A certain class of exact solutions of Einstein Maxwell spacetime in general relativity is discussed to demonstrate that at the level of theory, when certain parametric resonance condition is met, the interaction of electromagnetic field with a gravitational wave will display certain Lyapunov instability and lead to exponential amplification of a gravitational wave train described by certain Newman–Penrose component of the Weyl curvature. In some way akin to a free electron laser in electromagnetic theory, by the conversion of electromagnetic energy into gravitational energy in a coherent way, the feasibility of generating a pulsed-laser-like intense beam of gravitational wave is displayed.

We study dynamical holographic systems and the relation between thermodynamical and dynamical stability of such systems, using the conserved currents in the bulk spacetime. In particular, in the probe limit a generalized free energy is defined with the property of monotonic decreasing in dynamic processes. It is then shown that the (absolute) thermodynamical stability implies the dynamical stability, while the linear dynamical stability implies the thermodynamical (meta-)stability. The holographic superfluid is taken as an example to illustrate our general formalism, where the dynamic evolution of the system in contact with a particle source is clarified by theoretical investigation and numerical verification. The case going beyond the probe limit is also discussed.

The recent progress of the Majorana experiments paves a way for the future tests of non-Abelian braiding statistics and topologically protected quantum information processing. However, a deficient design in those tests could be very dangerous and reach false-positive conclusions. A careful theoretical analysis is necessary so as to develop loophole-free tests. We introduce a series of classical hidden variable models to capture certain key properties of Majorana system: non-locality, topologically non-triviality, and quantum interference. Those models could help us to classify the Majorana properties and to set up the boundaries and limitations of Majorana non-Abelian tests: fusion tests, braiding tests and test set with joint measurements. We find a hierarchy among those Majorana tests with increasing experimental complexity.

We consider a quantum Brayton refrigeration cycle consisting of two isobaric and two adiabatic processes, using an ideal Bose gas of finite particles confined in a harmonic trap as its working substance. Quite generally, such a machine falls into three different cases, classified as the condensed region, non-condensed phase, and regime across the critical point. When the refrigerator works near the critical region, both figure of merit and cooling load are significantly improved due to the singular behavior of the specific heat, and the coefficient of performance at maximum figure of merit is much larger than the Curzon–Ahlborn value. With the machine in the non-condensed regime, the coefficient of performance for maximum figure of merit agrees well with the Curzon–Ahlborn value.

We take the higher-order nonlinear Schrödinger equation as a mathematical model and employ the bilinear method to analytically study the evolution characteristics of femtosecond solitons in optical fibers under higher-order nonlinear effects and higher-order dispersion effects. The results show that the effects have a significant impact on the amplitude and interaction characteristics of optical solitons. The larger the higher-order nonlinear coefficient, the more intense the interaction between optical solitons, and the more unstable the transmission. At the same time, we discuss the influence of other free parameters on third-order soliton interactions. Effectively regulate the interaction of three optical solitons by controlling relevant parameters. These studies will lay a theoretical foundation for experiments and further practicality of optical soliton communications.

We investigate the quantum squeezing of matter-wave solitons in atomic Bose–Einstein condensates. By calculating quantum fluctuations of the solitons via solving the Bogoliubov–de Gennes equations, we show that significant quantum squeezing can be realized for both bright and dark solitons. We also show that the squeezing efficiency of the solitons can be enhanced and manipulated by atom–atom interaction and soliton blackness. The results reported here are beneficial not only for understanding quantum property of matter-wave solitons, but also for promising applications of Bose-condensed quantum gases.

Inspired by the problem of biofilm growth, we numerically investigate clustering in a two-dimensional suspension of active (Janus) particles of finite size confined in a circular cavity. Their dynamics is regulated by a non-reciprocal mechanism that causes them to switch from active to passive above a certain threshold of the perceived near-neighbor density (quorum sensing). A variety of cluster phases, i.e., glassy, solid (hexatic) and liquid, are observed, depending on the particle dynamics at the boundary, the quorum sensing range, and the level of noise.

A two-stage cascade magnetic compression scheme based on field reversed configuration plasma is proposed. The temperature and density of plasma before and after magnetic compression are analyzed. In addition, the suppression of the two-fluid effect and the finite Larmor radius effect on the tilting mode and the rotating mode of major magnetic hydrodynamic instability is studied, and finally, the key physical and engineering parameters of the deuterium–deuterium fusion pulse device are introduced. Further analysis shows that the fusion neutrons can be produced at an energy flux of more than 2 MW/m$^{2}$ per year, which meets the material testing requirements for the fusion demonstration reactor (DEMO). If the recovery of magnetic field energy is taken into account, net energy outputs may be achieved, indicating that the scheme has a potential application prospect as a deuterium–deuterium pulse fusion energy.

We report experimental and theoretical investigations of wavelength dependence of Rydberg state excitation (RSE) process of Ar subject to intense laser fields. By simultaneously measuring ionization and RSE yields of Ar atoms subject to strong laser fields at a series of wavelengths, we obtain the wavelength scaling law of the ratio of Ar$^{*}$ over Ar$^{+}$ with respect to the laser intensity, and this result can be well reproduced by a nonadiabatic model, but not by the classical-trajectory Monte Carlo model. Our results indicate that the nonadiabatic corrections of the photoelectron tunneling exit and tunneling probability play a significant role at shorter wavelengths. Analysis shows that the wavelength dependence phenomenon is due to the interplay of the nonadiabatic effect, wave-packet diffusion and Coulomb focusing effect of the liberated electron.

Nonlinear terahertz (THz) radiation from gas media usually relies on the asymmetric laser-induced current produced by ultra-intense two-color laser fields with a specific phase delay. Here a new scheme is proposed and theoretically investigated, in which the radiation is generated by spatially inhomogeneous fields induced by relatively low-intensity monochromatic lasers and an array of single triangular metallic nanostructures. Our simulations are based on the classical photocurrent model and the time-dependent Schrödinger equations separately. It is found that the collective motion of the ionized electrons can be efficiently controlled by the inhomogeneous field, resulting in strong residual currents. The intensity of the THz radiation could be enhanced by about two orders of magnitude by increasing the spatial inhomogeneity of the field.

The increasing demands for electronic devices to achieve high miniaturization, functional integration, and wide bandwidth will exacerbate the heat generation and electromagnetic interference, which hinders the further development of electronic devices. Therefore, both the issues of microwave absorption and heat dissipation of materials need to be addressed simultaneously. Herein, a multifunctional composite material is proposed by periodic arrangement of copper pillars in a matrix, based on the wave-absorbing material. As a result, the equivalent thermal conductivity of the composite structure is nearly 35 times higher than the wave-absorbing matrix, with the area filling proportion of the thermal conductivity material being 3.14%. Meanwhile, the reflectivity of the composite structure merely changes from $-15.05$ dB to $-13.70$ dB. It is proved that the designed composite structure possesses both high thermal conduction and strong microwave absorption. The measured results accord well with the simulation results, which demonstrates that the thermal conductivity of the composite structure can reach more than 10 W$\cdot$m$^{-1}\cdot$K$^{-1}$ without significant deterioration of the absorption performance.

Phonon lasers, as a novel kind of lasers for generating coherent sound oscillation, has attracted extensive attention. Here, we theoretically propose a nonreciprocal phonon laser in a hybrid optomechanical system, which is composed of an asymmetric Fabry–Pérot cavity, an ensemble of $N$ identical two-level atoms, and a mechanical oscillator. The effective driving amplitude related to driving direction leads to an obvious difference in mechanical gain and threshold power, bringing about a nonreciprocal phonon laser. In addition, the dependence of the phonon laser on the atomic parameters is also discussed, including the decay rate of the atoms and the coupling strength between the atoms and the cavity field, which provides an additional degree of freedom to control the phonon laser action. Our work provides a path to realizing a phonon laser in an atoms-cavity optomechanical system and may aid the manufacture of directional coherent phonon sources.

A thermal cloak is well known for hiding objects from thermal signature. A bilayer thermal cloak made from inner insulation layer and outer isotropic homogeneous layer could realize such thermal protection. However, its thermal protection performance can be suppressed for low-thermal-conductivity surrounding media. We propose a tri-layer thermal cloak model by adding a transition layer between the insulation layer and the outer layer. Numerical simulations and theoretical analysis show that, under the same geometry size and surrounding thermal conductivity, the performance of the thermal cloak can be significantly enhanced by introducing a transition layer with higher thermal conductivity and an outer-layer with lower thermal conductivity. The tri-layer cloak proposed provides a design guidance to realize better thermal protection using isotropic bulk materials.

Thermal metamaterials offer a promising avenue for creating artificial materials with unconventional physical properties, such as thermal cloak, concentrator, rotator, and illusion. However, designs and fabrication of thermal metamaterials are of challenge due to the limitations of existing methods on anisotropic material properties. We propose an evolutionary framework for designing thermal metamaterials using genetic algorithm optimization. Our approach encodes unit cells with different thermal conductivities and performs global optimization using the evolution-inspired operators. We further fabricate the thermal functional cells using 3D printing and verify their thermal illusion functionality experimentally. Our study introduces a new design paradigm for advanced thermal metamaterials that can manipulate heat flows robustly and realize functional thermal metadevices without anisotropic thermal conductivity. Our approach can be easily applied to fabrications in various fields such as thermal management and thermal sensing.

Microturbulence excited by ion temperature gradient (ITG)-dominant and trapped electron mode (TEM)-dominant instabilities is investigated by employing an extended fluid code (ExFC) based on the so-called Landau fluid model, which includes the trapped electron dynamics. Firstly, the global effect is emphasized through direct comparison of ITG and TEM instability domains based on local and global simulations. The global effect makes differences in both linear instability and nonlinear transport, including the fluxes and the structure of zonal flow. The transitions among ITG, TEM, and ITG & TEM (ITG & TEM represents that ITG and TEM coexist with different wavelengths) instabilities/turbulence depend not only on the three key drive forces $({R/L_{\rm n}, R/L_{\rm Te}, R/L_{\rm Ti}})$ but also on their global (profile) effects. Secondly, a lot of electrostatic linear gyro-fluid simulations are concluded to obtain a distribution of the instability.

The non-Hermitian skin effect has been applied in multiple fields. However, there are relatively few models in the field of thermal diffusion that utilize the non-Hermitian skin effect for achieving thermal regulation. Here, we propose two non-Hermitian Su–Schrieffer–Heeger (SSH) models for thermal regulation: one capable of achieving edge states, and the other capable of achieving corner states within the thermal field. By analyzing the energy band structures and the generalized Brillouin zone, we predict the appearance of the non-Hermitian skin effect in these two models. Furthermore, we analyze the time-dependent evolution results and assess the robustness of the models. The results indicate that the localized thermal effects of the models align with our predictions. In a word, this work presents two models based on the non-Hermitian skin effect for regulating the thermal field, injecting vitality into the design of non-Hermitian thermal diffusion systems.

Epitaxial graphene grown on silicon carbide (SiC/graphene) is a promising solution for achieving a high-precision quantum Hall resistance standard. Previous research mainly focused on the quantum resistance metrology of n-type SiC/graphene, while a comprehensive understanding of the quantum resistance metrology behavior of graphene with different doping types is lacking. Here, we fabricated both n- and p-type SiC/graphene devices via polymer-assisted molecular adsorption and conducted systematic magneto-transport measurements in a wide parameter space of carrier density and temperature. It is demonstrated that n-type devices show greater potential for development of quantum resistance metrology compared with p-type devices, as evidenced by their higher carrier mobility, lower critical magnetic field for entering quantized Hall plateaus, and higher robustness of the quantum Hall effect against thermal degeneration. These discrepancies can be reasonably attributed to the weaker scattering from molecular dopants for n-type devices, which is further supported by the analyses on the quantum interference effect in multiple devices. These results enrich our understanding of the charged impurity on electronic transport performance of graphene and, more importantly, provide a useful reference for future development of graphene-based quantum resistance metrology.

Electrides, which confine “excess anionic electrons” in subnanometer-sized cavities of a lattice, are exotic ionic crystals. We propose a non-stoichiometric strategy to realize intrinsic two-dimensional (2D) superconducting electride. AlH$_{2}$ monolayer, which is structurally identical to 1H-MoS$_{2}$, possesses zero-dimensionally confined anionic electrons in the interstitial sites of Al triangles, corresponding to a chemical formula of [AlH$_{2}$]$^{+}e^{-}$. The interaction between interstitial anionic electrons (IAEs) and host cation lattice mainly accounts for stabilization of 1H-AlH$_{2}$ electride. Impressively, 1H-AlH$_{2}$ monolayer is an intrinsic Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer superconductor with $T_{\rm c}=38$ K, which is the direct consequence of strong coupling of the H-dominated high electronic states with Al acoustic branch vibrations and mid-frequency H-derived phonon softening modes caused by Kohn anomalies. Under tensile strain, IAEs transform into itinerant electrons, favoring the formation of stable Cooper pairs. Therefore, $T_{\rm c}$ reaches up to 53 K at a biaxial fracture strain of 5%. Our findings provide valuable insights into the correlation between non-stoichiometric electrides and superconducting microscopic mechanisms at the 2D limit.

Magnetic CeTe$_{2}$ achieving superconductivity under external pressure has received considerable attention. The intermingling of 4$f$ and 5$d$ electrons from Ce raised the speculation of an unconventional pairing mechanism arising from magnetic fluctuations. Here, we address this speculation using a nonmagnetic 4$f$-electron-free LaTe$_{2}$ as an example. No structural phase transition can be observed up to 35 GPa in the in situ synchrotron diffraction patterns. Subsequent high-pressure electrical measurements show that LaTe$_{2}$ exhibits superconductivity at 20 Gpa with its $T_{\rm c}$ (4.5 K) being two times higher than its Ce-counterpart. Detailed theoretical calculations reveal that charge transfer from the 4$p$ orbitals of the planar square Te–Te network to the 5$d$ orbitals of La is responsible for the emergence of superconductivity in LaTe$_{2}$, as confirmed by Hall experiments. Furthermore, we study the modulation of $q_{\scriptscriptstyle{\rm CDW}}$ by Sb substitution and find a record high $T_{\rm c}^{\rm onset} \sim 6.5$ K in LaTe$_{1.6}$Sb$_{0.4}$. Our work provides an informative clue to comprehend the role of $5d$–$4p$ hybridization in the relationship between charge density wave (CDW) and superconductivity in these RETe$_{2}$ (RE = rare-earth elements) compounds.

Superconductivity is one of most intriguing quantum phenomena, and the quest for elemental superconductors with high critical temperature ($T_{\rm c}$) is of great scientific significance due to their relatively simple material composition and the underlying mechanism. Here we report the experimental discovery of densely compressed scandium (Sc) becoming the first elemental superconductor with $T_{\rm c}$ breaking into 30 K range, which is comparable to the $T_{\rm c}$ values of the classic La–Ba–Cu–O or LaFeAsO superconductors. Our results show that $T_{\rm c}^{\rm onset}$ of Sc increases from $\sim$ $3$ K at around 43 GPa to $\sim$ $32$ K at about 283 GPa ($T_{\rm c}^{\rm zero} \sim 31$ K), which is well above liquid neon temperature. Interestingly, measured $T_{\rm c}$ shows no sign of saturation up to the maximum pressure achieved in our experiments, indicating that $T_{\rm c}$ may be even higher upon further compression.