Entanglement, quantum steering and Bell nonlocality can be used to describe the distinct quantum correlations of quantum systems. Because of their different characteristics and application fields, how to divide them quantitatively and accurately becomes particularly important. Based on the sufficient and necessary criterion for quantum steering of an arbitrary two-qubit T-state, we derive the inequality relations between quantum steering and entanglement as well as between quantum steering and Bell nonlocality for the T-state. Additionally, we have verified those relations experimentally.

Giant atoms are known for the frequency-dependent spontaneous emission and associated interference effects. In this paper, we study the spontaneous emission dynamics of a two-level giant atom with dynamically modulated transition frequency. It is shown that the retarded feedback effect of the giant-atom system is greatly modified by a dynamical phase arising from the frequency modulation and the retardation effect itself. Interestingly, such a modification can in turn suppress the retarded feedback such that the giant atom behaves like a small one. By introducing an additional phase difference between the two atom-waveguide coupling paths, we also demonstrate the possibility of realizing chiral and tunable temporal profiles of the output fields. The results in this paper have potential applications in quantum information processing and quantum network engineering.

Stabilizing important physical quantities to atom-based standards lies at the heart of modern atomic, molecular and optical physics, and is widely applied to the field of precision metrology. Of particular importance is the atom-based microwave field amplitude stabilizer, the so-called atomic candle. Previous atomic candles are realized with atoms in their ground state, and hence suffer from the lack of frequency band tunability and small stabilization bandwidth, severely limiting their development and potential applications. To tackle these limitations, we employ microwave-dressed Rydberg atoms to realize a novel atomic candle that features multi-band frequency tunability and large stabilization bandwidth. We demonstrate amplitude stabilization of microwave field from C-band to Ka-band, which could be extended to quasi-DC and terahertz fields by exploring abundant Rydberg levels. Our atomic candle achieves stabilization bandwidth of 100 Hz, outperforming previous ones by more than two orders of magnitude. Our simulation indicates the stabilization bandwidth can be further increased up to 100 kHz. Our work paves a route to develop novel electric field control and applications with a noise-resilient, miniaturized, sensitive and broadband atomic candle.

Polarization rotation and vector field steering of electromagnetic wave are of great significance in modern optical applications. However, conventional polarization devices are bulky, monofunctional and lack of tunability, which pose great challenges to the miniaturized and multifunctional applications. Herein, we propose a meta-device that is capable of multi-state polarization rotation and vector field steering based on phase change metasurface. The supercell of the meta-device consists of four Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ (GST) elliptic cylinders located on a SiO₂ substrate. By independently controlling the phase state (amorphous or crystalline) of each GST elliptic cylinder, the meta-device can rotate the polarization plane of the linearly polarized incident light to different angles that cover from 19.8° to 154.9° at a wavelength of 1550 nm. Furthermore, by merely altering the phase transition state of GST elliptic cylinders, we successfully demonstrated a vector field steering by generating optical vortices carrying orbital angular momentums (OAMs) with topological charges of 0, 1 and −1, respectively. The proposed method provides a new platform for investigating dynamically tunable optical devices and has potential applications in many fields such as optical communications and information processing.

We study the use of the self-Kerr and cross-Kerr nonlinearities to realize strong photon blockade in a weakly driven, four-mode optomechanical system. According to the Born−Oppenheimer approximation, we obtain the cavity self-Kerr coupling and the inter-cavity cross-Kerr coupling, adiabatically separated from the mechanical oscillator. Through minimizing the second-order correlation function, we find out the optimal parameter conditions for the unconventional photon blockade. Under the optimal conditions, the strong photon blockade can appear in the strong or weak nonlinearities.

Chiral quantum optics is a new research area in light-matter interaction that depends on the direction of light propagation and offers a new path for the quantum regulation of light-matter interactions. In this paper, we study a spinning Kerr-type microresonator coupled with Λ-type atom ensembles, which are driven in opposite directions to generate asymmetric photon statistics. We find that a photon blockade can only be generated by driving the spinning resonator on right side without driving the spinning microresonator from the left side, resulting in chirality. The coupling strength between system modes can be precisely controlled by adjusting the detuning amount of the atomic pump field. Because of the splitting of the resonant frequency generated by the Fizeau drag, the destructive quantum interference generated in right side drive prevents the nonresonant transition path of state |1,0⟩ to state |2,0⟩. This direction-dependent chiral quantum optics is expected to be applied to chiral optical devices, single-photon sources and nonreciprocal quantum communications.

Nonreciprocal microwave devices, in which the transmission of waves is non-symmetric between two ports, are indispensable for the manipulation of information processing and communication. In this work, we show the nonreciprocal microwave transmission in a cavity magnonic system under the joint mechanism of phase modulation and magnon Kerr nonlinearity effect. In contrast to the schemes based on the standard phase modulation or magnon Kerr nonlinearity, we find that the joint mechanism enables the nonreciprocal transmission even at low power and makes us obtain a high nonreciprocal isolation ratio. Moreover, when two microwave modes are coupled to the magnon mode via a different coupling strength, the presented strong nonreciprocal response occurs, and it makes the nonreciprocal transmission manipulating by the magnetic field within a large adjustable range possible, which overcomes narrow operating bandwidths. This study may provide promising opportunities to realize nonreciprocal structures for wave transmission.

The interfacial properties of MoS₂/4H-SiC heterostructures were studied by combining first-principles calculations and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Experimental (theoretical) valence band offsets (VBOs) increase from 1.49 (1.46) to 2.19 (2.36) eV with increasing MoS₂ monolayer (1L) up to 4 layers (4L). A strong interlayer interaction was revealed at 1L MoS₂/SiC interface. Fermi level pinning and totally surface passivation were realized for 4H-SiC (0001) surface. About 0.96e per unit cell transferring forms an electric field from SiC to MoS₂. Then, 1L MoS₂/SiC interface exhibits type I band alignment with the asymmetric conduction band offset (CBO) and VBO. For 2L and 4L MoS₂/SiC, Fermi level was just pinning at the lower MoS₂ 1L. The interaction keeps weak vdW interaction between upper and lower MoS₂ layers. They exhibit the type II band alignments and the enlarged CBOs and VBOs, which is attributed to weak vdW interaction and strong interlayer orbital coupling in the multilayer MoS₂. High efficiency of charge separation will emerge due to the asymmetric band alignment and built-in electric field for all the MoS₂/SiC interfaces. The multiple interfacial interactions provide a new modulated perspective for the next-generation electronics and optoelectronics based on the 2D/3D semiconductors heterojunctions.

Quasi-2D layered Cr₄Te₅ thin film has attracted great attention because it possesses the high Curie temperature close to room temperature and relatively large saturation magnetization. However, the magnetic interactions and the nature of magnetic phase transition in the Cr₄Te₅ film have not been explored thoroughly. In this paper, we focused on the critical behavior of its magnetic phase transition through the epitaxial Cr₄Te₅ film fabricated by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The final critical exponents β = 0.359(2) and γ = 1.54(2) were obtained by linear extrapolation together with Arrott-Noakes equation of state, and their accuracy was confirmed by using the Widom scaling relation and scaling hypothesis. We find that some magnetic disorders exist in the Cr₄Te₅ film system, which is related to Cr₄Te₅ critical behavior why its critical behavior is quite far from any conventional universality class. Furthermore, we also determined that the Cr₄Te₅ film exhibits a quasi-2D long-range magnetic interaction. Finally, the itinerant ferromagnets of Cr₄Te₅ films were confirmed by the Takahashi’s self-consistent renormalization theory of spin fluctuations. Our work provides a new idea for understanding the mechanism of magnetic interactions in similar 2D layered films.

Strain engineering is a vital way to manipulate the electronic properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials. As a typical representative of transition metal mono-chalcogenides (TMMs), a honeycomb CuSe monolayer features with one-dimensional (1D) moiré patterns owing to the uniaxial strain along one of three equivalent orientations of Cu(111) substrates. Here, by combining low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/S) experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we systematically investigate the electronic properties of the strained CuSe monolayer on the Cu(111) substrate. Our results show the semiconducting feature of CuSe monolayer with a band gap of 1.28 eV and the 1D periodical modulation of electronic properties by the 1D moiré patterns. Except for the uniaxially strained CuSe monolayer, we observed domain boundary and line defects in the CuSe monolayer, where the biaxial-strain and strain-free conditions can be investigated respectively. STS measurements for the three different strain regions show that the first peak in conduction band will move downward with the increasing strain. DFT calculations based on the three CuSe atomic models with different strain inside reproduced the peak movement. The present findings not only enrich the fundamental comprehension toward the influence of strain on electronic properties at 2D limit, but also offer the benchmark for the development of 2D semiconductor materials.

Weak antilocalization (WAL) effect is commonly observed in low-dimensional systems, three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators and semimetals. Here, we report the growth of high-quality Ta_0.7Nb_0.3Sb₂ single crystals via the chemical vapor transport (CVT). Clear sign of the WAL effect is observed below 50 K, probably due to the strong spin−orbital coupling in 3D bulk. In addition, it is worth noting that a relatively large MR of 120% appears under 1 T magnetic field at T = 2 K. Hall measurements and two-band model fitting results reveal high carrier mobility (>1000 cm²·V⁻¹·s⁻¹ in 2–300 K region), and off-compensation electron/hole ratio of ~8:1. Due to the angular dependence of the WAL effect and the fermiology of the Ta_0.7Nb_0.3Sb₂ crystals, interesting magnetic-field-induced changes of the symmetry of the anisotropic magnetoresistance (MR) from two-fold (≤ 0.6 T) to four-fold (0.8–1.5 T) and finally to two-fold (≥ 2 T) are observed. This phenomenon is attributed to the mechanism shift from the low-field WAL dominated MR to WAL and fermiology co-dominated MR and finally to high-field fermiology dominated MR. All these signs indicate that Ta_0.7Nb_0.3Sb₂ may be a topological semimetal candidate, and these magnetotransport properties may attract more theoretical and experimental exploration of the (Ta,Nb)Sb₂ family.

Constructing two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHs) can expand the electronic and optoelectronic applications of 2D semiconductors. However, the work on the 2D vdWHs with robust band alignment is still scarce. Here, we employ a global structure search approach to construct the vdWHs with monolayer MoSi₂N₄ and wide-bandgap GeO₂. The studies show that the GeO₂/MoSi₂N₄ vdWHs have the characteristics of direct structures with the band gap of 0.946 eV and type-II band alignment with GeO₂ and MoSi₂N₄ layers as the conduction band minimum (CBM) and valence band maximum (VBM), respectively. Also, the direct-to-indirect band gap transition can be achieved by applying biaxial strain. In particular, the 2D GeO₂/MoSi₂N₄ vdWHs show a robust type-II band alignment under the effects of biaxial strain, interlayer distance and external electric field. The results provide a route to realize the robust type-II band alignment vdWHs, which is helpful for the implementation of optoelectronic nanodevices with stable characteristics.

Due to coexistence of huge number of structural isomers, global search for the ground-state structures of atomic clusters is a challenging issue. The difficulty also originates from the computational cost of ab initio methods for describing the potential energy surface. Recently, machine learning techniques have been widely utilized to accelerate materials discovery and molecular simulation. Compared to the commonly used artificial neural network, graph network is naturally suitable for clusters with flexible geometric environment of each atom. Herein we develop a cluster graph attention network (CGANet) by aggregating information of neighboring vertices and edges using attention mechanism, which can precisely predict the binding energy and force of silver clusters with root mean square error of 5.4 meV/atom and mean absolute error of 42.3 meV/Å, respectively. As a proof-of-concept, we have performed global optimization of medium-sized Ag_n clusters (n = 14−26) by combining CGANet and genetic algorithm. The reported ground-state structures for n = 14−21, have been successfully reproduced, while entirely new lowest-energy structures are obtained for n = 22−26. In addition to the description of potential energy surface, the CGANet is also applied to predict the electronic properties of clusters, such as HOMO energy and HOMO-LUMO gap. With accuracy comparable to ab initio methods and acceleration by at least two orders of magnitude, CGANet holds great promise in global search of lowest-energy structures of large clusters and inverse design of functional clusters.

We report that the twisted few layer graphite (tFL-graphite) is a new family of moiré heterostructures (MHSs), which has richer and highly tunable moiré flat band structures entirely distinct from all the known MHSs. A tFL-graphite is composed of two few-layer graphite (Bernal stacked multilayer graphene), which are stacked on each other with a small twisted angle. The moiré band structure of the tFL-graphite strongly depends on the layer number of its composed two van der Waals layers. Near the magic angle, a tFL-graphite always has two nearly flat bands coexisting with a few pairs of narrowed dispersive (parabolic or linear) bands at the Fermi level, thus, enhances the DOS at E_F . This coexistence property may also enhance the possible superconductivity as been demonstrated in other multiband superconductivity systems. Therefore, we expect strong multiband correlation effects in tFL-graphite. Meanwhile, a proper perpendicular electric field can induce several isolated nearly flat bands with nonzero valley Chern number in some simple tFL-graphites, indicating that tFL-graphite is also a novel topological flat band system.

Dirac semimetals (DSMs) are an important class of topological states of matter. Here, focusing on DSMs of band inversion type, we investigate their boundary modes from the effective model perspective. We show that in order to properly capture the boundary modes, k-cubic terms must be included in the effective model, which would drive an evolution of surface degeneracy manifold from a nodal line to a nodal point. Sizable k-cubic terms are also needed for better exposing the topological hinge modes in the spectrum. Using first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that this feature and the topological hinge modes can be clearly exhibited in β-CuI. We extend the discussion to magnetic DSMs and show that the time-reversal symmetry breaking can gap out the surface bands and hence is beneficial for the experimental detection of hinge modes. Furthermore, we show that magnetic DSMs serve as a parent state for realizing multiple other higher-order topological phases, including higher-order Weyl-point/nodal-line semimetals and higher-order topological insulators.

Chimera states are firstly discovered in nonlocally coupled oscillator systems. Such a nonlocal coupling arises typically as oscillators are coupled via an external environment whose characteristic time scale τ is so small (i.e., τ → 0) that it could be eliminated adiabatically. Nevertheless, whether the chimera states still exist in the opposite situation (i.e., τ ≫ 1) is unknown. Here, by coupling large populations of Stuart−Landau oscillators to a diffusive environment, we demonstrate that spiral wave chimeras do exist in this oscillator-environment coupling system even when τ is very large. Various transitions such as from spiral wave chimeras to spiral waves or unstable spiral wave chimeras as functions of the system parameters are explored. A physical picture for explaining the formation of spiral wave chimeras is also provided. The existence of spiral wave chimeras is further confirmed in ensembles of FitzHugh−Nagumo oscillators with the similar oscillator-environment coupling mechanism. Our results provide an affirmative answer to the observation of spiral wave chimeras in populations of oscillators mediated via a slowly changing environment and give important hints to generate chimera patterns in both laboratory and realistic chemical or biological systems.

The quantum harmonic oscillator (QHO), one of the most important and ubiquitous model systems in quantum mechanics, features equally spaced energy levels or eigenstates. Here we present a new class of nearly ideal QHOs formed by hydrogenic substitutional dopants in an AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure. On the basis of model calculations, we demonstrate that, when a δ-doping Si donor substitutes the Ga/Al lattice site close to AlGaAs/GaAs heterointerface, a hydrogenic Si QHO, characterized by a restoring Coulomb force producing square law harmonic potential, is formed. This gives rise to QHO states with energy spacing of ~8−9 meV. We experimentally confirm this proposal by utilizing gate tuning and measuring QHO states using an aluminum single-electron transistor (SET). A sharp and fast oscillation with period of ~7−8 mV appears in addition to the regular Coulomb blockade (CB) oscillation with much larger period, for positive gate biases above 0.5 V. The observation of fast oscillation and its behavior is quantitatively consistent with our theoretical result, manifesting the harmonic motion of electrons from the QHO. Our results might establish a general principle to design, construct and manipulate QHOs in semiconductor heterostructures, opening future possibilities for their quantum applications.

We review the recent development in constructing higher-order topological band insulators under strong periodic drivings. In particular, we focus on various approaches in formulating the anomalous Floquet topological invariants beyond (quasi-)static band topology, and compare their different physical consequences.

The two-dimensional (2D) magnets provide novel opportunities for understanding magnetism and investigating spin related phenomena in several atomic thickness. Multiple features of 2D magnets, such as critical temperatures, magnetoelectric/magneto-optic responses, and spin configurations, depend on the basic magnetic terms that describe various spins interactions and cooperatively determine the spin Hamiltonian of studied systems. In this review, we present a comprehensive survey of three types of basic terms, including magnetic anisotropy that is intimately related with long-range magnetic order, exchange coupling that normally dominates the spin interactions, and Dzyaloshinskii−Moriya interaction (DMI) that favors the noncollinear spin configurations, from the theoretical aspect. We introduce not only the physical features and origin of these crucial terms in 2D magnets but also many correlated phenomena, which may lead to the advance of 2D spintronics.

Oxygen electrocatalysts are of great importance for the air electrode in zinc–air batteries (ZABs). Owing to large surface area, high electrical conductivity and ease of modification, two-dimensional (2D) materials have been widely studied as oxygen electrocatalysts for the rechargable ZABs. The elaborately modified 2D materials-based electrocatalysts, usually exhibit excellent performance toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which have attracted extensive interests of worldwide researchers. Given the rapid development of bifunctional electrocatalysts toward ORR and OER, the latest progress of non-noble electrocatalysts based on layered double hydroxides (LDHs), graphene, and MXenes are intensively reviewed. The discussion ranges from fundamental structure, synthesis, electrocatalytic performance of these catalysts, as well as their applications in the rechargeable ZABs. Finally, the challenges and outlook are provided for further advancing the commercialization of rechargeable ZABs.