Browsing by Subject "Physics, Multidisciplinary"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 28

Open Access
Ballistic Graphene Josephson Junctions from the Short to the Long Junction Regimes.
(Physical review letters, 2016-12-02) Borzenets, IV; Amet, F; Ke, CT; Draelos, AW; Wei, MT; Seredinski, A; Watanabe, K; Taniguchi, T; Bomze, Y; Yamamoto, M; Tarucha, S; Finkelstein, G
We investigate the critical current I_{C} of ballistic Josephson junctions made of encapsulated graphene-boron-nitride heterostructures. We observe a crossover from the short to the long junction regimes as the length of the device increases. In long ballistic junctions, I_{C} is found to scale as ∝exp(-k_{B}T/δE). The extracted energies δE are independent of the carrier density and proportional to the level spacing of the ballistic cavity. As T→0 the critical current of a long (or short) junction saturates at a level determined by the product of δE (or Δ) and the number of the junction's transversal modes.
Open Access
Cavity-free photon blockade induced by many-body bound states.
(Physical review letters, 2011-11) Zheng, Huaixiu; Gauthier, Daniel J; Baranger, Harold U
The manipulation of individual, mobile quanta is a key goal of quantum communication; to achieve this, nonlinear phenomena in open systems can play a critical role. We show theoretically that a variety of strong quantum nonlinear phenomena occur in a completely open one-dimensional waveguide coupled to an N-type four-level system. We focus on photon blockade and the creation of single-photon states in the absence of a cavity. Many-body bound states appear due to the strong photon-photon correlation mediated by the four-level system. These bound states cause photon blockade, which can generate a sub-Poissonian single-photon source.
Open Access
Correlation between Voronoi volumes in disc packings
(EPL (Europhysics Letters), 2012-02-01) Zhao, Song-Chuan; Sidle, Stacy; Swinney, Harry L; Schröter, Matthias
We measure the two-point correlation of free Voronoi volumes in binary disc packings, where the packing fraction $\phi_{\rm avg}$ ranges from 0.8175 to 0.8380. We observe short-ranged correlations over the whole range of $\phi_{\rm avg}$ and anti-correlations for $\phi_{\rm avg}>0.8277$. The spatial extent of the anti-correlation increases with $\phi_{\rm avg}$ while the position of the maximum of the anti-correlation and the extent of the positive correlation shrink with $\phi_{\rm avg}$. We conjecture that the onset of anti-correlation corresponds to dilatancy onset in this system.
Open Access
Exciting a Bound State in the Continuum through Multiphoton Scattering Plus Delayed Quantum Feedback.
(Physical review letters, 2019-02) Calajó, Giuseppe; Fang, Yao-Lung L; Baranger, Harold U; Ciccarello, Francesco
Excitation of a bound state in the continuum (BIC) through scattering is problematic since it is by definition uncoupled. Here, we consider a type of dressed BIC and show that it can be excited in a nonlinear system through multiphoton scattering and delayed quantum feedback. The system is a semi-infinite waveguide with linear dispersion coupled to a qubit, in which a single-photon, dressed BIC is known to exist. We show that this BIC can be populated via multiphoton scattering in the non-Markovian regime, where the photon delay time (due to the qubit-mirror distance) is comparable with the qubit's decay. A similar process excites the BIC existing in an infinite waveguide coupled to two distant qubits, thus yielding stationary entanglement between the qubits. This shows, in particular, that single-photon trapping via multiphoton scattering can occur without band edge effects or cavities, the essential resource being instead the delayed quantum feedback provided by a single mirror or the emitters themselves.
Open Access
Floquet Majorana fermions for topological qubits in superconducting devices and cold-atom systems.
(Physical review letters, 2013-07) Liu, Dong E; Levchenko, Alex; Baranger, Harold U
We develop an approach to realizing a topological phase transition and non-Abelian braiding statistics with dynamically induced Floquet Majorana fermions (FMFs). When the periodic driving potential does not break fermion parity conservation, FMFs can encode quantum information. Quasienergy analysis shows that a stable FMF zero mode and two other satellite modes exist in a wide parameter space with large quasienergy gaps, which prevents transitions to other Floquet states under adiabatic driving. We also show that in the asymptotic limit FMFs preserve non-Abelian braiding statistics and, thus, behave like their equilibrium counterparts.
Open Access
From weak- to strong-coupling mesoscopic Fermi liquids
(EPL, 2012-01-01) Liu, DE; Burdin, S; Baranger, HU; Ullmo, D
We study mesoscopic fluctuations in a system in which there is a continuous connection between two distinct Fermi liquids, asking whether the mesoscopic variation in the two limits is correlated. The particular system studied is an Anderson impurity coupled to a finite mesoscopic reservoir described by the random matrix theory, a structure which can be realized using quantum dots. We use the slave boson mean-field approach to connect the levels of the uncoupled system to those of the strong-coupling Nozières' Fermi liquid. We find strong but not complete correlation between the mesoscopic properties in the two limits and several universal features. © 2012 Europhysics Letters Association.
Open Access
Front-Mediated Melting of Isotropic Ultrastable Glasses.
(Physical review letters, 2019-10) Flenner, Elijah; Berthier, Ludovic; Charbonneau, Patrick; Fullerton, Christopher J
Ultrastable vapor-deposited glasses display uncommon material properties. Most remarkably, upon heating they are believed to melt via a liquid front that originates at the free surface and propagates over a mesoscopic crossover length, before crossing over to bulk melting. We combine swap Monte Carlo with molecular dynamics simulations to prepare and melt isotropic amorphous films of unprecedendtly high kinetic stability. We are able to directly observe both bulk and front melting, and the crossover between them. We measure the front velocity over a broad range of conditions, and a crossover length scale that grows to nearly 400 particle diameters in the regime accessible to simulations. Our results disentangle the relative roles of kinetic stability and vapor deposition in the physical properties of stable glasses.
Open Access
Heralded Bell State of Dissipative Qubits Using Classical Light in a Waveguide.
(Physical Review Letters, 2019-04-09) Zhang, Xin HH; Baranger, Harold U
Maximally entangled two-qubit states (Bell states) are of central importance in quantum technologies. We show that heralded generation of a maximally entangled state of two intrinsically open qubits can be realized in a one-dimensional (1D) system through strong coherent driving and continuous monitoring. In contrast to the natural idea that dissipation leads to decoherence and so destroys quantum effects, continuous measurement and strong interference in our 1D system generate a pure state with perfect quantum correlation between the two open qubits. Though the steady state is a trivial product state that has zero coherence or concurrence, we show that, with carefully tuned parameters, a Bell state can be generated in the system's quantum jump trajectories, heralded by a reflected photon. Surprisingly, this maximally entangled state survives the strong coherent state input-a classical state that overwhelms the system. This simple method to generate maximally entangled states using classical coherent light and photon detection may, since our qubits are in a 1D continuum, find application as a building block of quantum networks.
Open Access
Influence of humidity on tribo-electric charging and segregation in shaken granular media.
(Soft matter, 2017-01) Schella, André; Herminghaus, Stephan; Schröter, Matthias
We study the effect of humidity on the charge accumulation of polymer granulates shaken vertically in a stainless steel container. This setup allows us to control the humidity level from 5% to 100%RH while performing automated charge measurements in a Faraday cup directly connected to the shaking container. We find that samples of approximately 2000 polymer spheres become highly charged at low humidity levels (<30%RH), but acquire almost no charge for humidity levels above 80%RH. The transition between these two regimes does depend on the material, as does the sign of the charge. For the latter we find a correlation with the contact angle of the polymer with only very hydrophilic particles attaining positive charges. We show that this humidity dependence of tribo-charging can be used to control segregation in shaken binary mixtures.
Open Access
Kondo effect and mesoscopic fluctuations
(Pramana - Journal of Physics, 2011-11-01) Ullmo, D; Burdin, S; Liu, DE; Baranger, HU
Two important themes in nanoscale physics in the last two decades are correlations between electrons and mesoscopic fluctuations. Here we review our recent work on the intersection of these two themes. The setting is the Kondo effect, a paradigmatic example of correlated electron physics, in a nanoscale system with mesoscopic fluctuations; in particular, we consider a small quantum dot coupled to a finite reservoir (which itself may be a large quantum dot). We discuss three aspects of this problem. First, in the high-temperature regime, we argue that a Kondo temperature TK which takes into account the mesoscopic fluctuations is a relevant concept: for instance, physical properties are universal functions of T/TK. Secondly, when the temperature is much less than the mean level spacing due to confinement, we characterize a natural cross-over from weak to strong coupling. This strong coupling regime is itself characterized by well-defined single-particle levels, as one can see from a Nozières Fermi-liquid theory argument. Finally, using a mean-field technique, we connect the mesoscopic fluctuations of the quasiparticles in the weak coupling regime to those at strong coupling. © Indian Academy of Sciences.
Open Access
Measuring the configurational temperature of a binary disc packing.
(Soft matter, 2014-06) Zhao, Song-Chuan; Schröter, Matthias
Jammed packings of granular materials differ from systems normally described by statistical mechanics in that they are athermal. In recent years a statistical mechanics of static granular media has emerged where the thermodynamic temperature is replaced by a configurational temperature X which describes how the number of mechanically stable configurations depends on the volume. Four different methods have been suggested to measure X. Three of them are computed from properties of the Voronoi volume distribution, the fourth takes into account the contact number and the global volume fraction. This paper answers two questions using experimental binary disc packings: first we test if the four methods to measure compactivity provide identical results when applied to the same dataset. We find that only two of the methods agree quantitatively. This implies that at least two of the four methods are wrong. Secondly, we test if X is indeed an intensive variable; this becomes true only for samples larger than roughly 200 particles. This result is shown to be due to recently measured correlations between the particle volumes [Zhao et al., Europhys. Lett., 2012, 97, 34004].
Open Access
Non-stokes drag coefficient in single-particle electrophoresis: New insights on a classical problem
(Chinese Physics B, 2019-01-01) Liao, MJ; Wei, MT; Xu, SX; Daniel Ou-Yang, H; Sheng, P
We measured the intrinsic electrophoretic drag coefficient of a single charged particle by optically trapping the particle and applying an AC electric field, and found it to be markedly different from that of the Stokes drag. The drag coefficient, along with the measured electrical force, yield a mobility-zeta potential relation that agrees with the literature. By using the measured mobility as input, numerical calculations based on the Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations, coupled to the Navier-Stokes equation, reveal an intriguing microscopic electroosmotic flow near the particle surface, with a well-defined transition between an inner flow field and an outer flow field in the vicinity of electric double layer's outer boundary. This distinctive interface delineates the surface that gives the correct drag coefficient and the effective electric charge. The consistency between experiments and theoretical predictions provides new insights into the classic electrophoresis problem, and can shed light on new applications of electrophoresis to investigate biological nanoparticles.
Open Access
Nucleation in Sheared Granular Matter.
(Physical review letters, 2018-02) Rietz, Frank; Radin, Charles; Swinney, Harry L; Schröter, Matthias
We present an experiment on crystallization of packings of macroscopic granular spheres. This system is often considered to be a model for thermally driven atomic or colloidal systems. Cyclically shearing a packing of frictional spheres, we observe a first order phase transition from a disordered to an ordered state. The ordered state consists of crystallites of mixed fcc and hcp symmetry that coexist with the amorphous bulk. The transition, initiated by homogeneous nucleation, overcomes a barrier at 64.5% volume fraction. Nucleation consists predominantly of the dissolving of small nuclei and the growth of nuclei that have reached a critical size of about ten spheres.
Open Access
Observation of Majorana quantum critical behaviour in a resonant level coupled to a dissipative environment
(Nature Physics, 2013) Mebrahtu, HT; Borzenets, IV; Zheng, H; Bomze, YV; Smirnov, AI; Florens, S; Baranger, HU; Finkelstein, G
A quantum phase transition is an abrupt change between two distinct ground states of a many-body system, driven by an external parameter. In the vicinity of the quantum critical point (QCP) where the transition occurs, a new phase may emerge that is determined by quantum fluctuations and is very different from either phase. In particular, a conducting system may exhibit non-Fermi-liquid behaviour. Although this scenario is well established theoretically, controllable experimental realizations are rare. Here, we experimentally investigate the nature of the QCP in a simple nanoscale system-a spin-polarized resonant level coupled to dissipative contacts. We fine-tune the system to the QCP, realized exactly on-resonance and when the coupling between the level and the two contacts is symmetric. Several anomalous transport scaling laws are demonstrated, including a striking non-Fermi-liquid scattering rate at the QCP, indicating fractionalization of the resonant level into two Majorana quasiparticles.
Open Access
Persistent quantum beats and long-distance entanglement from waveguide-mediated interactions.
(Physical review letters, 2013-03) Zheng, Huaixiu; Baranger, Harold U
We study photon-photon correlations and entanglement generation in a one-dimensional waveguide coupled to two qubits with an arbitrary spatial separation. To treat the combination of nonlinear elements and 1D continuum, we develop a novel Green function method. The vacuum-mediated qubit-qubit interactions cause quantum beats to appear in the second-order correlation function. We go beyond the Markovian regime and observe that such quantum beats persist much longer than the qubit lifetime. A high degree of long-distance entanglement can be generated, increasing the potential of waveguide-QED systems for scalable quantum networking.
Open Access
Phase diffusion in graphene-based Josephson junctions.
(Physical review letters, 2011-09-21) Borzenets, IV; Coskun, UC; Jones, SJ; Finkelstein, G
We report on graphene-based Josephson junctions with contacts made from lead. The high transition temperature of this superconductor allows us to observe the supercurrent branch at temperatures up to ∼2 K, at which point we can detect a small, but nonzero, resistance. We attribute this resistance to the phase diffusion mechanism, which has not been yet identified in graphene. By measuring the resistance as a function of temperature and gate voltage, we can further characterize the nature of the electromagnetic environment and dissipation in our samples.
Open Access
Phonon bottleneck in graphene-based Josephson junctions at millikelvin temperatures.
(Physical review letters, 2013-07-09) Borzenets, IV; Coskun, UC; Mebrahtu, HT; Bomze, Yu V; Smirnov, AI; Finkelstein, G
We examine the nature of the transitions between the normal and superconducting branches in superconductor-graphene-superconductor Josephson junctions. We attribute the hysteresis between the switching (superconducting to normal) and retrapping (normal to superconducting) transitions to electron overheating. In particular, we demonstrate that the retrapping current corresponds to the critical current at an elevated temperature, where the heating is caused by the retrapping current itself. The superconducting gap in the leads suppresses the hot electron outflow, allowing us to further study electron thermalization by phonons at low temperatures (T≲1 K). The relationship between the applied power and the electron temperature was found to be P∝T3, which we argue is consistent with cooling due to electron-phonon interactions.
Open Access
Rescuing a Quantum Phase Transition with Quantum Noise.
(Physical review letters, 2017-02) Zhang, Gu; Novais, E; Baranger, Harold U
We show that placing a quantum system in contact with an environment can enhance non-Fermi-liquid correlations, rather than destroy quantum effects, as is typical. The system consists of two quantum dots in series with two leads; the highly resistive leads couple charge flow through the dots to the electromagnetic environment, the source of quantum noise. While the charge transport inhibits a quantum phase transition, the quantum noise reduces charge transport and restores the transition. We find a non-Fermi-liquid intermediate fixed point for all strengths of the noise. For strong noise, it is similar to the intermediate fixed point of the two-impurity Kondo model.
Open Access
Robust 2-Qubit Gates in a Linear Ion Crystal Using a Frequency-Modulated Driving Force.
(Physical review letters, 2018-01) Leung, Pak Hong; Landsman, Kevin A; Figgatt, Caroline; Linke, Norbert M; Monroe, Christopher; Brown, Kenneth R
In an ion trap quantum computer, collective motional modes are used to entangle two or more qubits in order to execute multiqubit logical gates. Any residual entanglement between the internal and motional states of the ions results in loss of fidelity, especially when there are many spectator ions in the crystal. We propose using a frequency-modulated driving force to minimize such errors. In simulation, we obtained an optimized frequency-modulated 2-qubit gate that can suppress errors to less than 0.01% and is robust against frequency drifts over ±1 kHz. Experimentally, we have obtained a 2-qubit gate fidelity of 98.3(4)%, a state-of-the-art result for 2-qubit gates with five ions.
Open Access
Selective breakdown of phonon quasiparticles across superionic transition in CuCrSe 2
(Nature Physics, 2019-01-01) Niedziela, Jennifer; Bansal, Dipanshu; May, Andrew; Ding, Jingxuan; Lanigan-Atkins, Tyson; Ehlers, Georg; Abernathy, Douglas; Said, Ayman; Delaire, Olivier
© 2018, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited. Superionic crystals exhibit ionic mobilities comparable to liquids while maintaining a periodic crystalline lattice. The atomic dynamics leading to large ionic mobility have long been debated. A central question is whether phonon quasiparticles—which conduct heat in regular solids—survive in the superionic state, where a large fraction of the system exhibits liquid-like behaviour. Here we present the results of energy- and momentum-resolved scattering studies combined with first-principles calculations and show that in the superionic phase of CuCrSe 2 , long-wavelength acoustic phonons capable of heat conduction remain largely intact, whereas specific phonon quasiparticles dominated by the Cu ions break down as a result of anharmonicity and disorder. The weak bonding and large anharmonicity of the Cu sublattice are present already in the normal ordered state, resulting in low thermal conductivity even below the superionic transition. These results demonstrate that anharmonic phonon dynamics are at the origin of low thermal conductivity and superionicity in this class of materials.