Physical Review Letters

From the analysis of a set of airborne images of ship wakes, we show that the wake angles decrease as U^-1 at large velocities, in a way similar to the Mach cone for supersonic airplanes. This previously unnoticed Mach-like regime is in contradiction with the celebrated Kelvin prediction of a constan...

We use electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) to probe the narrow electron-spin resonance of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. Working with a multipass diamond chip at temperatures 6–30 K, the zero-phonon absorption line (637 nm) exhibits an optical depth of 6 and inhomogeneous linewidth ...

We utilize the fluid-gravity duality to investigate the large order behavior of hydrodynamic gradient expansion of the dynamics of a gauge theory plasma system. This corresponds to the inclusion of dissipative terms and transport coefficients of very high order. Using the dual gravity description, w...

We study the influence of electron puddles created by doping of a 2D topological insulator on its helical edge conductance. A single puddle is modeled by a quantum dot tunnel coupled to the helical edge. It may lead to significant inelastic backscattering within the edge because of the long electron...

To describe the microscopic properties of matter, quantum mechanics uses wave functions, whose structure and time dependence is governed by the Schrödinger equation. In atoms the charge distributions described by the wave function are rarely observed. The hydrogen atom is unique, since it only has o...

We obtain an analytical bound on the efficiency of wireless power transfer to a weakly coupled device. The optimal source is solved for a multilayer geometry in terms of a representation based on the field equivalence principle. The theory reveals that optimal power transfer exploits the properties ...

We demonstrate orbital angular momentum (OAM) transfer by chiral plasmonic nanostructures designed on both sides of a thin suspended metallic membrane. We show how far-field vortex beams with tunable OAM indices can be tailored through nanostructure designs. We reveal the crucial role played by the ...

We have observed the Bose-Einstein condensation of an atomic gas in the (quasi)uniform three-dimensional potential of an optical box trap. Condensation is seen in the bimodal momentum distribution and the anisotropic time-of-flight expansion of the condensate. The critical temperature agrees with th...

By applying the optical nanocircuit concepts to metasurfaces, we propose an effective route to locally control light transmission over a deeply subwavelength scale. This concept realizes the optical equivalent of a transmit-array, whose use is demonstrated for light bending and focusing with unprece...

A virial expansion of fluid pressure in powers of the density can be used to calculate a wealth of thermodynamic information, but the Nth virial coefficient, which multiplies the Nth power of the density in the expansion, becomes rapidly more complicated with increasing N. This Letter shows that the...

Surface plasmons in metal hole arrays have been studied extensively in the context of extraordinary optical transmission, but so far these arrays have not been studied as resonators for surface plasmon lasing at optical frequencies. We experimentally study a metal hole array with a semiconductor (In...

The energy released in a magnetic material by reversing spins as they relax toward equilibrium can lead to a dynamical instability that ignites self-sustained rapid relaxation along a deflagration front that propagates at a constant subsonic speed. Using a trigger heat pulse and transverse and longi...

The idea of atoms defying ionization in ultrastrong laser fields has fascinated physicists for the last three decades. In contrast to extensive theoretical work on atoms stabilized in strong fields only few experiments limited to intermediate intensities have been performed. In this work we show exc...

We report anisotropic magnetoresistance in Pt|Y₃Fe₅O₁₂ bilayers. In spite of Y₃Fe₅O₁₂ being a very good electrical insulator, the resistance of the Pt layer reflects its magnetization direction. The effect persists even when a Cu layer is inserted between Pt and Y₃Fe₅O₁₂, excluding the contribution ...

We experimentally and numerically investigate the expansion of initially localized ultracold bosons in homogeneous one- and two-dimensional optical lattices. We find that both dimensionality and interaction strength crucially influence these nonequilibrium dynamics. While the atoms expand ballistica...

The composite fermion formalism elegantly describes some of the most fascinating behaviors of interacting two-dimensional carriers at low temperatures and in strong perpendicular magnetic fields. In this framework, carriers minimize their energy by attaching two flux quanta and forming new quasipart...

We present a one-to-one comparison of polymer segmental fluctuations as measured by small angle neutron scattering in a network under deformation with those obtained by neutron spin echo spectroscopy. This allows an independent proof of the strain dependence of the chain entanglement length. The exp...

It was recently shown theoretically that the time-dependent heat conduction equation is form invariant under curvilinear coordinate transformations. Thus, in analogy to transformation optics, fictitious transformed space can be mapped onto (meta)materials with spatially inhomogeneous and anisotropic...

We introduce a generalization of the conventional renormalization schemes used in dimensional regularization, which illuminates the renormalization scheme and scale ambiguities of perturbative QCD predictions, exposes the general pattern of nonconformal {β_i} terms, and reveals a special degeneracy o...

Micron-sized self-propelled (active) particles can be considered as model systems for characterizing more complex biological organisms like swimming bacteria or motile cells. We produce asymmetric microswimmers by soft lithography and study their circular motion on a substrate and near channel bound...

We propose to use the intrinsic two-level system (TLS) defect states found naturally in integrated optomechanical devices for exploring cavity QED-like phenomena with localized phonons. The Jaynes-Cummings-type interaction between TLS and mechanics can reach the strong coupling regime for existing n...

We demonstrate a link between the growth process, the stoichiometry of LaAlO₃, and the interfacial electrical properties of LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ heterointerfaces. Varying the relative La:Al cation stoichiometry by a few atomic percent in films grown at 1×10^-3  Torr results in a 2 and 7 order-of-magnitude c...

The fundamental ground tone vibration of H₂, HD, and D₂ is determined to an accuracy of 2×10^-4  cm^-1 from Doppler-free laser spectroscopy in the collisionless environment of a molecular beam. This rotationless vibrational splitting is derived from the combination difference between electronic excita...

Oxygen vacancies created in anatase TiO₂ by UV photons (80–130 eV) provide an effective electron-doping mechanism and induce a hitherto unobserved dispersive metallic state. Angle resolved photoemission reveals that the quasiparticles are large polarons. These results indicate that anatase can be tu...

Huygens’ principle is a well-known concept in electromagnetics that dates back to 1690. Here, it is applied to develop designer surfaces that provide extreme control of electromagnetic wave fronts across electrically thin layers. These reflectionless surfaces, referred to as metamaterial Huygens’ su...

We introduce a parallel Wang-Landau method based on the replica-exchange framework for Monte Carlo simulations. To demonstrate its advantages and general applicability for simulations of complex systems, we apply it to different spin models including spin glasses, the Ising model, and the Potts mode...

We analyze a single-shot readout for superconducting qubits via the controlled catch, dispersion, and release of a microwave field. A tunable coupler is used to decouple the microwave resonator from the transmission line during the dispersive qubit-resonator interaction, thus circumventing damping f...

The role of the timing and order of quantum measurements is not just a fundamental question of quantum mechanics, but also a puzzling one. Any part of a quantum system that has finished evolving can be measured immediately or saved for later, without affecting the final results, regardless of the co...

How much information can a transmitted physical system fundamentally communicate? We introduce the principle of quantum information causality, which states the maximum amount of quantum information that a quantum system can communicate as a function of its dimension, independently of any previously ...

A minimal extension of the standard model to naturally generate small neutrino masses and provide a dark matter candidate is proposed. The dark matter particle is part of a new scalar doublet field that plays a crucial role in radiatively generating neutrino masses. The symmetry that stabilizes the ...

We utilize the fluid-gravity duality to investigate the large order behavior of hydrodynamic gradient expansion of the dynamics of a gauge theory plasma system. This corresponds to the inclusion of dissipative terms and transport coefficients of very high order. Using the dual gravity description, w...

We use electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) to probe the narrow electron-spin resonance of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. Working with a multipass diamond chip at temperatures 6–30 K, the zero-phonon absorption line (637 nm) exhibits an optical depth of 6 and inhomogeneous linewidth ...

Light is often described as a fully transverse-polarized wave, i.e., with an electric field vector that is orthogonal to the direction of propagation. However, light confined in dielectric structures such as optical waveguides or whispering-gallery-mode microresonators can have a strong longitudinal...

We establish the ultimate quantum limits to the amplification of an unknown coherent state, both in the deterministic and probabilistic case, investigating the realistic scenario where the expected photon number is finite. In addition, we provide the benchmark that experimental realizations have to ...

From the analysis of a set of airborne images of ship wakes, we show that the wake angles decrease as U^-1 at large velocities, in a way similar to the Mach cone for supersonic airplanes. This previously unnoticed Mach-like regime is in contradiction with the celebrated Kelvin prediction of a constan...

The negative-mass instability, previously found in ion traps, appears as a distinct regime of the sideband instability in nonlinear plasma waves with trapped particles. As the bounce frequency of these particles decreases with the bounce action, bunching can occur if the action distribution is inver...

A sodium chloride monolayer on a Cu(110) surface gives rise to a highly corrugated periodic nanostripe pattern of the (100) lattice as observed by scanning tunneling microscopy and low-energy electron diffraction. As revealed by density-functional calculations, this pattern is a consequence of the f...

Magnetic domains at the surface of a ferroelectric monodomain BiFeO₃ single crystal have been imaged by hard x-ray magnetic scattering. Magnetic domains up to several hundred microns in size have been observed, corresponding to cycloidal modulations of the magnetization along the wave vector k=(δ,δ,...

Through investigating the spin-dependent charging energy of nanoscale systems, we introduce a new concept of intrinsic molecular magnetocapacitance (MC). In molecules and nanosize quantum dots that undergo a spin state transition, the MC can be as high as 12%. First-principles calculations demonstra...

We investigate a recent controversy in ultrafast magnetization dynamics by comparing the demagnetization rates from two frequently used but competing descriptions for finite temperature magnetism, namely a rigid band structure Stoner-like approach and a system of localized spins. The calculations on...

We derive microscopically the dynamics associated with the dc Josephson effect in a superconducting tunnel junction interacting with an arbitrary electromagnetic environment. To do so, we extend to superconducting junctions the so-called P(E) theory (see, e.g., Ingold and Nazarov, arXiv:cond-mat/050...

We use pump-probe spectroscopy to measure the photoinduced reflectivity ΔR of the electron-doped cuprate superconductor Nd_2-xCe_xCuO_4+δ at a value of x near optimal doping, as a function of time, temperature, and laser fluence. We observe the onset of a negative ΔR signal at T^*≈75  K, above the super...

We present a powerful and general approach to describe the coupling of Majorana fermions to external leads, of interacting or noninteracting electrons. Our picture has the Klein factors of bosonization appearing as extra Majorana fermions hybridizing with the physical ones. We demonstrate the power ...

The helical Dirac fermions at the surface of topological insulators show a strong circular dichroism which has been explained as being due to either the initial-state spin angular momentum, the initial-state orbital angular momentum, or the handedness of the experimental setup. All of these interpre...

The fate of the low-temperature conductance at the charge-neutrality (Dirac) point in a single sheet of graphene on boron nitride is investigated down to 20 mK. As the temperature is lowered, the peak resistivity diverges with a power-law behavior and becomes as high as several megohms per square at...

Recently developed numerical methods have enabled the explicit construction of the superconducting state of the Hubbard model of strongly correlated electrons in parameter regimes where the model also exhibits a pseudogap and a Mott insulating phase. d_x²-y² symmetry superconductivity is found to occ...

We study interaction-induced correlations in Luttinger liquid with multiple Fermi edges. Many-particle correlation functions are expressed in terms of Fredholm determinants det⁡(1+ÂB̂), where A(ϵ) and B(t) have multiple discontinuities in energy and time spaces. We propose a general asymptotic form...

Many biological networks have to filter out useful information from a vast excess of spurious interactions. In this Letter, we use computational evolution to predict design features of networks processing ligand categorization. The important problem of early immune response is considered as a case s...

Photosynthesis is a biological process that involves the highly efficient transport of energy captured from the Sun to a reaction center, where conversion into useful biochemical energy takes place. Using a quantum description, Rebentrost et al. [ New J. Phys. 11 033003 (2009)] and Plenio and Huelg...