Search

The intensity noise of a laser source represents one of the key factors limiting the ultimate sensitivity in laser-based systems for sensing and telecommunication. For advanced applications based on interferometry, the availability of a shot-noise-limited local oscillator is even more important for the effective feasibility of high-precision measurements. This is particularly crucial in quantum optics applications based on homodyne detection schemes to measure non-classical light states, such as squeezed states. This work deeply investigates and analyzes the intensity noise features of the most widely used mid-infrared semiconductor heterostructured lasers: quantum cascade and interband cascade lasers. For this purpose, a comprehensive comparison of three different continuous-wave lasers operating at room temperature around 4.5 {\mu}m wavelength is presented. First, a thorough electro-optical characterization is given, highlighting the differences and the shared common characteristics of the tested devices. Then, a detailed intensity noise analysis is reported, identifying their different noise operations with a particular reference to shot-noise-limited operations. Finally, some perspectives towards advanced applications are discussed., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures

Modern machine learning relies nearly exclusively on dedicated electronic hardware accelerators. Photonic approaches, with low consumption and high operation speed, are increasingly considered for inference but, to date, remain mostly limited to relatively basic tasks. Simultaneously, the problem of training deep and complex neural networks, overwhelmingly performed through backpropagation, remains a significant limitation to the size and, consequently, the performance of current architectures and a major compute and energy bottleneck. Here, we experimentally implement a versatile and scalable training algorithm, called direct feedback alignment, on a hybrid electronic-photonic platform. An optical processing unit performs large-scale random matrix multiplications, which is the central operation of this algorithm, at speeds up to 1500 TeraOps. We perform optical training of one of the most recent deep learning architectures, including Transformers, with more than 1B parameters, and obtain good performances on both language and vision tasks. We study the compute scaling of our hybrid optical approach, and demonstrate a potential advantage for ultra-deep and wide neural networks, thus opening a promising route to sustain the exponential growth of modern artificial intelligence beyond traditional von Neumann approaches., Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures

A multiscale model based on the coupling of the multiconfigurational self-consistent field (MCSCF) method and the classical atomistic polarizable Fluctuating Charges (FQ) force field is presented. The resulting MCSCF/FQ approach is validated by exploiting the CASSCF scheme through application to compute vertical excitation energies of formaldehyde and para-nitroaniline in aqueous solution. The procedure is integrated with molecular dynamics simulations to capture the solute's conformational changes and the dynamic aspects of solvation. Comparative analysis with alternative solvent models, gas-phase calculations, and experimental data provides insights into the model's accuracy in reproducing solute-solvent molecular interactions and spectral signals., Comment: 32 pages, 7 figures

A novel fully atomistic multiscale classical approach to model the optical response of solvated real-size plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) is presented. The model is based on the coupling of the Frequency Dependent Fluctuating Charges and Fluctuating Dipoles ($\omega$FQF$\mu$), specifically designed to describe plasmonic substrates, and the polarizable Fluctuating Charges (FQ) classical force field to model the solvating environment. The resulting $\omega$FQF$\mu$/FQ approach accounts for the interactions between the radiation and the NP, as well as with the surrounding solvent molecules, by incorporating mutual interactions between the plasmonic substrate and solvent. $\omega$FQF$\mu$/FQ is validated against reference TD-DFTB/FQ calculations, demonstrating remarkable accuracy, particularly in reproducing plasmon resonance frequency shifts for structures below the quantum-size limit. The flexibility and reliability of the approach are also demonstrated by simulating the optical response of homogeneous and bimetallic NPs dissolved in pure solvents and solvent mixtures., Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures

Superconducting traveling-wave parametric amplifiers have emerged as highly promising devices for near-quantum-limited broadband amplification of microwave signals and are essential for high quantum-efficiency microwave readout lines. Built-in isolation, as well as gain, would address their primary limitation: lack of true directionality due to potential backward travel of electromagnetic radiation to their input port. Here, we demonstrate a Josephson-junction-based traveling-wave parametric amplifier isolator. It utilizes third-order nonlinearity for amplification and second-order nonlinearity for frequency upconversion of backward propagating modes to provide reverse isolation. These parametric processes, enhanced by a novel phase matching mechanism, exhibit gain of up to 20~dB and reverse isolation of up to 30~dB over a static 3~dB bandwidth greater than 500~MHz, while keeping near-quantum limited added noise. This demonstration of a broadband truly directional amplifier ultimately paves the way towards broadband quantum-limited microwave amplification lines without bulky magnetic isolators and with inhibited back-action.

The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is a detector array comprised by 988 5$\;$cm$\times$5$\;$cm$\times$5$\;$cm TeO$_2$ crystals held below 20 mK, primarily searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay in $^{130}$Te. Unprecedented in size amongst cryogenic calorimetric experiments, CUORE provides a promising setting for the study of exotic through-going particles. Using the first tonne-year of CUORE's exposure, we perform a search for hypothesized fractionally charged particles (FCPs), which are well-motivated by various Standard Model extensions and would have suppressed interactions with matter. No excess of FCP candidate tracks is observed over background, setting leading limits on the underground FCP flux with charges between $e/24-e/5$ at 90\% confidence level. Using the low background environment and segmented geometry of CUORE, we establish the sensitivity of tonne-scale sub-Kelvin detectors to diverse signatures of new physics., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures

Investigating nanoplasmonics using time-dependent approaches permits shedding light on the dynamic optical properties of plasmonic structures, which are intrinsically connected with their potential applications in photochemistry and photoreactivity. This work proposes a real-time extension of our recently developed fully atomistic approaches $\omega$FQ and $\omega$FQF$\mu$. These methods successfully reproduce quantum size effects in metal nanoparticles, including plasmon shifts for both simple and $d$-metals, even below the quantum size limit. Also, thanks to their atomistic nature and the phenomenological inclusion of quantum tunneling effects, they can effectively describe the optical response of subnanometer junctions. By incorporating real-time dynamics, the approach provides an efficient framework for studying the time-dependent optical behavior of metal nanostructures, including the decoherence of plasmon excitations., Comment: 33 pages, 5 figures

Three-dimensional topological insulators can be described by an effective field theory involving two `hydrodynamic' Abelian gauge fields. The action contains a bulk topological BF term and a surface term, called loop model. This describes the massless 2+1 dimensional excitations and provides them with a semiclassical, yet non-trivial conformal invariant dynamics. Given that topological insulators are originally fermionic, this physical setting is ideal for realizing the bosonization of massless fermions in terms of gauge fields. Building on earlier analyses of the loop model, we find that fermions belong to the solitonic spectrum and can be described by Wilson lines, through the generalization of 1+1 dimensional vertex operators. Their correlation functions agree with conformal invariance. The bosonic loop model is then mapped into a fermionic theory by using the general construction of fermionic topological phases described in the literature. It requires the identification of the characteristic one-form $Z_2$ symmetry of the bosonic theory and its gauging, which originates the fermion number $(-1)^F$, the spin sectors and the time reversal symmetry obeying ${\cal T}^2=(-1)^F$. These results are detailed for the effective action and the partition function on the geometry $S^2\times S^1$., Comment: 48 pages, 3 figures

Traveling Wave Parametric Amplifiers (TWPAs) are extensively employed in experiments involving weak microwave signals for their highly desirable quantum-limited and broadband characteristics. However, TWPAs' broadband nature comes with the disadvantage of admitting the activation of spurious nonlinear processes, such as harmonics generation, that can potentially degrade amplification performance. Here we experimentally investigate a Josephson TWPA device with SNAIL (Superconducting Nonlinear Asymmetric Inductive Element)-based unit cells focusing on the amplification behaviour along with the generation of second and third harmonics of the pump. By comparing experimental results with transient numerical simulations, we demonstrate the influence of Josephson junctions' fabrication imperfections on the occurrence of harmonics and on the gain behaviour., Comment: typos fixed

We present the model we developed to reconstruct the CUORE radioactive background based on the analysis of an experimental exposure of 1038.4 kg yr. The data reconstruction relies on a simultaneous Bayesian fit applied to energy spectra over a broad energy range. The high granularity of the CUORE detector, together with the large exposure and extended stable operations, allow for an in-depth exploration of both spatial and time dependence of backgrounds. We achieve high sensitivity to both bulk and surface activities of the materials of the setup, detecting levels as low as 10 nBq kg$^{-1}$ and 0.1 nBq cm$^{-2}$, respectively. We compare the contamination levels we extract from the background model with prior radio-assay data, which informs future background risk mitigation strategies. The results of this background model play a crucial role in constructing the background budget for the CUPID experiment as it will exploit the same CUORE infrastructure.

The matter-antimatter asymmetry underlines the incompleteness of the current understanding of particle physics. Neutrinoless double-beta ($0\nu \beta\beta$) decay may help explain this asymmetry, while unveiling the Majorana nature of the neutrino. The CUORE experiment searches for $0\nu \beta\beta$ decay of $^{130}$Te using a tonne-scale cryogenic calorimeter operated at milli-kelvin temperatures. We report no evidence for $0\nu \beta\beta$ decay and place a lower limit on the half-life of T$_{1/2}$ $>$ 3.8 $\times$ 10$^{25}$ years (90% C.I.) with over 2 tonne$\cdot$year TeO$_2$ exposure. The tools and techniques developed for this result and the 5 year stable operation of nearly 1000 detectors demonstrate the infrastructure for a next-generation experiment capable of searching for $0\nu \beta\beta$ decay across multiple isotopes.

Euler hydrodynamics of perfect fluids can be viewed as an effective bosonic field theory. In cases when the underlying microscopic system involves Dirac fermions, the quantum anomalies should be properly described. In 1+1 dimensions the action formulation of hydrodynamics at zero temperature is reconsidered and shown to be equal to standard field-theory bosonization. Furthermore, it can be derived from a topological gauge theory in one extra dimension, which identifies the fluid variables through the anomaly inflow relations. Extending this framework to 3+1 dimensions yields an effective field theory/hydrodynamics model, capable of elucidating the mixed axial-vector and axial-gravitational anomalies of Dirac fermions. This formulation provides a platform for bosonization in higher dimensions. Moreover, the connection with 4+1 dimensional topological theories suggests some generalizations of fluid dynamics involving additional degrees of freedom., Comment: 55 pages; published version, some references have been added

In many particle physics experiments the data processing is based on the analysis of the digitized waveforms provided by the detector. While the waveform amplitude is usually correlated to the event energy, the shape may carry useful information for event discrimination. Thanks to the high signal to noise ratio they provide, matched filters are often applied. Their original design is however intended for the estimation of the waveform amplitude only. In this work we introduce an analytical extension of the original matched filter for the estimation of a possible shape deformation with respect to a reference template. The new filter is validated on simulations and, with respect to shape parameters calculated on unfiltered waveforms or derived from the original matched filter, it improves the discrimination capability by at least a factor 2 both at low and high signal to noise ratios, making it applicable to the data of several experiments., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures

We utilize a superconducting qubit processor to experimentally probe non-Markovian dynamics of an entangled qubit pair. We prepare an entangled state between two qubits and monitor the evolution of entanglement over time as one of the qubits interacts with a small quantum environment consisting of an auxiliary transmon qubit coupled to its readout cavity. We observe the collapse and revival of the entanglement as a signature of quantum memory effects in the environment. We then engineer the non-Markovianity of the environment by populating its readout cavity with thermal photons to show a transition from non-Markovian to Markovian dynamics, ultimately reaching a regime where the quantum Zeno effect creates a decoherence-free subspace that effectively stabilizes the entanglement between the qubits., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures

We show that plasma fixed nitrogen (PFN) as a biostimulant can improve marketable lettuce yield following delayed harvest. Using just one-tenth of the conventional nitrogen, PFN, generated by a dielectric barrier discharge over water, was field-tested against traditional fertilization methods. PFN increased marketable lettuce yield by 250% over conventional growing methods despite reducing applied nitrogen fertilizer. Our study suggests that PFN can increase marketable lettuce yield following delayed harvest while ensuring environmental sustainability and product quality.

High frequency oscillations are observed in a neon plasma of a direct current magnetron discharge. At low discharge currents, we see highly coherent 60 MHz fluctuations. Above a distinct current threshold, secondary 5 - 10 MHz fluctuations emerge in addition to turbulent fluctuations in the 60 - 100 MHz range. The oscillations in the total discharge current suggest axial wave propagation. A lower-hybrid wave theory is invoked to model the high frequency oscillations. We attribute the low frequency modes to a turbulence-driven inverse cascade process, as suggested by recent simulations., Comment: Accepted for publication 30 April 2024: https://journals.aps.org/prl/accepted/11073Y9fWa113a8c012e62261eab459f9541ebd97

We present the first continuous operation in a surface lab of BULLKID, a detector for searches of light Dark Matter and precision measurements of the coherent and elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering. The detector consists of an array of 60 cubic silicon particle absorbers of 0.34 g each, sensed by cryogenic kinetic inductance detectors. The data presented focusses on one of the central elements of the array and on its surrounding elements used as veto. The energy spectrum resulting from an exposure of 39 hours to ambient backgrounds, obtained without radiation shields, is flat at the level of $(2.0\pm0.1\,{\rm stat.}\pm0.2\,{\rm syst.})\times10^6$ counts / keV kg days down to the energy threshold of $160\pm13$ eV. The data analysis demonstrates the unique capability of rejecting backgrounds generated from interactions in other sites of the array, stemming from the segmented and monolithic structure of the detector.

We study the temperature evolution of quasiparticles in the correlated metal Sr$_2$RuO$_4$. Our angle resolved photoemission data show that quasiparticles persist up to temperatures above 200~K, far beyond the Fermi liquid regime. Extracting the quasiparticle self-energy we demonstrate that the quasiparticle residue $Z$ increases with increasing temperature. Quasiparticles eventually disappear on approaching the bad metal state of Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ not by losing weight but via excessive broadening from super-Planckian scattering. We further show that the Fermi surface of Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ - defined as the loci where the spectral function peaks - deflates with increasing temperature. These findings are in semi-quantitative agreement with dynamical mean field theory calculations., Comment: Supplemental Material available upon request

We apply inverse design methods to produce two-dimensional triangular-lattice plasma metamaterial (PMM) devices which are then constructed and demonstrated experimentally. Finite difference frequency domain simulations are used along with forward-mode automatic differentiation to optimize the plasma densities of each of the plasma elements in the PMM to perform beam steering and demultiplexing under transverse magnetic polarization. The optimal device parameters are then used to assign plasma density values to elements that make up an experimental version of the device. Device performance is evaluated against both the simulated results and human-designed alternatives, showing the benefits and disadvantages of in-silico inverse design and paving the way for future fully in-situ optimization., Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures

Cosmological simulations describing the evolution of density perturbations of a self-gravitating collisionless Dark Matter (DM) fluid in an expanding background, provide a powerful tool to follow the formation of cosmic structures over wide dynamic ranges. The most widely adopted approach, based on the N-body discretization of the collisionless Vlasov-Poisson (VP) equations, is hampered by an unfavorable scaling when simulating the wide range of scales needed to cover at the same time the formation of single galaxies and of the largest cosmic structures. The dynamics described by the VP equations is limited by the rapid increase of the number of resolution elements which is required to simulate an ever growing range of scales. Recent studies showed an interesting mapping of the 6-dimensional+1 (6D+1) VP problem into a more amenable 3D+1 non-linear Schr\"odinger-Poisson (SP) problem for simulating the evolution of DM perturbations. This opens up the possibility of improving the scaling of time propagation simulations using quantum computing. In this paper, we introduce a quantum algorithm for simulating the (SP) equation by adapting a variational real-time evolution approach to a self-consistent, non-linear, problem. To achieve this, we designed a novel set of quantum circuits that establish connections between the solution of the original Poisson equation and the solution of the corresponding time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation. We also analyzed how nonlinearity impacts the variance of observables. Furthermore, we explored how the spatial resolution behaves as the SP dynamics approaches the classical limit and discovered an empirical logarithmic relationship between the required number of qubits and the scale of the SP equation. This entire approach holds the potential to serve as an efficient alternative for solving the Vlasov-Poisson (VP) equation by means of classical algorithms., Comment: main text 13 pages, appendix 3 pages, 8 numbered figures, 2 tables. Submitted to Physical Review Research

Many precision applications in the mid-infrared spectral range have strong constraints based on quantum effects that are expressed in particular noise characteristics. They limit, e.g., sensitivity and resolution of mid-infrared imaging and spectroscopic systems as well as the bit-error rate in optical free-space communication. Interband cascade lasers (ICLs) are a class of mid-infrared laser exploiting interband transitions in type-II band alignment geometry. They are currently gaining significant importance for mid-infrared applications from <3 {\mu}m to >6 {\mu}m wavelength, enabled by novel types of high-performance ICLs such as ring-cavity devices. Their noise-behavior is an important feature that still needs to be thoroughly analyzed, including its potential reduction with respect to the shot noise limit. In this work, we provide a comprehensive characterization of {\lambda} = 3.8 {\mu}m-emitting, continuous-wave ring-ICLs operating at room temperature. It is based on an in-depth study of their main physical intensity noise features, such as their bias-dependent intensity noise power spectral density (INPSD) and relative intensity noise (RIN). We obtain shot-noise-limited statistics for Fourier frequencies above 100 kHz. This is an important result for precision applications, e.g. interferometry or advanced spectroscopy, which benefit from exploiting the advantage of using such a shot-noise limited source, enhancing the setup sensitivity. Moreover, it is an important feature for novel quantum optics schemes including testing specific light states below the shot noise level, such as squeezed states.

Black phosphorus (BP) stands out among two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors because of its high mobility and thickness dependent direct band gap. However, the quasiparticle band structure of ultrathin BP has remained inaccessible to experiment thus far. Here we use a recently developed laser-based micro-focus angle resolved photoemission ($\mu$-ARPES) system to establish the electronic structure of 2-9 layer BP from experiment. Our measurements unveil ladders of anisotropic, quantized subbands at energies that deviate from the scaling observed in conventional semiconductor quantum wells. We quantify the anisotropy of the effective masses and determine universal tight-binding parameters which provide an accurate description of the electronic structure for all thicknesses., Comment: Supporting Information available upon request

Large language models are commonly trained on a mixture of filtered web data and curated high-quality corpora, such as social media conversations, books, or technical papers. This curation process is believed to be necessary to produce performant models with broad zero-shot generalization abilities. However, as larger models requiring pretraining on trillions of tokens are considered, it is unclear how scalable is curation and whether we will run out of unique high-quality data soon. At variance with previous beliefs, we show that properly filtered and deduplicated web data alone can lead to powerful models; even significantly outperforming models from the state-of-the-art trained on The Pile. Despite extensive filtering, the high-quality data we extract from the web is still plentiful, and we are able to obtain five trillion tokens from CommonCrawl. We publicly release an extract of 600 billion tokens from our RefinedWeb dataset, and 1.3/7.5B parameters language models trained on it.

A traveling wave parametric amplifier has been integrated in the haloscope of the QUAX experiment. A search for dark matter axions has been performed with a high Q dielectric cavity immersed in a 8 T magnetic field and read by a detection chain having a system noise temperature of about 2.1 K at the frequency of 10.353 GHz. Scanning has been conducted by varying the cavity frequency using sapphire rods immersed into the cavity. At multiple operating frequencies, the sensitivity of the instrument was at the level of viable axion models.

CUPID is a next-generation bolometric experiment aiming at searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay with ~250 kg of isotopic mass of $^{100}$Mo. It will operate at $\sim$10 mK in a cryostat currently hosting a similar-scale bolometric array for the CUORE experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (Italy). CUPID will be based on large-volume scintillating bolometers consisting of $^{100}$Mo-enriched Li$_2$MoO$_4$ crystals, facing thin Ge-wafer-based bolometric light detectors. In the CUPID design, the detector structure is novel and needs to be validated. In particular, the CUORE cryostat presents a high level of mechanical vibrations due to the use of pulse tubes and the effect of vibrations on the detector performance must be investigated. In this paper we report the first test of the CUPID-design bolometric light detectors with NTD-Ge sensors in a dilution refrigerator equipped with a pulse tube in an above-ground lab. Light detectors are characterized in terms of sensitivity, energy resolution, pulse time constants, and noise power spectrum. Despite the challenging noisy environment due to pulse-tube-induced vibrations, we demonstrate that all the four tested light detectors comply with the CUPID goal in terms of intrinsic energy resolution of 100 eV RMS baseline noise. Indeed, we have measured 70--90 eV RMS for the four devices, which show an excellent reproducibility. We have also obtained outstanding energy resolutions at the 356 keV line from a $^{133}$Ba source with one light detector achieving 0.71(5) keV FWHM, which is -- to our knowledge -- the best ever obtained when compared to $\gamma$ detectors of any technology in this energy range., Comment: Prepared for submission to JINST; 16 pages, 7 figures, and 1 table

An array of twelve 0.28 kg lithium molybdate (LMO) low-temperature bolometers equipped with 16 bolometric Ge light detectors, aiming at optimization of detector structure for CROSS and CUPID double-beta decay experiments, was constructed and tested in a low-background pulse-tube-based cryostat at the Canfranc underground laboratory in Spain. Performance of the scintillating bolometers was studied depending on the size of phonon NTD-Ge sensors glued to both LMO and Ge absorbers, shape of the Ge light detectors (circular vs. square, from two suppliers), in different light collection conditions (with and without reflector, with aluminum coated LMO crystal surface). The scintillating bolometer array was operated over 8 months in the low-background conditions that allowed to probe a very low, $\mu$Bq/kg, level of the LMO crystals radioactive contamination by $^{228}$Th and $^{226}$Ra., Comment: Prepared for submission to JINST; 23 pages, 9 figures, and 4 tables