Search

Sterile neutrinos with masses at the $\mathrm{keV}$ scale and mixing to the active neutrinos offer an elegant explanation of the observed dark matter (DM) density. However, the very same mixing inevitably leads to radiative photon emission and the non-observation of such peaked $X$-ray lines rules out this minimal sterile neutrino DM hypothesis. We show that in the context of the Standard Model effective field theory with sterile neutrinos ($\nu$SMEFT), higher dimensional operators can produce sterile neutrino DM in a broad range of parameter space. In particular, $\nu$SMEFT interactions can open the large mixing parameter space due to their destructive interference, through operator mixing or matching, in the $X$-ray emission. We also find that, even in the zero mixing limit, the DM density can always be explained by $\nu$SMEFT operators. The testability of the studied $\nu$SMEFT operators in searches for electric dipole moments, neutrinoless double beta decay, and pion decay measurements is discussed., Comment: 28 pages + 4 pages appendix, 9 figures

Axion inflation, i.e. an axion-like inflaton coupled to an Abelian gauge field through a Chern-Simons interaction, comes with a rich and testable phenomenology. This is particularly true in the strong backreaction regime, where the gauge field production heavily impacts the axion dynamics. Lattice simulations have recently demonstrated the importance of accounting for inhomogeneities of the axion field in this regime. We propose a perturbative scheme to account for these inhomogeneities while maintaining high computational efficiency. Our goal is to accurately capture deviations from the homogeneous axion field approximation within the perturbative regime as well as self-consistently determine the onset of the non-perturbative regime., Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures; v2: version accepted in JCAP

We consider the generation of a baryon asymmetry in an extension of the Standard Model with two singlet Majorana fermions that are degenerate above the electroweak phase transition. The model can explain neutrino masses as well as the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry, for masses of the heavy singlets below the electroweak scale. The only physical CP violating phases in the model are those in the PMNS mixing matrix, i.e. the Dirac phase and a Majorana phase that enter light neutrino observables. We present an accurate analytic approximation for the baryon asymmetry in terms of CP flavour invariants, and derive the correlations with neutrino observables. We demonstrate that the measurement of CP violation in neutrino oscillations as well as the mixings of the heavy neutral leptons with the electron, muon and tau flavours suffice to pin down the matter-antimatter asymmetry from laboratory measurements., Comment: 28 + 4 pages, 8 figures

Particle physics today faces the challenge of explaining the mystery of dark matter, the origin of matter over anti-matter in the Universe, the origin of the neutrino masses, the apparent fine-tuning of the electro-weak scale, and many other aspects of fundamental physics. Perhaps the most striking frontier to emerge in the search for answers involves new physics at mass scales comparable to familiar matter, below the GeV-scale, or even radically below, down to sub-eV scales, and with very feeble interaction strength. New theoretical ideas to address dark matter and other fundamental questions predict such feebly interacting particles (FIPs) at these scales, and indeed, existing data provide numerous hints for such possibility. A vibrant experimental program to discover such physics is under way, guided by a systematic theoretical approach firmly grounded on the underlying principles of the Standard Model. This document represents the report of the FIPs 2022 workshop, held at CERN between the 17 and 21 October 2022 and aims to give an overview of these efforts, their motivations, and the decadal goals that animate the community involved in the search for FIPs., Comment: 383 pp, 176 figures

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) has proven to be an invaluable tool for studying the properties and interactions of neutrinos, providing insight not only into the sum of neutrino masses but also the free streaming nature of neutrinos prior to recombination. The CMB is a particularly powerful probe of new eV-scale bosons interacting with neutrinos, as these particles can thermalize with neutrinos via the inverse decay process, $\nu\bar{\nu} \rightarrow X$, and suppress neutrino free streaming near recombination -- even for couplings as small as $\lambda_\nu \sim \mathcal{O}(10^{-13})$. Here, we revisit CMB constraints on such bosons, improving upon a number of approximations previously adopted in the literature and generalizing the constraints to a broader class of models. This includes scenarios in which the boson is either spin-$0$ or spin-$1$, the number of interacting neutrinos is either $N_{\rm int} = 1,2 $ or $3$, and the case in which a primordial abundance of the species is present. We apply these bounds to well-motivated models, such as the singlet majoron model or a light $U(1)_{L_\mu-L_\tau}$ gauge boson, and find that they represent the leading constraints for masses $m_X\sim 1\, {\rm eV}$. Finally, we revisit the extent to which neutrino-philic bosons can ameliorate the Hubble tension, and find that recent improvements in the understanding of how such bosons damp neutrino free streaming reduces the previously found success of this proposal., Comment: 9 + 8 pages, 14 figures, added minor comment on Hubble tension, matches published version

In the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Working Group on Equal Opportunities of the German Physical Society conducted a nonrepresentative, international online survey, investigating the impact of the pandemic and its consequences on daily life and work. Special attention was paid to the situation of female physicists in academia and industry. The responses provided evidence of both difficulties and opportunities arising from adapting to the rapid, significant changes. Discrepancies between different countries, jobs, and gender were found, particularly regarding concerns about professional work and private life conditions after the pandemic., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in AIP Conf. Proc., Proceedings of the Seventh IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics

Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) have shown evidence of robust hot carrier effects due to their small dimensions. The relaxation dynamics of hot carriers in these nanostructures, generated by photo-absorption, are of great importance in optoelectronic devices and high efficiency solar cells, such as hot carrier solar cells. Among various III-V semiconductors, indium arsenide (InAs) NWs are promising candidates for their applications in advanced light harvesting devices due to their high photo-absorptivity and high mobility. Here, we investigate the hot carrier dynamics in InAs-AlAsSb core-shell NWs, as well as bare-core InAs NWs, using ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy with widely tuned pump and probe energies. We have found a lifetime of 2.3 ps for longitudinal optical (LO) phonons and hot electron lifetimes of about 3 ps and 30 ps for carrier-carrier interactions and electron-phonon interactions, respectively. In addition, we have investigated the electronic states in the AlAsSb-shell and found that, despite the large band offset of the core-shell design in the conduction band, excited carriers remain in the shell longer than 100 ps. Our results indicate evidence of plasmon-tailored core-shell NWs for efficient light harvesting devices, which could open potential avenues for improving the efficiency of photovoltaic solar cells.

We revisit the generation of a matter-antimatter asymmetry in the minimal extension of the Standard Model with two singlet heavy neutral leptons (HNL) that can explain neutrino masses. We derive an accurate analytical approximation to the solution of the complete linearized set of kinetic equations, which exposes the non-trivial parameter dependencies in the form of parameterization-independent CP invariants. The identification of various washout regimes relevant in different regions of parameter space sheds light on the relevance of the mass corrections in the interaction rates and clarifies the correlations of baryogenesis with other observables. In particular, by requiring that the measured baryon asymmetry is reproduced, we derive robust upper or lower bounds on the HNL mixings depending on their masses, and constraints on their flavour structure, as well as on the CP-violating phases of the PMNS mixing matrix, and the amplitude of neutrinoless double-beta decay. We also find certain correlations between low and high scale CP phases. Especially emphasizing the testable part of the parameter space we demonstrate that our findings are in very good agreement with numerical results. The methods developed in this work can help in exploring more complex scenarios., Comment: minor modifications + added appendix; matches published version in JHEP; numerical code made public at https://github.com/stefanmarinus/amiqs

The light neutrino masses are at present most stringently constraint via cosmological probes. In particular the Planck collaboration reports $ \sum m_\nu \leq 0.12\,\mathrm{eV}$ at $95\%$ CL within the standard cosmological model. This is more than one order of magnitude stronger than the one arising from laboratory searches. The cosmological bound taken at face value excludes a plethora of neutrino flavour models which can successfully explain the neutrino oscillation data. The indirect nature of the cosmological bound, however, allows to relax the bound to up to $ \sum m_\nu \sim 1\,\mathrm{eV}$ if neutrinos decay on timescales shorter than the age of the Universe, $\tau_\nu \leq t_U$. We present how a decay of the type $\nu_i\to\nu_4\phi$ can be realized within general models of the minimal extended seesaw framework. The idea is then explicitly realized within the context of a $U(1)_{\mu-\tau}$ flavour model., Comment: Contribution to the 2022 EW session of the 56th Rencontres de Moriond

Confining light to sharp metal tips has become a versatile technique to study optical and electronic properties far below the diffraction limit. Particularly near-field microscopy in the mid-infrared spectral range has found a variety of applications in probing nanostructures and their dynamics. Yet, the ongoing quest for ultimately high spatial resolution down to the single-nanometer regime and quantitative three-dimensional nano-tomography depends vitally on a precise knowledge of the spatial distribution of the near fields emerging from the probe. Here, we perform finite element simulations of a tip with realistic geometry oscillating above a dielectric sample. By introducing a novel Fourier demodulation analysis of the electric field at each point in space, we reliably quantify the distribution of the near fields above and within the sample. Besides inferring the lateral field extension, which can be smaller than the tip radius of curvature, we also quantify the probing volume within the sample. Finally, we visualize the scattering process into the far field at a given demodulation order, for the first time, and shed light onto the nanoscale distribution of the near fields and its evolution as the tip-sample distance is varied. Our work represents a crucial step in understanding and tailoring the spatial distribution of evanescent fields in optical nanoscopy., Comment: This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in ACS Photonics (copyright \copyright American Chemical Society) after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsphotonics.9b01533

Electrons exposed to a two-dimensional (2D) periodic potential and a uniform, perpendicular magnetic field exhibit a fractal, self-similiar energy spectrum known as the Hofstadter butterfly. Recently, related high-temperature quantum oscillations (Brown-Zak oscillations) were discovered in graphene moir\'{e} systems, whose origin lie in the repetitive occurrence of extended minibands/magnetic Bloch states at rational fractions of magnetic flux per unit cell giving rise to an increase in band conductivity. In this work, we report on the experimental observation of band conductivity oscillations in an electrostatically defined and gate-tunable graphene superlattice, which are governed both by the internal structure of the Hofstadter butterfly (Brown-Zak oscillations) and by a commensurability relation between the cyclotron radius of electrons and the superlattice period (Weiss oscillations). We obtain a complete, unified description of band conductivity oscillations in two-dimensional superlattices, yielding a detailed match between theory and experiment.

The decentralized and trustless nature of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology leads to a shift in the digital world. The possibility to execute small programs, called smart contracts, on cryptocurrencies like Ethereum opened doors to countless new applications. One particular exciting use case is decentralized finance (DeFi), which aims to revolutionize traditional financial services by founding them on a decentralized infrastructure. We show the potential of DeFi by analyzing its advantages compared to traditional finance. Additionally, we survey the state-of-the-art of DeFi products and categorize existing services. Since DeFi is still in its infancy, there are countless hurdles for mass adoption. We discuss the most prominent challenges and point out possible solutions. Finally, we analyze the economics behind DeFi products. By carefully analyzing the state-of-the-art and discussing current challenges, we give a perspective on how the DeFi space might develop in the near future.

At present, cosmological observations set the most stringent bound on the neutrino mass scale. Within the standard cosmological model ($\Lambda$CDM), the Planck collaboration reports $\sum m_\nu < 0.12\,\text{eV}$ at 95% CL. This bound, taken at face value, excludes many neutrino mass models. However, unstable neutrinos, with lifetimes shorter than the age of the universe $\tau_\nu \lesssim t_U$, represent a particle physics avenue to relax this constraint. Motivated by this fact, we present a taxonomy of neutrino decay modes, categorizing them in terms of particle content and final decay products. Taking into account the relevant phenomenological bounds, our analysis shows that 2-body decaying neutrinos into BSM particles are a promising option to relax cosmological neutrino mass bounds. We then build a simple extension of the type I seesaw scenario by adding one sterile state $\nu_4$ and a Goldstone boson $\phi$, in which $\nu_i \to \nu_4 \, \phi$ decays can loosen the neutrino mass bounds up to $\sum m_\nu \sim 1\,\text{eV}$, without spoiling the light neutrino mass generation mechanism. Remarkably, this is possible for a large range of the right-handed neutrino masses, from the electroweak up to the GUT scale. We successfully implement this idea in the context of minimal neutrino mass models based on a $U(1)_{\mu-\tau}$ flavor symmetry, which are otherwise in tension with the current bound on $\sum m_\nu$., Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, 7 appendices. v2: Matches published version. Minor upgrades: added appendix on BBN constraints on sterile neutrinos lighter than active neutrinos, added appendix discussing the potential amelioration of CMB neutrino decay bounds, refined discussion in Sec. 3. Results and conclusions remain unchanged. v3: fixed factor of 2 in Eqs A.4, A.6 and A.8

We report an efficient technique to induce gate-tunable two-dimensional superlattices in graphene by the combined action of a back gate and a few-layer graphene patterned bottom gate complementary to existing methods. The patterned gates in our approach can be easily fabricated and implemented in van der Waals stacking procedures allowing flexible use of superlattices with arbitrary geometry. In transport measurements on a superlattice with lattice constant $a=40$ nm well pronounced satellite Dirac points and signatures of the Hofstadter butterfly including a non-monotonic quantum Hall response are observed. Furthermore, the experimental results are accurately reproduced in transport simulations and show good agreement with features in the calculated band structure. Overall, we present a comprehensive picture of graphene-based superlattices, featuring a broad range of miniband effects, both in experiment and in theoretical modeling. The presented technique is suitable for studying more advanced geometries which are not accessible by other methods., Comment: This document is the unedited Author's version of a Submitted Work that was subsequently accepted for publication in Nano Letters, copyright American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work, as well as the Supporting Information, see the journal reference or DOI below

In axion gauge field inflation an axion-like particle driving cosmic inflation is coupled to the Chern-Simons density of an Abelian or non-Abelian gauge group. In the case of a non-Abelian gauge group, this can lead to the formation of a stable, homogeneous and isotropic gauge field background. We study the dynamics of the inflaton and gauge fields in terms of the two effective coupling parameters: the gauge coupling and the axion decay constant. Starting from the Bunch-Davies vacuum in the far past, we find that the non-trivial gauge field background arises only significantly after the cosmic microwave background (CMB) scales have left the horizon. At these scales, the model thus closely resembles Abelian axion inflation, thereby naturally reconciling the tension of non-Abelian axion gauge field inflation with the latest CMB observations. We further consider two exemplary UV-completions of this setup: multiple Peccei-Quinn axions and axion monodromy in string theory. In both cases we find that the majority of the parameter space is excluded by theoretical or observational constraints. The remaining parameter space can be divided into three regimes. (i) For small gauge couplings we recover natural inflation. For large gauge couplings the non-Abelian gauge theory either (ii) mimics the Abelian theory or (iii) non-linear interactions prohibit a linear analysis of the gauge field perturbations., Comment: 32 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in JCAP

We observe that the illumination of unbiased graphene in the quantum Hall regime with polarized terahertz laser radiation results in a direct edge current. This photocurrent is caused by an imbalance of persistent edge currents, which are driven out of thermal equilibrium by indirect transitions within the chiral edge channel. The direction of the edge photocurrent is determined by the polarity of the external magnetic field, while its magnitude depends on the radiation polarization. The microscopic theory developed in this paper describes well the experimental data.

We report the experimental observation of commensurability oscillations (COs) in 1D graphene superlattices. The widely tunable periodic potential modulation in hBN encapsulated graphene is generated via the interplay of nanopatterned few layer graphene acting as a local bottom gate and a global Si back gate. The longitudinal magneto-resistance shows pronounced COs, when the sample is tuned into the unipolar transport regime. We observe up to six CO minima, providing evidence for a long mean free path despite the potential modulation. Comparison to existing theories shows that small angle scattering is dominant in hBN/graphene/hBN heterostructures. We observe robust COs persisting to temperature exceeding $T=150$ K. At high temperatures, we find deviations from the predicted $T$-dependence, which we ascribe to electron-electron scattering., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures + Supplemental Material. Accepted by PRL

We explore the phenomenology of having a second epoch of dark matter annihilation into dark radiation long after the standard thermal freeze-out. Such a hidden reannihilation process could affect visible sectors only gravitationally. As a concrete realization we consider self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) with a light force mediator coupled to dark radiation. We demonstrate how resonantly Sommerfeld enhanced cross sections emerge to induce the reannihilation epoch. The effect is a temporally local modification of the Hubble expansion rate and we show that the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) measurements -- as well as other observations -- have a high sensitivity to observe this phenomenon. Special attention is given to the model region where late kinetic decoupling and strong self-interactions can alleviate several small-scale problems in the cold dark matter paradigm at the same time. Interestingly, we find that reannihilation might here also simultaneously lower the tension between CMB and low-redshift astronomical observations of $H_{0}$ and $\sigma_{8}$. Moreover, we identify reannihilation as a clear signature to discriminate between the phenomenologically otherwise almost identical vector and scalar mediator realizations of SIDM., Comment: Version submitted to journal. Extended with improved estimates and updated plots. 25 pages, 9 figures and 2 tables

The possibility of hybridizing collective electronic motion with mid-infrared (mid-IR) light to form surface polaritons has made van der Waals layered materials a versatile platform for extreme light confinement and tailored nanophotonics. Graphene and its heterostructures have attracted particular attention because the absence of an energy gap allows for plasmon polaritons to be continuously tuned. Here, we introduce black phosphorus (BP) as a promising new material in surface polaritonics that features key advantages for ultrafast switching. Unlike graphene, BP is a van der Waals bonded semiconductor, which enables high-contrast interband excitation of electron-hole pairs by ultrashort near-infrared (near-IR) pulses. We design a SiO$_2$/BP/SiO$_2$ heterostructure in which the surface phonon modes of the SiO$_2$ layers hybridize with surface plasmon modes in BP that can be activated by photo-induced interband excitation. Within the Reststrahlen band of SiO$_2$, the hybrid interface polariton assumes surface-phonon-like properties, with a well-defined frequency and momentum and excellent coherence. During the lifetime of the photogenerated electron-hole plasma, coherent polariton waves can be launched by a broadband mid-IR pulse coupled to the tip of a scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) setup. The scattered radiation allows us to trace the new hybrid mode in time, energy, and space. We find that the surface mode can be activated within ~50 fs and disappears within 5 ps, as the electron-hole pairs in BP recombine. The excellent switching contrast and switching speed, the coherence properties, and the constant wavelength of this transient mode make it a promising candidate for ultrafast nanophotonic devices.

We introduce a method of local gating for van der Waals heterostructures, employing a few-layer graphene patterned bottom gate. Being a member of the 2D material family, few-layer graphene adapts perfectly to the commonly used stacking method. Its versatility regarding patterning as well as its flatness make it an ideal candidate for experiments on locally gated 2D materials. Moreover, in combination with ultra-thin hexagonal boron nitride as an insulating layer, sharp potential steps can be created and the quality of the investigated 2D material can be sustained. To underline the good feasibility and performance, we show results on transport experiments in periodically modulated graphene- boron nitride heterostructures, where the charge carrier density is tuned via locally acting patterned few layer graphene bottom gates and a global back gate.

Long regarded as a model system for studying insulator-to-metal phase transitions, the correlated electron material vanadium dioxide (VO$_2$) is now finding novel uses in device applications. Two of its most appealing aspects are its accessible transition temperature ($\sim$341 K) and its rich phase diagram. Strain can be used to selectively stabilize different VO$_2$ insulating phases by tuning the competition between electron and lattice degrees of freedom. It can even break the mesoscopic spatial symmetry of the transition, leading to a quasi-periodic ordering of insulating and metallic nanodomains. Nanostructuring of strained VO$_2$ could potentially yield unique components for future devices. However, the most spectacular property of VO$_2$ - its ultrafast transition - has not yet been studied on the length scale of its phase heterogeneity. Here, we use ultrafast near-field microscopy in the mid-infrared to study individual, strained VO$_2$ nanobeams on the 10 nm scale. We reveal a previously unseen correlation between the local steady-state switching susceptibility and the local ultrafast response to below-threshold photoexcitation. These results suggest that it may be possible to tailor the local photo-response of VO$_2$ using strain and thereby realize new types of ultrafast nano-optical devices.

Graphene samples can have a very high carrier mobility if influences from the substrate and the environment are minimized. Embedding a graphene sheet into a heterostructure with hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) on both sides was shown to be a particularly efficient way of achieving a high bulk mobility. Nanopatterning graphene can add extra damage and drastically reduce sample mobility by edge disorder. Preparing etched graphene nanostructures on top of an hBN substrate instead of SiO2 is no remedy, as transport characteristics are still dominated by edge roughness. Here we show that etching fully encapsulated graphene on the nanoscale is more gentle and the high mobility can be preserved. To this end, we prepared graphene antidot lattices where we observe magnetotransport features stemming from ballistic transport. Due to the short lattice period in our samples we can also explore the boundary between the classical and the quantum transport regime.

We study the role of quantum statistics in the self-ordering of ultracold bosons and fermions moving inside an optical resonator with transverse coherent pumping. For few particles we numerically compute the nonequilibrium dynamics of the density matrix towards the self-ordered stationary state of the coupled atom-cavity system. We include quantum fluctuations of the particles and the cavity field. These fluctuations in conjunction with cavity cooling determine the stationary distribution of the particles, which exhibits a transition from a homogeneous to a spatially ordered phase with the appearance of a superradiant scattering peak in the cavity output spectrum. At the same time the cavity field $Q$-function changes from a single to a double peaked distribution. While the ordering threshold is generally lower for bosons, we confirm the recently predicted zero pump strength threshold for superradiant scattering for fermions when the cavity photon momentum coincides with twice the Fermi momentum., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures (v2: added one reference)

An unprecedented increase of kinetic energy of laser accelerated heavy ions is demonstrated. Ultra thin gold foils have been irradiated by an ultra short laser pulse at an intensity of $6\times 10^{19}$ W/cm$^{2}$. Highly charged gold ions with kinetic energies up to $> 200$ MeV and a bandwidth limited energy distribution have been reached by using $1.3$ Joule laser energy on target. $1$D and $2$D Particle in Cell simulations show how a spatial dependence on the ions ionization leads to an enhancement of the accelerating electrical field. Our theoretical model considers a varying charge density along the target normal and is capable of explaining the energy boost of highly charged ions, leading to a higher efficiency in laser acceleration of heavy ions.

We report on transport properties of monolayer graphene with a laterally modulated potential profile, employing striped top gate electrodes with spacings of 100 nm to 200 nm. Tuning of top and back gate voltages gives rise to local charge carrier density disparities, enabling the investigation of transport properties either in the unipolar (nn') or the bipolar (np') regime. In the latter pronounced single- and multibarrier Fabry-Perot (FP) resonances occur. We present measurements of different devices with different numbers of top gate stripes and spacings. The data are highly consistent with a phase coherent ballistic tight binding calculation and quantum capacitance model, whereas a superlattice effect and modification of band structure can be excluded., Comment: revised version

We present a detailed numerical analysis of the temperature limit and timescale of cavity cooling of a dilute gas in the quantum regime for particles and light. For a cavity with a linewidth smaller than the recoil frequency efficient cooling towards quantum degeneracy is facilitated by applying a tailored sequence of laser pulses transferring the particles towards lower momenta. Two-particle Monte Carlo wave function simulations reveal strongly improved cooling properties for a ring versus a standing-wave geometry. Distinct quantum correlations and cooling limits for bosons and fermions demonstrate quantum statistical effects. In particular, in ring cavities the photon-mediated long-range interaction favours momentum-space pairing of bosons, while fermion pairs exhibit anti-correlated or uncorrelated momenta. The results are consistent with recent experiments and give encouraging prospects to achieve sufficient conditions for the condensation of a wide class of polarisable particles via cavity cooling., Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures

We experimentally demonstrate a notably enhanced acceleration of protons to high energy by relatively modest ultrashort laser pulses and structured dynamical plasma targets. Realized by special deposition of snow targets on sapphire substrates and using carefully planned pre-pulses, high proton yield emitted in a narrow solid angle with energy above 21MeV were detected from a 5TW laser. Our simulations predict that using the proposed scheme protons can be accelerated to energies above 150MeV by 100TW laser systems., Comment: Submitted to Physical Review Letters

We present results of non-local and three terminal (3T) spin precession measurements on spin injection devices fabricated on epitaxial graphene on SiC. The measurements were performed before and after an annealing step at 150 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes in vacuum. The values of spin relaxation length L_s and spin relaxation time tau_s obtained after annealing are reduced by a factor 2 and 4, respectively, compared to those before annealing. An apparent discrepancy between spin diffusion constant D_s and charge diffusion constant D_c can be resolved by investigating the temperature dependence of the g-factor, which is consistent with a model for paramagnetic magnetic moments., Comment: revised version, incl Supplemental Material, published in Phys Rev B

A laser can be understood as thermodynamic engine converting heat to a coherent single mode field close to Carnot efficiency. From this perspective spectral shaping of the excitation light generates a higher effective temperature on the pump than on the gain transition. Here, using a toy model of a quantum well structure with two suitably designed tunnel-coupled wells kept at different temperature, we study a laser operated on an actual spatial temperature gradient between pump and gain region. We predict gain and narrow band laser emission for a sufficient temperature gradient and resonator quality. Lasing appears concurrent with amplified heat flow and points to a new form of stimulated solid state cooling. Such a mechanism could raise the operating temperature limit of quantum cascade lasers by substituting phonon emission driven injection, which generates intrinsic heat, by an extended model with phonon absorption steps.

The motion of two distant trapped particles or mechanical oscillators can be strongly coupled by light modes in a high finesse optical resonator. In a two mode ring cavity geometry, trapping, cooling and coupling is implemented by the same modes. While the cosine mode provides for trapping, the sine mode facilitates ground state cooling and mediates non-local interactions. For classical point particles the centre-of-mass mode is strongly damped and the individual momenta get anti-correlated. Surprisingly, quantum fluctuations induce the opposite effect of positively-correlated particle motion, which close to zero temperature generates entanglement. The non-classical correlations and entanglement are dissipation-induced and particularly strong after detection of a scattered photon in the sine mode. This allows for heralded entanglement by post-selection. Entanglement is concurrent with squeezing of the particle distance and relative momenta, while the centre-of-mass observables acquire larger uncertainties., Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures

We study experimentally and theoretically a dense ensemble of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond coupled to a high $Q$ superconducting coplanar waveguide cavity mode at low temperature. The nitrogen-vacancy centers are modeled as effective spin one defects with inhomogeneous frequency distribution. For a large enough ensemble the effective magnetic coupling of the collective spin dominates the mode losses and inhomogeneous broadening of the ensemble and the system exhibits well resolved normal mode splitting in probe transmission spectra. We use several theoretical approaches to model the probe spectra and the number and frequency distribution of the spins. This analysis reveals an only slowly temperature dependent q-Gaussian energy distribution of the defects with a yet unexplained decrease of effectively coupled spins at very low temperatures below $\unit{100}{\milli\kelvin}$. Based on the system parameters we predict the possibility to implement an extremely stable maser by adding an external pump to the system., Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures

Spontaneous emission by an excited fermionic atom can be suppressed due to the Pauli exclusion principle if the relevant final states after the decay are already occupied by identical atoms in the ground state. Here we discuss a setup where a single atom is prepared in the first excited state on a single site of an optical lattice under conditions of very tight trapping. We investigate these phenomena in the context of two experimental realizations: (1) with alkali atoms, where the decay rate of the excited state is large and (2) with alkaline earth-like atoms, where the decay rate from metastable states can be tuned in experiments. This phenomenon has potential applications towards reservoir engineering and dissipative many-body state preparation in an optical lattice., Comment: 11 pages + appendices, 5 figures

We report strong coupling between an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy center electron spins in diamond and a superconducting microwave coplanar waveguide resonator. The characteristic scaling of the collective coupling strength with the square root of the number of emitters is observed directly. Additionally, we measure hyperfine coupling to 13C nuclear spins, which is a first step towards a nuclear ensemble quantum memory. Using the dispersive shift of the cavity resonance frequency, we measure the relaxation time T1 of the NV center at millikelvin temperatures in a non-destructive way., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

In this letter we report on an experimental study of high harmonic radiation generated in nanometer-scale foil targets irradiated under normal incidence. The experiments constitute the first unambiguous observation of odd-numbered relativistic harmonics generated by the $\vec{v}\times\vec{B}$ component of the Lorentz force verifying a long predicted property of solid target harmonics. Simultaneously the observed harmonic spectra allow in-situ extraction of the target density in an experimental scenario which is of utmost interest for applications such as ion acceleration by the radiation pressure of an ultraintense laser., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

Experiments on ion acceleration by irradiation of ultra-thin diamond-like carbon (DLC) foils, with thicknesses well below the skin depth, irradiated with laser pulses of ultra-high contrast and linear polarization, are presented. A maximum energy of 13MeV for protons and 71MeV for carbon ions is observed with a conversion efficiency of > 10%. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations reveal that the increase in ion energies can be attributed to a dominantly collective rather than thermal motion of the foil electrons, when the target becomes transparent for the incident laser pulse.

We present experimental studies on ion acceleration from ultra-thin diamond-like carbon (DLC) foils irradiated by ultra-high contrast laser pulses of energy 0.7 J focussed to peak intensities of 5*10^{19} W/cm^2. A reduction in electron heating is observed when the laser polarization is changed from linear to circular, leading to a pronounced peak in the fully ionized carbon spectrum at the optimum foil thickness of 5.3 nm. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations reveal, that those C^{6+} ions are for the first time dominantly accelerated in a phase-stable way by the laser radiation pressure.

A novel proton imaging technique was applied which allows a continuous temporal record of electric fields within a time window of several nanoseconds. This "proton streak deflectometry" was used to investigate transient electric fields of intense (~ 10^17 W/cm^2) laser irradiated foils. We found out that these fields with an absolute peak of up to 10^8 V/m extend over millimeter lateral extension and decay at nanosecond duration. Hence, they last much longer than the (~ ps) laser excitation, and extend much beyond the laser irradiation focus.

A 6bit flash-ADC with 1.2GSps, wide analog bandwidth and low power, realized in a standard digital 0.13 $\mu$m CMOS copper technology is presented. Employing capacitive interpolation gives various advantages when designing for low power: no need for a reference resistor ladder, implicit sample-and-hold operation, no edge effects in the interpolation network (as compared to resistive interpolation), and a very low input capacitance of only 400fF, which leads to an easily drivable analog converter interface. Operating at 1.2GSps the ADC achieves an effective resolution bandwidth (ERBW) of 700MHz, while consuming 160mW of power. At 600MSps we achieve an ERBW of 600MHz with only 90mW power consumption, both from a 1.5V supply. This corresponds to outstanding Figure-of-Merit numbers (FoM) of 2.2 and 1.5pJ/convstep, respectively. The module area is 0.12mm^2., Comment: Submitted on behalf of EDAA (http://www.edaa.com/)

TESLA Technical Design Report, Part VI, Chapter 1: The Photon Collider at TESLA, Comment: 102 pages, 41 figures, editor: V. Telnov

The ontogenetic development of human vocal utterances and their role in early interaction processes were studied with a three-month-old baby. Recordings were made of infant vocalizations in the home and the sounds were classified. During a five-minute segment between the mother and infant, the infant produced 59 utterances, 93 percent of which had features typical of flats (i.e., having a fundamental frequency that is smooth, comparably low, approximating pure harmonic tones, and having a similarity to vowels). A computer program was developed to plot the fundamental frequency, intensity, and time pattern of the vocal utterances of both partners. The amount of turn-taking suggests that the infant not only produced a series of vocalizations but actually engaged in a kind of conversation. Those phrases that the baby responded to had a common feature: they exhibited a very similar pitch contour. Fifteen out of a total of 18 utterances with a rising contour were responded to by the infant during a segment. There was a surprising conformity between the utterances within each episode: in some cases the mother imitated the baby and in others the baby was able to copy the pitch contour of the mother's voice within certain limits. Reciprocity, imitation, and the use of bell-contours appeared to be important to the success of the exchange. The mother intended to talk with the baby and used infant-oriented speech, which the baby responded to within a few seconds. It is suggested that the rising contour vocalizations were used by the mother as turn-markers, strongly compelling the infant to respond. (SW)