Search

Mathematically, topological invariants arise from the parallel transport of eigenstates on the energy bands, which, in physics, correspond to the adiabatic dynamical evolution of transient states. It determines the presence of boundary states, while lacking direct measurements. Here, we develop time-varying programmable coupling circuits between acoustic cavities to mimic the Hamiltonians in the Brillouin zone, with which excitation and adiabatic evolution of bulk states are realized in a unit cell. By extracting the Berry phases of the bulk band, topological invariants, including the Zak phase for the SSH model and the Chern number for the AAH model, are obtained convincingly. The bulk state evolution also provides insight into the topological charges of our newly developed non-Abelian models, which are also verified by observing the adiabatic eigenframe rotation. Our work not only provides a general recipe for telling various topological invariants but also sheds light on transient acoustic wave manipulations., Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures

Recent advances in planar optics with geometric-phase superstructures have brought a new paradigm in the control of structured light and, in particular, has substantially enhanced the capabilities of generating and detecting orbital angular momentum (OAM) states of light and associated spatial modes. However, the structured modal interface that can reciprocally link OAM states via adiabatic control and access-associated higher-order geometric phase remains absent in planar optics. In this work, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a planar optical astigmatic retarder fabricated with liquid-crystal (LC) geometric phase. The LC superstructure was designed with the principle of fractional Fourier transformation and is capable of reciprocal conversion between all possible OAM states on the same modal sphere. Such a planar device paves the way towards an easily deployed modal interface of paraxial OAM states, unlocks the resource of higher-order geometric phase, and has promising applications in high-dimensional classical/quantum information.

For photonic crystal slab (PCS) structures, bound states in the continuum (BICs) and circularly polarized states (dubbed C-points) are important topological polarization singularities in momentum-space and have attracted burgeoning attention due to their novel topological and optical properties. In our work, the evolution of polarization singularities from BICs to C-points is achieved by breaking the in-plane C2 symmetry of a PCS structure of a square lattice with C4v symmetry. Correspondingly, a BIC is split into two C-points with opposite chirality, incurring distinct optical transmission responses with the incidence of right or left circular polarization (RCP or LCP). Harnessing such chirality selectivity of the C-points, we propose a multifunctional imaging system by integrating the designed PCS into a conventional 4-f imaging system, to realize both the edge imaging and conventional bright-field imaging, determined by the circular polarization state of the light source. In addition to multifunctional imaging, our system also provides a vivid picture about the evolution of the PCS platforms' singularities., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures

In quantum logic operations, information is carried by the wavefunction rather than the energy distribution. Therefore, the relative phase is essential. Abelian and non-Abelian phases can be emulated in classical waves using passive coupled waveguides with geometric modulation. However, the dynamic phases interference induced by waveguide structure variation is inevitable.To overcome the challenges, we introduce an electroacoustic coupled system that enables the precise control of phase distribution through dynamic modulation of hopping. Such effective hopping is electronically controlled and is utilized to construct various paths in parameter space. These paths lead to state evolution with matrix-valued geometric phases, which correspond to logic operations. We report experimental realizations of several logic operations, including $Y$ gate, $Z$ gate, Hadamard gate and non-Abelian braiding. Our work introduces a temporal process to manipulate transient modes in a compact structure, providing a versatile experimental testbed for exploring other logic gates and exotic topological phenomena.

Drone-based quantum link has the potential to realize mobile quantum network, and entanglement distribution has been demonstrated using one and two drones. Here we report the first drone-based quantum key distribution (QKD), with average secure key rate larger than 8 kHz using decoy-state BB84 protocol with polarization coding. Compact acquisition, pointing, and tracking (APT) system and QKD modules are developed and loaded on a home-made octocopter, within takeoff weight of 30 kg. A robust link is established between the flying octocopter and a ground station separated 200 meters away and real-time QKD is performed for 400 seconds. This work shows potential of drone-based quantum communication for the future mobile quantum networks.

Reciprocal spin-orbit coupling (SOC) via geometric phase with flat optics provides a promising platform for shaping and controlling paraxial structured light. Current devices, from the pioneering q-plates to the recent J-plates, provide only spin-dependent wavefront modulation without amplitude control. However, achieving control over all the spatial dimensions of paraxial SOC states requires spin-dependent control of corresponding complex amplitude, which remains challenging for flat optics. Here, to address this issue, we present a new type of flat-optics elements termed structured geometric phase gratings that is capable of conjugated complex-amplitude control for orthogonal input circular polarizations. By using a microstructured liquid crystal photoalignment technique, we engineered a series of flat-optics elements and experimentally showed their excellent precision in arbitrary SOC control. This principle unlocks the full-field control of paraxial structured light via flat optics, providing a promising way to develop an information exchange and processing units for general photonic SOC states, as well as extra-/intracavity mode convertors for high-precision laser beam shaping.

We study the collective motion of self-propelled particles affected by the spatial-dependent noise based on the Vicsek rules. Only the particles inside the special region will affected by noise. The consideration of the spatial-dependent noise is closer to reality because of the complexity of the environment. Interestingly, we find that there exists an optimal amplitude of noise to adjust the average motional direction of the system. Particular orientation of the noisy region makes the motional direction of the system parallel to the orientation of the noisy region. The adjustment of the motional direction of the system also depends on the shape, the proportion and the spatial distribution of the noisy region. Our findings may inspire the capture of the key features of collective motion underlying various phenomena., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 39 references

Recently, photons have been observed to possess transverse orbital angular momentum (OAM); however, it is unclear as whether they can hold a transverse OAM higher than 1. Here, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate that high-order spatiotemporal Bessel optical vortices (STBOVs) can stably carry transverse OAM even beyond $10^2$. Through the inverse design of the spiral phase, an STBOV of any order can be controllably generated using a 4f pulse shaper. In contrast to conventional longitudinal OAM, the vector direction of the transverse OAM can be distinguished by the unique time-symmetrical evolution of STBOVs. More interestingly, the stability of STBOVs improves with their increasing orders owing to enhanced space-time coupling, making these beams particularly suitable for the generation of ultra-high transverse OAM. Our work paves the way for further research and application of this unique OAM of photons.

The performances of optical fibre-based quantum information systems are limited by the intrinsic properties of silica glass materials, e.g. high latency, Rayleigh-scattering loss wavelength scaling law, and cross-coupling induced modal impurity. Hollow-core optical fibre (HCF) promises to unify air-borne light propagation and non-line-of-sight transmission, thus holding great potentials for versatile photonics-based quantum infor-mation applications. The early version of HCF based on photonic-bandgap guidance has not proven itself as a reliable quantum channel because of the poor modal purity in both spatial and polarization domains, as well as significant difficulty in fabrication when the wavelength shifts to the visible region. In this work, based on the polarization degree of freedom, we first, to the best of our knowledge, demonstrate high-fidelity (~0.98) single-photon transmission and distribution of entangled photons over a conjoined-tube hollow-core fibre (CTF) by using commercial silicon single-photon avalanche photodiodes. Our CTF realized the combined merits of low loss, high spatial mode purity, low polarization degradation, and low chromatic dispersion. We also demonstrate single-photon low latency (~99.96% speed of light in vacuum) transmission, thus paving the way for extensive uses of HCF links in versatile polarization-based quantum information processing.

Weak value amplification (WVA) is a metrological protocol that amplifies ultra-small physical effects. However, the amplified outcomes necessarily occur with highly suppressed probabilities, leading to the extensive debate on whether the overall measurement precision is improved in comparison to that of conventional measurement (CM). Here, we experimentally demonstrate the unambiguous advantages of WVA that overcome practical limitations including noise and saturation of photo-detection and maintain a shot-noise-scaling precision for a large range of input light intensity well beyond the dynamic range of the photodetector. The precision achieved by WVA is six times higher than that of CM in our setup. Our results clear the way for the widespread use of WVA in applications involving the measurement of small signals including precision metrology and commercial sensors., Comment: 6pages, 4 figures

Ultrafast lasers generating high repetition rate ultrashort pulses through various mode-locking methods can benefit many important applications including communication, materials processing, astronomical observation, etc. For decades, mode-locking based on dissipative four-wave-mixing (DFWM) has been fundamental in producing pulses with repetition rates on the order of gigahertz (GHz), where multiwavelength comb filters and long nonlinear components are elemental. Recently, this method has been improved using filter-driven DFWM, which exploits both the filtering and nonlinear features of silica microring resonators. However, the fabrication complexity and coupling loss between waveguides and fibers are problematics. In this study, we demonstrate a tens to hundreds of gigahertz stable pulsed all-fiber laser based on the hybrid plasmonic microfiber knot resonator device. Unlike previously reported pulse generation mechanisms, the operation utilizes the nonlinear-polarization-rotation (NPR) effect introduced by the polarization-dependent feature of the device to increase intracavity power for boosting DFWM mode-locking, which we term NPR -stimulated DFWM. The easily-fabricated versatile device acts as a polarizer, comb filter, and nonlinear component simultaneously, thereby introducing a novel application of microfiber resonator devices in ultrafast and nonlinear photonics. We believe that our work underpins a significant improvement in achieving practical low-cost ultrafast light sources.

Two dimensional (2D) materials exhibit superior properties in electronic and optoelectronic fields. The wide demand for high performance optoelectronic devices promotes the exploration of diversified 2D materials. Recently, 2D covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have emerged as next-generation layered materials with predesigned pi electronic skeletons and highly ordered topological structures, which are promising for tailoring their optoelectronic properties. However, COFs are usually produced as solid powders due to anisotropic growth, making them unreliable to integrate into devices. Here, by selecting tetraphenylethylene (TPE) monomers with photoelectric activity, we designed and synthesized photosensitive 2D COFs with highly ordered topologies and grew 2D COFs in situ on graphene to form well ordered COF graphene heterostructures. Ultrasensitive photodetectors were successfully fabricated with the COFETBC TAPT graphene heterostructure and exhibited an excellent overall performance. Moreover, due to the high surface area and the polarity selectivity of COFs, the photosensing properties of the photodetectors can be reversibly regulated by specific target molecules. Our research provides new strategies for building advanced functional devices with programmable material structures and diversified regulation methods, paving the way for a generation of high performance applications in optoelectronics and many other fields., Comment: 12 pages

The quantum satellite is a cornerstone towards practical free-space quantum network and overcomes the photon loss over large distance. However, challenges still exist including real-time all-location coverage and multi-node construction, which may be complemented by the diversity of modern drones. Here we demonstrate the first drone-based entanglement distribution at all-weather conditions over 200 meters (test field limited), and the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt S-parameter exceeds 2.49, within 35 kg take-off weight. With symmetric transmitter and receiver beam apertures and single-mode-fiber-coupling technology, such progress is ready for future quantum network with multi-node expansion. This network can be further integrated in picture-drone sizes for plug-and-play local-area coverage, or loaded onto high-altitude drones for wide-area coverage, which adds flexibility while connecting to the existing satellites and ground fiber-based quantum network., Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures

Vector vortex beams simultaneously carrying spin and orbital angular momentum of light promise additional degrees of freedom for modern optics and emerging resources for both classical and quantum information technologies. The inherently infinite dimensions can be exploited to enhance data capacity for sustaining the unprecedented growth in big data and internet traffic, and can be encoded to build quantum computing machines in high-dimensional Hilbert space. So far much progress has been made in the emission of vector vortex beams from a chip surface into free space, however, the generation of vector vortex beams inside a photonic chip hasn't been realized yet. Here, we demonstrate the first vector vortex beam emitter embedded in a photonic chip by using femtosecond laser direct writing. We achieve a conversion of vector vortex beams with an efficiency up to 30% and scalar vortex beams with an efficiency up to 74% from Gaussian beams. We also present an expanded coupled-mode model for understanding the mode conversion and the influence of the imperfection in fabrication. The fashion of embedded generation makes vector vortex beams directly ready for further transmission, manipulation and emission without any additional interconnection. Together with the ability to be integrated as an array, our results may enable vector vortex beams become accessible inside a photonic chip for high-capacity communication and high-dimensional quantum information processing., Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures

We propose a quasi-periodic structure (QPS) with topological defects. The analytical expression of the corresponding Fourier spectrum is derived, which reflects the combined effects of topological structure and quasitranslational symmetry. Light-matter interaction therein brings unusual diffraction characteristics with exotic evolution of orbital angular momentum (OAM). Long-range correlation of QPS resulted in multi-fractal and pairwise distribution of optical singularities. A general conversation law of OAM was revealed. A liquid crystal photopatterning QPS is fabricated to demonstrate the above characteristics. Dynamic reconfigurable manipulation of optical singularities was achieved. Our approach offers the opportunity to manipulate OAM with multiple degrees of freedom, which has promising applications in multi-channel quantum information processing and highdimensional quantum state generation.

The spectral evolution and spatial distribution of backscattered Brillouin signals is experimentally investigated in sub-wavelength silica microfibers. The Brillouin spectrum evolution reveals the different dynamics of the various peaks, offering evidence of backscattering signals induced by acoustic waves with phase velocity greater than that of the longitudinal wave. The spatial distribution is found to have significant influence on the response of Brillouin scattering under tensile load, with hybrid acoustic modes providing a smaller response under axial strain. This insight into interactions between optical and hybrid acoustic modes at sub-wavelength confinements could help understand ultrasonic waves in tapered waveguides, and have potential applications in optical sensing and detection.

Quantum protocols require access to large-scale entangled quantum states, due to the requirement of channel capacity. As a promising candidate, the high-dimensional orbital angular momentum (OAM) entangled states have been implemented, but only one of four OAM Bell states in each individual subspace can be distinguished. Here we demonstrate the first realization of complete OAM Bell-state measurement (OAM-BSM) in an individual subspace, by seeking the suitable unitary matrix performable using only linear optics and breaking the degeneracy of four OAM Bell states in ancillary polarization dimension. We further realize the superdense coding via our complete OAMBSM with the average success probability of ~82% and the channel capacity of ~1.1(4) bits. This work opens the window for increasing the channel capacity and extending the applications of OAM quantum states in quantum information in future., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

Light with transverse polarization structure, such as radial and azimuthal polarization, enables and revives lots of applications based on light-matter interaction due to their unique focal properties. To date, studies referring to this topic mainly concentrate in weak-light domain, yet it should have gained more attention in strong-light domain. A main factor contributing to the current situation is that the generation devices cannot afford high power. Here, in this proof-of-principle work, we demonstrate the generation of strong single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) cylindrical vector (CV) short pulses via stimulated Brillouin amplification, specifically, the energy is transferred from a 700 ps pump to a 300 ps Stokes pulse via parametrically generated coherent phonons. After amplification, a 100 mJ-level SLM CV pulse light with 300 ps duration is obtained. Meanwhile, the phase and polarization structures are high fidelity maintained. This result provides a practicable way to generate strong CV light, and by extending this mechanism into multi-pump beam combing system, even an ultra-high intensity CV light can be expected.