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Speckle patterns are inherent features of coherent light propagation through complex media. As a result of interference, they are sensitive to multiple experimental parameters such as the configuration of disorder or the propagating wavelength. Recently, developments in wavefront shaping have enabled to control speckle pattern statistics and correlations, for example using the concept of the transmission matrix. In this article, we address the problem of correlating scattered fields across multiple degrees of freedom. We highlight the common points between the specific techniques already demonstrated and propose a general framework based on the singular value decomposition of a linear combination of multiple transmission matrices. Following analytical predictions, we experimentally illustrate the technique on spectral and temporal correlations and show that both the amplitude and the phase of the field correlations can be tuned. Our works open new perspectives in speckle correlation manipulation, with potential applications in coherent control and proposing a generalization of the concept speckle memory effect.

Imaging at depth in opaque materials has long been a challenge. Recently, wavefront shaping has enabled significant advance for deep imaging. Nevertheless, most non-invasive wavefront shaping methods require cameras, lack the sensitivity for deep imaging under weak optical signals, or can only focus on a single "guidestar". Here, we retrieve the transmission matrix (TM) non-invasively using two-photon fluorescence exploiting a general single-pixel detection framework, allowing to achieve single-target focus on multiple guidestars spread beyond the memory effect range. In addition, if we assume memory effect correlations exist in the transmission matrix, we are able to significantly reduce the number of measurements needed.

Three-photon (3P) microscopy is getting traction due to its superior performance in deep tissues. Yet, aberrations and light scattering still pose one of the main limitations in the attainable depth ranges for high-resolution imaging. Here, we show scattering correcting wavefront shaping with a simple continuous optimization algorithm, guided by the integrated 3P fluorescence signal. We demonstrate focusing and imaging behind scattering layers and investigate convergence trajectories for different sample geometries and feedback non-linearities. Furthermore, we show imaging through a mouse skull and demonstrate a novel fast phase estimation scheme that substantially increases the speed at which the optimal correction can be found., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures

Theoretical understanding of the scaling of entropies and the mutual information has led to significant advances in the research of correlated states of matter, quantum field theory, and gravity. Measuring von Neumann entropy in quantum many-body systems is challenging as it requires complete knowledge of the density matrix. In this work, we measure the von Neumann entropy of spatially extended subsystems in an ultra-cold atom simulator of one-dimensional quantum field theories. We experimentally verify one of the fundamental properties of equilibrium states of gapped quantum many-body systems, the area law of quantum mutual information. We also study the dependence of mutual information on temperature and the separation between the subsystems. Our work is a crucial step toward employing ultra-cold atom simulators to probe entanglement in quantum field theories., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, extended Supplemental Material

Raman scattering is a chemically selective probing mechanism with diverse applications in industry and clinical settings. Yet, most samples are optically opaque limiting the applicability of Raman probing at depth. Here, we demonstrate chemically selective energy deposition behind a scattering medium by combining prior information on the chemical's spectrum with the measurement of a spectrally resolved Raman speckle as a feedback mechanism for wavefront shaping. We demonstrate unprecedented six-fold signal enhancement in an epi-geometry, realizing targeted energy deposition and focusing on selected Raman active particles.

The complex temporal behavior of an ultrashort pulse of light propagating through a multiply scattering medium can be characterized experimentally through a time-gated transmission matrix. Using a spatial light modulator, we demonstrate here, that injecting singular vectors of this matrix allows us to optimally control energy deposition at any controllable delay time. Our approach provides insights into fundamental aspects of multi-spectral light scattering and could find applications in imaging or coherent control.

The relationship between many-body interactions and dimensionality is integral to numerous emergent quantum phenomena. A striking example is the Bose gas, which upon confinement to one dimension (1D) obeys an infinite set of conservation laws, prohibiting thermalization and constraining dynamics. In our experiment, we demonstrate that such 1D behavior can extend much farther into the dimensional crossover towards 3D than expected. Starting from a weakly interacting Bose gas trapped in a highly elongated potential, we perform a quench to instigate dynamics of a single density mode. Employing the theory of Generalized Hydrodynamics, we identify the dominant relaxation mechanism as the 1D dephasing of the relevant collective excitations of the system, the rapidities. Surprisingly, the dephasing remains dominant even for temperatures far exceeding conventional limits of one-dimensionality where thermalization should occur. We attribute our observations to an emergent Pauli blocking of transverse excitations, caused by the rapidities assuming fermionic statistics, despite the gas being purely bosonic. Thus, our study suggests that 1D physics is less fragile than previously thought, as it can persist even in the presence of significant perturbations. More broadly, by employing the exact Bethe ansatz solutions of the many-body system, we facilitate an interpretation of how the emergent macroscopic behavior arises from the microscopic interactions., Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures

We comprehensively investigate two distinct mechanisms leading to memory loss of non-Gaussian correlations after switching off the interactions in an isolated quantum system undergoing out-of-equilibrium dynamics. The first mechanism is based on spatial scrambling and results in the emergence of locally Gaussian steady states in large systems evolving over long times. The second mechanism, characterized as `canonical transmutation', is based on the mixing of a pair of canonically conjugate fields, one of which initially exhibits non-Gaussian fluctuations while the other is Gaussian and dominates the dynamics, resulting in the emergence of relative Gaussianity even at finite system sizes and times. We evaluate signatures of the occurrence of the two candidate mechanisms in a recent experiment that has observed Gaussification in an atom-chip controlled ultracold gas and elucidate evidence that it is canonical transmutation rather than spatial scrambling that is responsible for Gaussification in the experiment. Both mechanisms are shown to share the common feature that the Gaussian correlations revealed dynamically by the quench are already present though practically inaccessible at the initial time. On the way, we present novel observations based on the experimental data, demonstrating clustering of equilibrium correlations, analyzing the dynamics of full counting statistics, and utilizing tomographic reconstructions of quantum field states. Our work aims at providing an accessible presentation of the potential of atom-chip experiments to explore fundamental aspects of quantum field theories in quantum simulations.

Speckle patterns are ubiquitous in optics and have multiple applications for which the control of their spatial correlations is essential. Here, we report on a method to engineer speckle correlations behind a scattering medium through the singular value decomposition of the transmission matrix. We not only demonstrate control over the speckle grain size and shape but also realize patterns with non-local correlations. Moreover, we show that the reach of our method extends also along the axial dimension, allowing volumetric speckle engineering behind scattering layers.

Gaussian models provide an excellent effective description of many quantum many-body systems ranging from condensed matter systems all the way to neutron stars. Gaussian states are common at equilibrium when the interactions are weak. Recently it was proposed that they can also emerge dynamically from a non-Gaussian initial state evolving under non-interacting dynamics. In this work, we present the experimental observation of such a dynamical emergence of Gaussian correlations in a quantum many-body system. This non-equilibrium evolution is triggered by abruptly switching off the effective interaction between the observed collective degrees of freedom, while leaving the interactions between the microscopic constituents unchanged. Starting from highly non-Gaussian correlations, consistent with the sine-Gordon model, we observe a Gaussian state to emerge over time as revealed by the decay of the fourth and sixth order connected correlations in the quantum field. A description of this dynamics requires a novel mechanism for the emergence of Gaussian correlations, which is relevant for a wide class of quantum many-body systems. In our closed system with non-interacting effective degrees of freedom, we do not expect full thermalization. This memory of the initial state is confirmed by observing recurrences of non-Gaussian correlations., Comment: author accepted manuscript

We use laser light shaped by a digital micro-mirror device to realize arbitrary optical dipole potentials for one-dimensional (1D) degenerate Bose gases of 87Rb trapped on an atom chip. Superposing optical and magnetic potentials combines the high flexibility of optical dipole traps with the advantages of magnetic trapping, such as effective evaporative cooling and the application of radio-frequency dressed state potentials. As applications, we present a 160 ${\mu}$m long box-like potential with a central tuneable barrier, a box-like potential with a sinusoidally modulated bottom and a linear confining potential. These potentials provide new tools to investigate the dynamics of 1D quantum systems and will allow us to address exciting questions in quantum thermodynamics and quantum simulations., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures

Even though the evolution of an isolated quantum system is unitary, the complexity of interacting many-body systems prevents the observation of recurrences of quantum states for all but the smallest systems. For large systems one can not access the full complexity of the quantum states and the requirements to observe a recurrence in experiments reduces to being close to the initial state with respect to the employed observable. Selecting an observable connected to the collective excitations in one-dimensional superfluids, we demonstrate recurrences of coherence and long range order in an interacting quantum many-body system containing thousands of particles. This opens up a new window into the dynamics of large quantum systems even after they reached a transient thermal-like state., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures + supplementary materials (9 pages, 6 figures)

We experimentally study the dynamics of a degenerate one-dimensional Bose gas that is subject to a continuous outcoupling of atoms. Although standard evaporative cooling is rendered ineffective by the absence of thermalizing collisions in this system, we observe substantial cooling. This cooling proceeds through homogeneous particle dissipation and many-body dephasing, enabling the preparation of otherwise unexpectedly low temperatures. Our observations establish a scaling relation between temperature and particle number, and provide insights into equilibration in the quantum world., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

Knowledge of all correlation functions of a system is equivalent to solving the corresponding many-body problem. Already a finite set of correlation functions can be sufficient to describe a quantum many-body system if correlations factorise, at least approximately. While being a powerful theoretical concept, an implementation based on experimental data has so far remained elusive. Here, this is achieved by applying it to a non-trivial quantum many-body problem: A pair of tunnel-coupled one-dimensional atomic superfluids. From measured interference patterns we extract phase correlation functions up to tenth order and analyse if, and under which conditions, they factorise. This characterises the essential features of the system, the relevant quasiparticles, their interactions and possible topologically distinct vacua. We verify that in thermal equilibrium the physics can be described by the quantum sine-Gordon model, relevant for a wide variety of disciplines from particle to condensed-matter physics. Our experiment establishes a general method to analyse quantum many-body systems in experiments. It represents a crucial ingredient towards the implementation and verification of quantum simulators.

The connection between the non-equilibrium dynamics of isolated quantum many-body systems and statistical mechanics is a fundamental open question. It is generally believed that the unitary quantum evolution of a sufficiently complex system leads to an apparent maximum-entropy state that can be described by thermodynamical ensembles. However, conventional ensembles fail to describe the large class of systems that exhibit non-trivial conserved quantities. Instead, generalized ensembles have been predicted to maximize entropy in these systems. In our experiments we explicitly show that a degenerate one-dimensional Bose gas relaxes to a state that can be described by such a generalized ensemble. This is verified through a detailed study of correlation functions up to 10th order. The applicability of the generalized ensemble description for isolated quantum many-body systems points to a natural emergence of classical statistical properties from the microscopic unitary quantum evolution., Comment: 5 pages + 4 pages supp. mat., 4 figures

We theoretically investigate a weakly-interacting degenerate Bose gas coupled to an empty Markovian bath. We show that in the universal phononic limit the system evolves towards an asymptotic state where an emergent temperature is set by the quantum noise of the outcoupling process. For situations typically encountered in experiments, this mechanism leads to significant cooling. Such dissipative cooling supplements conventional evaporative cooling and dominates in settings where thermalization is highly suppressed, such as in a one-dimensional quasicondensate., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, open access publication

We study the dynamics of phase relaxation between a pair of one-dimensional condensates created by a supersonic unzipping of a single condensate. We use the Lorentz invariance of the low energy sector of such systems to show that dephasing results in an unusual prethermal state, in which right- and left-moving excitations have different, Doppler-shifted temperatures. The chirality of these modes can be probed experimentally by measuring the interference fringe contrasts with the release point of the split condensates moving at another supersonic velocity. Further, an accelerated motion of the release point can be used to observe a space-like analogue of the Unruh effect. A concrete experimental realization of the quantum zipper for a BEC of trapped atoms on a atom chip is outlined. We interpret these results in the context of the general question of the Lorentz transformation of temperature, and the close analogy with the dipolar anisotropy of the Cosmic Microwave Background., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures

We experimentally demonstrate how thermal properties in an non-equilibrium quantum many- body system emerge locally, spread in space and time, and finally lead to the globally relaxed state. In our experiment, we quench a one-dimensional (1D) Bose gas by coherently splitting it into two parts. By monitoring the phase coherence between the two parts we observe that the thermal correlations of a prethermalized state emerge locally in their final form and propagate through the system in a light-cone-like evolution. Our results underline the close link between the propagation of correlations and relaxation processes in quantum many-body systems.

We detail the experimental observation of the non-equilibrium many-body phenomenon prethermalization. We study the dynamics of a rapidly and coherently split one-dimensional Bose gas. An analysis based on the use of full quantum mechanical probability distributions of matter wave interference contrast reveals that the system evolves towards a quasi-steady state. This state, which can be characterized by an effective temperature, is not the final thermal equilibrium state. We compare the evolution of the system to an integrable Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid model and show that the system dephases to a prethermalized state rather than undergoing thermalization towards a final thermal equilibrium state., Comment: Submitted to NJP for the focus issue on Out-of-Equilibrium Dynamics in Strongly Interacting One-Dimensional Systems

We study the non-equilibrium dynamics of a coherently split one-dimensional (1d) Bose gas by measuring the full probability distribution functions of matter-wave interference. Observing the system on different length scales allows us to probe the dynamics of excitations on different energy scales, revealing two distinct length-scale dependent regimes of relaxation. We measure the crossover length-scale separating these two regimes and identify it with the prethermalized phase-correlation length of the system. Our approach enables a direct observation of the multimode dynamics characterizing one-dimensional quantum systems., Comment: 5 pages including references, 4 figures

We experimentally study the relaxation dynamics of a coherently split one-dimensional Bose gas using matterwave interference. Measuring the full probability distributions of interference contrast reveals the prethermalization of the system to a non-thermal steady state. To describe the evolution of noise and correlations we develop a semiclassical effective description that allows us to model the dynamics as a stochastic Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process., Comment: Submitted to EPJ Special Topics for the special issue on "Novel Quantum Phases and Mesoscopic Physics in Quantum Gases", Lyon BEC 2012

Understanding relaxation processes is an important unsolved problem in many areas of physics. A key challenge in studying such non-equilibrium dynamics is the scarcity of experimental tools for characterizing their complex transient states. We employ measurements of full quantum mechanical probability distributions of matter-wave interference to study the relaxation dynamics of a coherently split one-dimensional Bose gas and obtain unprecedented information about the dynamical states of the system. Following an initial rapid evolution, the full distributions reveal the approach towards a thermal-like steady state characterized by an effective temperature that is independent from the initial equilibrium temperature of the system before the splitting process. We conjecture that this state can be described through a generalized Gibbs ensemble and associate it with pre-thermalization., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures