Plug-and-play dual-phase-modulated continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) protocol can effectively solve the security loopholes associated with transmitting local oscillator (LO). However, this protocol has larger excess noise compared with one-way Gaussian-modulated coherent-states scheme, which limits the maximal transmission distance to a certain degree. In this paper, we show a reliable solution for this problem by employing non-Gaussian operation, especially, photon subtraction operation, which provides a way to improve the performance of plug-and-play dual-phase-modulated CVQKD protocol. The photon subtraction operation shows experimental feasibility in the plug-andplay configuration since it can be implemented under current technology. Security results indicate that the photon subtraction operation can evidently enhance the maximal transmission distance of the plug-and-play dual-phase-modulated CVQKD protocol, which effectively makes up the drawback of the original one. Furthermore, we achieve the tighter bound of the transmission distance by considering the finite-size effect, which is more practical compared with that achieved in the asymptotic limit.

Starting from optical nihility media (ONM), we design several intriguing devices with transformation optics method in two dimensions, such as a wave splitter, a concave lens, a field rotator, a concentrator, and an invisibility cloak. Though the extreme anisotropic property of ONM hinders the fabrication of these devices. We demonstrate that those devices could be effectively realized by simplified materials with Fabry–Pérot resonances (FPs) at discrete frequencies. Moreover, we propose a reduced version of simplified materials with FPs to construct a concentrator and a rotator, which is feasible in experimental fabrications. The simulations of total scattering cross-sections confirm their functionalities.

We studied the mode-conversion process of terahertz pulses from a planar subwavelength waveguide to a tilted rectangular subwavelength waveguide. An unusual wavefront rotation, which led to an extra conversion time, was observed using a time-resolved imaging technique. We simulated the mode conversion process by a finite-difference time-domain method, and the results agreed well with the experiments. According to the simulations, the conversion time was demonstrated to become longer as the tilt angle or width of the rectangular waveguide increased. This work provides the possibility to optimize the future high-speed communications and terahertz integrated platforms.

Topological insulators are emergent states of quantum matter that are gapped in the bulk with timereversal symmetry-preserved gapless edge/surface states, adiabatically distinct from conventional materials. By proximity to various magnets and superconductors, topological insulators show novel physics at the interfaces, which give rise to two new areas named topological spintronics and topological quantum computation. Effects in the former such as the spin torques, spin-charge conversion, topological antiferromagnetic spintronics, and skyrmions realized in topological systems will be addressed. In the latter, a superconducting pairing gap leads to a state that supports Majorana fermions states, which may provide a new path for realizing topological quantum computation. Various signatures of Majorana zero modes/edge mode in topological superconductors will be discussed. The review ends by outlooks and potential applications of topological insulators. Topological superconductors that are fabricated using topological insulators with superconductors have a full pairing gap in the bulk and gapless surface states consisting of Majorana fermions. The theory of topological superconductors is reviewed, in close analogy to the theory of topological insulators.

Three-dimensional topological gapless matters with gapless degeneracies protected by a topological invariant defined over a closed manifold in momentum space have attracted considerable interest in various fields ranging from condensed matter materials to ultracold atomic gases. As a highly controllable and disorder free system, ultracold atomic gases provide a versatile platform to simulate topological gapless matters. Here, the current progress in studies of topological gapless phenomena in three-dimensional cold atom systems is summarized in the review. It is mainly focused on Weyl points, structured (type-II) Weyl points, Dirac points, nodal rings and Weyl exceptional rings in cold atoms. Since interactions in cold atoms can be controlled via Feshbach resonances, the progress in both superfluids for attractive interactions and non-interacting cold atom gases is reviewed.

Topological insulators, a class of typical topological materials in both two dimensions and three dimensions,are insulating in bulk and metallic at surface. The spin-momentum locked surface states and peculiar transport properties exhibit promising potential applications on quantum devices, which generate extensive interest in the last decade. Dephasing is the process of the loss of phase coherence, which inevitably exists in a realistic sample. In this review, we focus on recent progress in dephasing effects on the topological insulators. In general, there are two types of dephasing processes: normal dephasing and spin dephasing. In two-dimensional topological insulators, the phenomenologically numerical investigation shows that the longitudinal resistance plateaus is robust against normal dephasing but fragile with spin dephasing. Several microscopic mechanisms of spin dephasing are then discussed. In three-dimensional topological insulators, the helical surface states exhibit a helical spin texture due to the spin-momentum locking mechanism. Thus, normal dephasing has close connection to spin dephasing in this case, and gives rise to anomalous “gap-like” feature. Dephasing effects on properties of helical surface states are investigated.

We study the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in van der Waals (vdW) crystal CrBr₃. Bulk CrBr₃ exhibits a second-order paramagnetic-ferromagnetic phase transition with T_C = 33 K. The maximum magnetic entropy change −ΔS_M near T_C is about 7.2 J·kg⁻¹·K⁻¹ with the maximum adiabatic temperature change ΔT^max_ad = 2.37 K and the relative cooling power RCP= 191.5 J·kg⁻¹ at μ₀H = 5 T, all of which are remarkably larger than those in CrI₃. These results suggest that the vdW crystal CrBr₃ is a promising candidate for the low-dimensional magnetic refrigeration in low temperature region.

The crystal structure, electronic structure, and superconductivity of copper hydrides at high pressure have been studied by ab initio calculation. Consistent with experimental report, results show that the predicted stoichiometry Cu₂H with the P-3m1 space group is stable above 16.8 GPa. The stoichiometry of CuH with the Fm-3m space group is predicted to be synthesized above 30 GPa, but it is metastable and dynamical instable up to 120 GPa. The electronic band calculations reveal that Cu₂H is a good metal at a stable pressure range, whereas CuH is an insulator. Moreover, the other hydrogenrich compounds CuH₂ and CuH₃ are thermodynamically and dynamically unstable, respectively. The calculated superconducting transition temperature (T _c) of Cu₂H at 40 GPa is 0.028 K by using the Allen-Dynes modified McMillan equation.

We investigate the effects of viscosity and heat conduction on the onset and growth of Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (KHI) via an efficient discrete Boltzmann model. Technically, two effective approaches are presented to quantitatively analyze and understand the configurations and kinetic processes. One is to determine the thickness of mixing layers through tracking the distributions and evolutions of the thermodynamic nonequilibrium (TNE) measures; the other is to evaluate the growth rate of KHI from the slopes of morphological functionals. Physically, it is found that the time histories of width of mixing layer, TNE intensity, and boundary length show high correlation and attain their maxima simultaneously. The viscosity effects are twofold, stabilize the KHI, and enhance both the local and global TNE intensities. Contrary to the monotonically inhibiting effects of viscosity, the heat conduction effects firstly refrain then enhance the evolution afterwards. The physical reasons are analyzed and presented.

Topological materials (TMs) have gained intensive attention due to their novel behaviors compared with topologically trivial materials. Among various TMs, Dirac semimetal (DSM) has been studied extensively. Although several DSMs have been proposed and verified experimentally, the suitable DSM for realistic applications is still lacking. Thus finding ideal DSMs and providing detailed analyses to them are of both fundamental and technological importance. Here, we sort out 8 (nearly) ideal DSMs from thousands of topological semimetals in Nature 566(7745), 486 (2019). We show the concrete positions of the Dirac points in the Brillouin zone for these materials and clarify the symmetryprotection mechanism for these Dirac points as well as their low-energy effective models. Our results provide a useful starting point for future study such as topological phase transition under strain and transport study based on these effective models. These DSMs with high mobilities are expected to be applied in fabrication of functional electronic devices.

First-principles computations are performed to investigate phosphorene monolayers doped with 30 metal and nonmetal atoms. The binding energies indicate the stability of all doped configurations. Interestingly, the magnetic atom Co doping induces the absence of the magnetism while the magnetism is realized in phosphorene with substitutional doping of nonmagnetic atoms (O, S, Se, Si, Br, and Cl). The magnetic moment of transition metal (TM)-doped systems is suppressed in the range of 1.0-3.97 μ_B. The electronic properties of the doped systems are modulated differently; O, S, Se, Ni, and Ti doped systems become spin semiconductors, while V doping makes the system a half metal. These results demonstrate potential applications of functionalized phosphorene with external atoms, in particular to spintronics and dilute magnetic semiconductors.

Chimera states, a symmetry-breaking spatiotemporal pattern in nonlocally coupled dynamical units, prevail in a variety of systems. However, the interaction structures among oscillators are static in most of studies on chimera state. In this work, we consider a population of agents. Each agent carries a phase oscillator. We assume that agents perform Brownian motions on a ring and interact with each other with a kernel function dependent on the distance between them. When agents are motionless, the model allows for several dynamical states including two different chimera states (the type-I and the type-II chimeras). The movement of agents changes the relative positions among them and produces perpetual noise to impact on the model dynamics. We find that the response of the coupled phase oscillators to the movement of agents depends on both the phase lag α, determining the stabilities of chimera states, and the agent mobility D. For low mobility, the synchronous state transits to the type-I chimera state for α close to π/2 and attracts other initial states otherwise. For intermediate mobility, the coupled oscillators randomly jump among different dynamical states and the jump dynamics depends on α. We investigate the statistical properties in these different dynamical regimes and present the scaling laws between the transient time and the mobility for low mobility and relations between the mean lifetimes of different dynamical states and the mobility for intermediate mobility.