the condensate fraction. Several important findings are reported. It is found that ZPM plays an important role in defining order and disorder in the crystalline structure of the adsorbed film. The total energy of the film drops with a reduction in the amplitude of ZPM, that is, it becomes more negative which is an indication to stronger adsorption. For a few particle numbers, a significant condensate fraction is detected that however drops sharply at critical values of the ZPM amplitude. Most importantly, a connection is established between chaos, in coordinate as well as momentum space, and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. The importance of the present study lies in the fact that adsorbed two-dimensional films serve as an excellent experimental testbed for demonstrating low-dimensional quantum phenomena in the ground state. The present examination contributes also to a further understanding of the properties of heavy quantum particles adsorbed on substrates.

Scattering by harmonically trapped 2D quantum gas near and around the critical regime

In this article, we analytically explore the quantum phenomena of scattering by harmonically trapped 2D quantum gases. We show the temperature’s dependence on the differential scattering cross-section (DSC) near and around the critical transition regime for both particle and light scattering cases separately. For the particle scattering case, we consider scatterers with quantized bound motion in a harmonic trap. Our findings on the structure factor for light scattering give phase transition phenomena for 2D bosonic atoms and the thermal behavior of the system. This result has practical significance for recent experimental setups such as in situ image analysis and bosonic simulations. Finally, we show the temperature-dependent refractive index for a 2D harmonically trapped bosonic medium. This parameter is important in neutron scattering experiments.

MULTIVALUED WAVES AND THE RICHTMYER–MESHKOV INSTABILITY AS THE CAUSES OF THE FORMATION OF GALAXIES

A few months ago, the Max Planck Institute (Dresden, Germany) organized an International Seminar for outstanding researchers of such a remarkable phenomenon as “extreme waves”. The seminar was led by such famous professors as Nail Akhdiev (Australian National University, Canberra, Australia) [1], Helmut Brand (University of Bayreuth, Germany) [2] and Amin Chabchub (Kyoto University, Japan) [3]. Thе phenomenon of "Extreme waves" is remarkable since widely spread in Nature, and at the same time it is used widely in technology. In particular it is used in modern optical communications (nonlinear optics). The results of the Workshop are widely discussed by experts. They preview promising new directions springing from group efforts. This article is a review of my seminar presentation. At the same time, it includes some results of my book, which is being prepared for publication. The main outlines of this book are outlined by Marat Aksanovich Ilgamov in his article [5]. The book is devoted to multivalued waves existing in various scalar fields. An attempt is made to describe, on this basis, the entire variety of fundamental physical phenomena of the world around us, starting with quantum phenomena and ending with the emergence and initial development of the Universe. It is known that Einstein tried to build a unified (interdisciplinary) field theory that would unite all interactions in nature into a single system. My report to Dresden made an attempt to use this idea, which was developed in the mentioned book and this article. The first three parts of this article examine the stability of Richtmyer–Meshkov and Faraday waves. The last part discusses the theory of the origin of the Universe proposed in [4, 12]. The birth of galaxies in the first moments of the process of spherical expansion of our Universe is associated with the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability.

Solid State Reaction Epitaxy, A New Approach for Synthesizing Van der Waals heterolayers: The Case of Mn and Cr on Bi2Se3

AbstractVan der Waals (vdW) heterostructures that pair materials with diverse properties enable various quantum phenomena. However, the direct growth of vdW heterostructures is challenging. Modification of the surface layer of quantum materials to introduce new properties is an alternative process akin to solid state reaction. Here, vapor deposited transition metals (TMs), Cr and Mn, are reacted with Bi2Se3 with the goal to transform the surface layer to XBi2Se4 (X = Cr, Mn). Experiments and ab initio MD simulations demonstrate that the TMs have a high selenium affinity driving Se diffusion toward the TM. For monolayer Cr, the surface Bi2Se3 is reduced to Bi2‐layer and a stable (pseudo) 2D Cr1+δSe2 layer is formed. In contrast, monolayer Mn can transform upon mild annealing into MnBi2Se4. This phase only forms for a precise amount of initial Mn deposition. Sub‐monolayer amounts dissolve into the bulk, and multilayers form stable MnSe adlayers. This study highlights the delicate energy balance between adlayers and desired surface modified layers that governs the interface reactions and that the formation of stable adlayers can prevent the reaction with the substrate. The success of obtaining MnBi2Se4 points toward an approach for the engineering of other multicomponent vdW materials by surface reactions.

Ultrastrong to nearly deep-strong magnon-magnon coupling with a high degree of freedom in synthetic antiferromagnets

Ultrastrong and deep-strong coupling are two coupling regimes rich in intriguing physical phenomena. Recently, hybrid magnonic systems have emerged as promising candidates for exploring these regimes, owing to their unique advantages in quantum engineering. However, because of the relatively weak coupling between magnons and other quasiparticles, ultrastrong coupling is predominantly realized at cryogenic temperatures, while deep-strong coupling remains to be explored. In our work, we achieve both theoretical and experimental realization of room-temperature ultrastrong magnon-magnon coupling in synthetic antiferromagnets with intrinsic asymmetry of magnetic anisotropy. Unlike most ultrastrong coupling systems, where the counter-rotating coupling strength g2 is strictly equal to the co-rotating coupling strength g1, our systems allow for highly tunable g1 and g2. This high degree of freedom also enables the realization of normalized g1 or g2 larger than 0.5. Particularly, our experimental findings reveal that the maximum observed g1 is nearly identical to the bare frequency, with g1/ω0 = 0.963, indicating a close realization of deep-strong coupling within our hybrid magnonic systems. Our results highlight synthetic antiferromagnets as platforms for exploring unconventional ultrastrong and even deep-strong coupling regimes, facilitating the further exploration of quantum phenomena.

All-optical Stern-Gerlach effect in the time domain.

The Stern-Gerlach experiment, a seminal quantum physics experiment, demonstrated the intriguing phenomenon of particle spin quantization, leading to applications in matter-wave interferometry and weak-value measurements. Over the years, several optical experiments have exhibited similar behavior to the Stern-Gerlach experiment, revealing splitting in both spatial and angular domains. Here we show, theoretically and experimentally, that the Stern-Gerlach effect can be extended into the time and frequency domains. By harnessing Kerr nonlinearity in optical fibers, we couple signal and idler pulses using two pump pulses, resulting in the emergence of two distinct eigenstates whereby the signal and idler are either in phase or out of phase. This nonlinear coupling emulates a synthetic magnetization, and by varying it linearly in time, one eigenstate deflects towards a higher frequency, while the other deflects towards a lower frequency. This effect can be utilized to realize an all-optical, phase-sensitive frequency beam splitter, establishing a new paradigm for classical and quantum data processing of frequency-bin superposition states.

Non-KAM classical chaos topology for electrons in superlattice minibands determines the inter-well quantum transition rates

We investigate the quantum-classical correspondence for a particle tunnelling through a periodic superlattice structure with an applied bias voltage and an additional tilted harmonic oscillator potential. We show that the quantum mechanical tunnelling rate between neighbouring quantum wells of the superlattice is determined by the topology of the phase trajectories of the analogous classical system. This result also enables us to estimate, with high accuracy, the tunnelling rate between two spatially displaced simple harmonic oscillator states using a classical model, and thus gain new insight into this generic quantum phenomenon. This finding opens new directions for exploring and understanding the quantum-classical correspondence principle and quantum jumps between displaced harmonic oscillators, which are important in many branches of natural science.