Using the single-mode approximation, we study entanglement measures including two independent quantities; i.e., negativity and von Neumann entropy for a tripartite generalized Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) state in noninertial frames. Based on the calculated negativity, we study the whole entanglement measures named as the algebraic average $\pi_{3}$-tangle and geometric average ${\it \Pi}_{3}$-tangle. We find that the difference between them is very small or disappears with the increase of the number of accelerated qubits. The entanglement properties are discussed from one accelerated observer and others remaining stationary to all three accelerated observers. The results show that there will always exist entanglement, even if acceleration $r$ arrives to infinity. The degree of entanglement for all 1–1 tangles are always equal to zero, but 1–2 tangles always decrease with the acceleration parameter $r$. We notice that the von Neumann entropy increases with the number of the accelerated observers and $S_{\kappa_{\rm I}\zeta_{\rm I}}$ ($\kappa, \zeta\in ({\rm A, B, C})$) first increases and then decreases with the acceleration parameter $r$. This implies that the subsystem $\rho_{\kappa_{\rm I}\zeta_{\rm I}}$ is first more disorder and then the disorder will be reduced as the acceleration parameter $r$ increases. Moreover, it is found that the von Neumann entropies $S_{\rm ABCI}$, $S_{\rm ABICI}$ and $S_{\rm AIBICI}$ always decrease with the controllable angle $\theta$, while the entropies of the bipartite subsystems $S_{2-2_{\rm non}}$ (two accelerated qubits), $S_{2-1_{\rm non}}$ (one accelerated qubit) and $S_{2-0_{\rm non}}$ (without accelerated qubit) first increase with the angle $\theta$ and then decrease with it.

We characterize a modified continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) protocol with four states in the middle of a quantum channel. In this protocol, two noiseless linear amplifiers (NLAs) are inserted before each detector of the two parts, Alice and Bob, with the purpose of increasing the secret key rate and the maximum transmission distance. We present the performance analysis of the new four-state CV-QKD protocol over a Gaussian lossy and noisy channel. The simulation results show that the NLAs with a reasonable gain $g$ can effectively enhance the secret key rate as well as the maximum transmission distance, which is generally satisfied in practice.

Learning the Hamiltonian of a quantum system is indispensable for prediction of the system dynamics and realization of high fidelity quantum gates. However, it is a significant challenge to efficiently characterize the Hamiltonian which has a Hilbert space dimension exponentially growing with the system size. Here, we develop and implement an adaptive method to learn the effective Hamiltonian of an 11-qubit quantum system consisting of one electron spin and ten nuclear spins associated with a single nitrogen-vacancy center in a diamond. We validate the estimated Hamiltonian by designing universal quantum gates based on the learnt Hamiltonian and implementing these gates in the experiment. Our experimental result demonstrates a well-characterized 11-qubit quantum spin register with the ability to test quantum algorithms, and shows our Hamiltonian learning method as a useful tool for characterizing the Hamiltonian of the nodes in a quantum network with solid-state spin qubits.

Flipping of water dipoles in carbon nanotubes is of great importance in many physical and biological applications, such as signal amplification, molecular switches and nano-gates. Ahead of these applications, understanding and inhibiting the non-negligible thermal noise is essential. Here, we use molecular dynamics simulations to show that the flipping frequency of water dipoles increases with the rising temperature, and the thermal noise can be suppressed by imposed charges and external uniform electric fields. Furthermore, the water dipoles flip periodically between two equiprobable and stable states under alternating electric fields. These two stable states may be adopted to store 0 and 1 bits for memory storage or molecular computing.

For a long time, there have been huge discrepancies between different models and experiments concerning the liquid–liquid phase transition (LLPT) in dense hydrogen. We present the results of extensive calculations of the LLPT in dense hydrogen using the most expensive first-principle path-integral molecular dynamics simulations available. The nonlocal density functional rVV10 and the hybrid functional PBE0 are used to improve the description of the electronic structure of hydrogen. Of all the density functional theory calculations available, we report the most consistent results through quantum Monte Carlo simulations and coupled electron-ion Monte Carlo simulations of the LLPT in dense hydrogen. The critical point of the first-order LLPT is estimated to be above 2000 K according to the equation of state. Moreover, the metallization pressure obtained from the jump of dc electrical conductivity almost coincides with the plateau of equation of state.

We report an eight-channel silicon evanescent laser array operating at continuous wave under room temperature conditions using the selective-area metal bonding technique. The laser array is realized by evanescently coupling the optical gain of InGaAsP multi-quantum wells to the silicon waveguides of varying widths and patterned with distributed Bragg reflector gratings. The lasers have emission peak wavelengths in a range of 1537–1543 nm with a wavelength spacing of about 1.0 nm. The thermal impedances $Z_{\rm T}$ of these hybrid lasers are evidently lower than those DFB counterparts

A tunable and optically modulated fiber laser utilizing a multi-walled carbon nanotube based saturable absorber is demonstrated for operation in the O-band region. A praseodymium-doped fluoride fiber is used as the gain medium and the system is capable of generating modulated outputs at 1300 nm. Pulsed output is observed at pump powers of 511 mW and above, with repetition rates and pulse widths that can be tuned from 41 kHz and 3.4 μs to 48 kHz and 2.4 μs, respectively, at the maximum pump power available. A maximum average output power of 100 $\mu$W with a corresponding single pulse energy of 2.1 nJ is measured, while the tunability of the proposed laser is from 1290 nm to 1308 nm. The output is stable, with peak power fluctuations of $\sim$4 dB from the average value.

Nonclassicality of optical states, as a key characteristic of bosonic fields, is a valuable resource for quantum information processing. We investigate the generation of nonclassicality in quantum processes from a quantitative perspective, introduce three information-theoretic measures of nonclassicality for quantum-optical processes based on the Wigner–Yanase skew information and coherent states, and illustrate their physical significance through several well-known single-mode quantum processes.

We investigate nonlinear interaction of nitrogen molecules with a two-color laser field composed by an intense 800 nm laser pulse and a weak 400 nm laser pulse. It is demonstrated that the spectrum of 400 nm pulses is dramatically broadened when the two beams temporally overlap. In comparison, the spectral broadening in argon is less pronounced, although argon atoms and nitrogen molecules have comparable ionization potentials. We reveal that the dramatic spectral broadening originates from the greatly enhanced nonlinear optical effects in the near-resonant condition of interaction between the 400 nm pulses and the nitrogen molecular ions.

Ultra high-velocity collisionless shocks are generated using an ultra-intense laser interacting with foil-gas target, which consists of copper foil and helium gas. The energy of helium ions accelerated by shock and the proton probing image of the shock electrostatic field show that the shock velocity is 0.02$c$, where $c$ is the light speed. The numerical and theory studies indicate that the collisionless shock velocity exceeding 0.1$c$ can be generated by a laser pulse with picosecond duration and an intensity of 10$^{20}$ W/cm$^{2}$. This system may be relevant to the study of mildly relativistic velocity collisionless shocks in astrophysics.

We choose nano-Pt in hydrogen environment to explore the size effect on the formation of metal hydrides. At 30 GPa, a phase transition in the metal lattice from the cubic to hexagonal phase is observed characterized by a drastically increased volume per metal atom, indicating the formation of PtH-$P6_{3}/mmc$. We find that nano-Pt could form PtH at a lower pressure than the bulk Pt due to its high specific surface and structure defects. The present work provides the possible route to new metal hydrides under mild conditions.

The insulator-metal transition triggered by pressure in charge transfer insulator NiS$_{2}$ is investigated by combining high-pressure electrical transport, synchrotron x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy measurements up to 40–50 GPa. Upon compression, we show that the metallization firstly appears in the low temperature region at $\sim$3.2 GPa and then extends to room temperature at $\sim $8.0 GPa. During the insulator-metal transition, the bond length of S–S dimer extracted from the synchrotron x-ray diffraction increases with pressure, which is supported by the observation of abnormal red-shift of the Raman modes between 3.2 and 7.1 GPa. Considering the decreasing bonding-antibonding splitting due to the expansion of S–S dimer, the charge gap between the S-$pp\pi^*$ band and the upper Hubbard band of Ni-3$d$ $e_{\rm g}$ state is remarkably decreased. These results consistently indicate that the elongated S–S dimer plays a predominant role in the insulator-metal transition under high pressure, even though the $p$-$d$ hybridization is enhanced simultaneously, in accordance with a scenario of charge-gap-controlled type.

We study the charge transport properties of the spin-selective Andreev reflection (SSAR) effect between a spin polarized scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip and a Majorana zero mode (MZM). Considering both the MZM and the excited states, we calculate the conductance and the shot noise power of the noncollinear SSAR using scattering theory. We find that the excited states give rise to inside peaks. Moreover, we numerically calculate the shot noise power and the Fano factor of the SSAR effect. Our calculation shows that the shot noise power and the Fano factor are related to the angle between the spin polarization direction of the STM tip and that of the MZM, which provide additional characteristics to detect the MZM via SSAR.

We investigate strong exciton-plasmon coupling and plasmon-mediated hybridization between the Frenkel (F) and Wannier–Mott (WM) excitons of an organic-inorganic hybrid system consisting of a silver ring separated from a monolayer WS$_{2}$ by J-aggregates. The extinction spectra of the hybrid system calculated by employing the coupled oscillator model are consistent with the results simulated by the finite-difference time-domain method. The calculation results show that strong couplings among F excitons, WM excitons, and localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) lead to the appearance of three plexciton branches in the extinction spectra. The weighting efficiencies of the F exciton, WM exciton and LSPR modes in three plexciton branches are used to analyze the exciton-polaritons in the system. Furthermore, the strong coupling between two different excitons and LSPRs is manipulated by tuning F or WM exciton resonances.

We establish a quantum field theory of phase transitions in gapless superconductor CeCoIn$_5$. It is found that uniform Cooper pair gases with pure gradient interactions with negative coefficient can undergo a Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) condensation below a critical temperature. In the BCS condensation state, bare Cooper pairs with opposite wave vectors are bound into Cooper molecules, and uncoupled bare Cooper pairs are transformed into a new kind of quasiparticle, i.e., the dressed particles. The Cooper molecule system is a condensate or a superfluid, and the dressed particle system is a normal fluid. The critical temperature is derived analytically. The critical temperature of the superconductor CeCoIn$_5$ is obtained to be $T_{\rm c}=2.289$ K, which approaches the experimental data. The transition from the BCS condensation state to the normal state is a first-order phase transition.

Time reversal symmetry (TRS) is a key symmetry for classification of unconventional superconductors, and the violation of TRS often results in a wealth of novel properties. Here we report the synthesis and superconducting properties of the partially filled skutterudite Pr$_{1-\delta}$Pt$_{4}$Ge$_{12}$. The results from x-ray diffraction and magnetization measurements show that the [Pt$_{4}$Ge$_{12}$] cage-forming structure survives and bulk superconductivity is preserved below the superconducting transition temperature $T_{\rm c}=7.80$ K. The temperature dependence of both the upper critical field and the electronic specific heat can be described in terms of a two-gap model, providing strong evidence of multi-band superconductivity. TRS breaking is observed using zero field muon-spin relaxation experiments, and the magnitude of the spontaneous field is nearly half of that in PrPt$_{4}$Ge$_{12}$.

We use neutron powder diffraction to study the non-superconducting phases of ThFeAsN$_{1-x}$O$_x$ with $x=0.15$, 0.6. In our previous results of the superconducting phase ThFeAsN with $T_{\rm c}=30$ K, no magnetic transition is observed by cooling down to 6 K, and possible oxygen occupancy at the nitrogen site is shown in the refinement [Europhys. Lett. 117 (2017) 57005]. Here in the oxygen doped system ThFeAsN$_{1-x}$O$_x$, two superconducting regions ($0\leqslant x \leqslant 0.1$ and $0.25\leqslant x \leqslant 0.55$) are identified by transport experiments [J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 30 (2018) 255602]. However, within the resolution of our neutron powder diffraction experiment, neither the intermediate doping $x=0.15$ nor the heavily overdoped compound $x=0.6$ shows any magnetic order from 300 K to 4 K. Therefore, while it shares the common phenomenon of two superconducting domes as most 1111-type iron-based superconductors, the magnetically ordered parent compound may not exist in this nitride family.

In paired Fermi systems, strong many-body effects exhibit in the crossover regime between the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) and the Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) limits. The concept of the BCS–BEC crossover, which is studied intensively in the research field of cold atoms, has been extended to condensed matters. Here by analyzing the typical superconductors within the BCS–BEC phase diagram, we find that FeSe-based superconductors are prone to shift their positions in the BCS–BEC crossover regime by charge doping or substrate substitution, since their Fermi energies and the superconducting gap sizes are comparable. Especially at the interface of single-layer FeSe on SrTiO$_{3}$ substrate, the superconductivity is relocated closer to the crossover unitary than other doped FeSe-based materials, indicating that the pairing interaction is effectively modulated. We further show that hole-doping can drive the interfacial system into the phase with possible pre-paired electrons, demonstrating its flexible tunability within the BCS–BEC crossover regime.

Ferroelectric Pb(Zr$_{0.60}$Ti$_{0.40}$)O$_{3}$ thin films deposited on the niobium-doped SrTiO$_{3}$ and Pt (111)/Ti/SiO$_{2}$/Si substrates are fabricated by a sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction indicates that the films have a 'cube-on-cube' growth with highly (100) preferred orientation and good surface qualities. Using piezoelectric force microscopy, we investigate domain structures and butterfly amplitude loops of ferroelectric thin films. The results indicate that the film deposited on Nb:SrTiO$_{3}$ has both kinds of 180$^{\circ}$ polarizations perpendicular or parallel to the surface while the film deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO$_{2}$/Si has irregular phase differences. Excellent piezoelectric polarization are observed in the films on niobium-doped SrTiO$_{3}$ with local $d_{33}^{\ast}$ values around 45 pm/V three times more than that of the films around 13 pm/V deposited on Pt (111)/Ti/SiO$_{2}$/Si. Our findings emphasize that nano-domain switching ability and non-180$^{\circ}$ domains will contribute significantly to enhance piezoelectric responses of ferroelectric thin films.

We perform a computational simulation of the fluid dynamics of sodium doublet (Na-D) line emissions from one sonoluminescing bubble among the cavitation bubbles in argon-saturated Na hydroxide (NaOH) aqueous solutions. Our simulation includes the distributions of acoustic pressures and the dynamics of cavitation bubbles by numerically solving the cavitation dynamic equation and bubble-pulsation equation. The simulation results demonstrate that when the maximum temperature inside a luminescing bubble is relatively low, two emission peaks from excited Na are prominent within the emission spectra, at wavelengths of 589.0 and 589.6 nm. As the maximum temperature of the bubble increases, the two peaks merge into one peak and the full width at half maximum of this peak increases. These calculations match with the observations of Na-D line emissions from MBSL occurring in aqueous solutions of NaOH under an argon gas.

Heterojunction phototransistors (HPTs) with scaling emitters have a higher optical gain compared to HPTs with normal emitters. However, to quantitatively describe the relationship between the emitter-absorber area ratio ($A_{\rm e}/A_{\rm a}$) and the performance of HPTs, and to find the optimum value of $A_{\rm e}/A_{\rm a}$ for the geometric structure design, we develop an analytical model for the optical gain of HPTs. Moreover, five devices with different $A_{\rm e}/A_{\rm a}$ are fabricated to verify the numerical analysis result. As is expected, the measurement result is in good agreement with the analysis model, both of them confirmed that devices with a smaller $A_{\rm e}/A_{\rm a}$ exhibit higher optical gain. The device with area ratio of 0.0625 has the highest optical gain, which is two orders of magnitude larger than that of the device with area ratio of 1 at 3 V. However, the dark current of the device with the area ratio of 0.0625 is forty times higher than that of the device with the area ratio of 1. By calculating the signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of the devices, the optimal value of $A_{\rm e}/A_{\rm a}$ can be obtained to be 0.16. The device with the area ratio of 0.16 has the maximum SNR. This result can be used for future design principles for high performance HPTs.