Atomic and molecular physics articles within Nature Physics

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  • News & Views |

    Controlling the response of a material to light at the single-atom level is a key factor for many quantum technologies. An experiment now shows how to control the optical properties of an atomic array by manipulating the state of a single atom.

    • Rivka Bekenstein
    •  & Susanne F. Yelin

  • News & Views |

    Boson sampling is a benchmark problem for photonic quantum computers and a potential avenue towards quantum advantage. A scheme to realize a boson sampler based on the vibrational modes in a chain of trapped ions instead has now been demonstrated.

    • Norbert M. Linke

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The realization of efficient light–matter interfaces is important for many quantum technologies. An experiment now shows how to coherently switch the collective optical properties of an array of quantum emitters by driving a single ancilla atom to a Rydberg state.

    • Kritsana Srakaew
    • , Pascal Weckesser
    •  & Johannes Zeiher

  • Article |

    Strongly driven light sources have become useful in many ways but are limited to classical emission. A quantum-optical theory now shows how non-classical states of light can be achieved from strongly-driven many-body systems, for example, non-coherent and correlated high-harmonic generation.

    • Andrea Pizzi
    • , Alexey Gorlach
    •  & Ido Kaminer

  • Letter |

    The presence of small thermal regions in a many-body localized system could lead to its delocalization. An experiment with cold atoms now monitors the delocalization induced by the coupling of a many-body localized region with a thermal bath.

    • Julian Léonard
    • , Sooshin Kim
    •  & Markus Greiner

  • Article |

    In bosonic systems, the presence of particles in a given quantum level can enhance the transition rates into that state, an effect known as bosonic stimulation. Bosonic enhancement of light scattering has now been observed in an ultracold Bose gas.

    • Yu-Kun Lu
    • , Yair Margalit
    •  & Wolfgang Ketterle

  • Letter |

    Interspecies comparisons between atomic optical clocks are important for several technological applications. A recently proposed spectroscopy technique extends the interrogation times of clocks, leading to highly stable comparison between species.

    • May E. Kim
    • , William F. McGrew
    •  & David R. Leibrandt

  • Article |

    Attosecond circular-dichroism chronoscopy—a spectroscopy technique that employs two circularly polarized pulses in co-rotating and counter-rotating geometries—can measure the amplitudes and phases of continuum–continuum transitions in electron vortices.

    • Meng Han
    • , Jia-Bao Ji
    •  & Hans Jakob Wörner

  • News & Views |

    The observation of quantized vortices in a rotating gas of magnetic atoms confirms a long-standing prediction and has far-reaching implications for the study of phenomena related to superfluidity.

    • Zoran Hadzibabic

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultracold gases composed of lanthanide atoms are characterized by long-range dipolar interactions. These have now been exploited to observe quantized vortices in a dipolar condensate through the manipulation of the atoms by rotating external magnetic fields.

    • Lauritz Klaus
    • , Thomas Bland
    •  & Francesca Ferlaino

  • Research Briefing |

    An ultracold spinor Bose gas was used to achieve advanced experimental control and detection of an easy-plane ferromagnet, allowing observation of the system as it approaches equilibrium. The measurements revealed twofold superfluidity in the spin and density degrees of freedom with very different critical speeds.

  • News & Views |

    A quantum rotor periodically kicked stops absorbing energy after a certain time and enters into a localized regime. Two experiments with cold atoms have now shown how many-body interactions can suppress dynamical localization.

    • Jakub Zakrzewski

  • Letter |

    The quantum kicked rotor is a paradigmatic non-interacting model of quantum chaos and ergodicity breaking. An experiment with a kicked Bose–Einstein condensate now explores the influence of many-body interactions on the onset of quantum chaos.

    • Jun Hui See Toh
    • , Katherine C. McCormick
    •  & Subhadeep Gupta

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A Mott insulator forms when strong interactions between particles cause them to become localized. A cold atom simulator has now been used to realize a selective Mott insulator in which atoms are localized or propagating depending on their spin state.

    • D. Tusi
    • , L. Franchi
    •  & L. Fallani

  • News & Views |

    Experiments with ultracold atoms can be used to create nearly ideal quantum simulations of theoretical models. A realization of a model of exotic magnetism has tested the limits of what can be studied numerically on a classical computer.

    • Evgeny Kozik

  • News & Views |

    Statistical correlations between particles play a central role in the study of complex quantum systems. A new study introduces microscopic detection of ultracold molecules and demonstrates the measurement of two-particle correlations.

    • Christof Weitenberg

  • Letter |

    The study of statistical correlations is central to the description of complex quantum objects. Measurements of density correlation functions of ultracold molecules are now possible through the realization of a molecular quantum gas microscope.

    • Jason S. Rosenberg
    • , Lysander Christakis
    •  & Waseem S. Bakr

  • Research Briefing |

    Attosecond charge migration in a neutral molecule has been observed to decohere within approximately 10 fs. However, this does not mean that the electronic coherence is irreversibly lost, as the charge migration is observed to revive after 40–50 fs. These findings have the potential to enable laser control of photochemical processes.

  • News & Views |

    Trapped ion quantum computers can use two different kinds of ion to avoid crosstalk between adjacent qubits. Encoding two different qubit types in only one ion species can achieve the same goal while reducing experimental complexity.

    • Cornelius Hempel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Interactive protocols can verify that a quantum computer exhibits a computational speedup using only classical analysis of its output. Exploiting a connection to Bell’s theorem gives a simpler protocol that is much less demanding for experiments.

    • Gregory D. Kahanamoku-Meyer
    • , Soonwon Choi
    •  & Norman Y. Yao

  • Letter |

    Qudits are generalizations of qubits that have more than two states, which gives them a performance advantage in some quantum algorithms. The operations needed for a universal qudit processor have now been demonstrated using trapped ions.

    • Martin Ringbauer
    • , Michael Meth
    •  & Thomas Monz

  • Article |

    In generic quantum many-body systems, initial configurations far from equilibrium are expected to undergo general thermalization. An experiment with ultracold atoms now shows evidence of a class of spin-helix states that evade such behaviour.

    • Paul Niklas Jepsen
    • , Yoo Kyung ‘Eunice’ Lee
    •  & Wolfgang Ketterle

  • Article |

    The standard quantum limit bounds the precision of quantum measurements. Now, a protocol based on time-reversal operations with cold atoms overcomes that limit and achieves the greatest phase sensitivity improvement in any full Ramsey interferometer.

    • Simone Colombo
    • , Edwin Pedrozo-Peñafiel
    •  & Vladan Vuletić

  • Letter |

    Combinatorial optimization is one of the areas for which quantum computing promises to overcome classical devices. An experiment with arrays of Rydberg atoms now shows how to solve combinatorial graph problems with auxiliary atomic wires.

    • Minhyuk Kim
    • , Kangheun Kim
    •  & Jaewook Ahn

  • News & Views |

    Charge carriers in an engineered bilayer Mott insulator are predicted to form tightly bound, mobile pairs, glued together by string excitations of the antiferromagnetic order — a scenario that can be tested with quantum gas microscopy experiments.

    • Martin Gärttner
    •  & Markus Garst

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Studies of unconventional pairing mechanisms in cold atoms require ultralow temperatures. Large-scale numerics show that certain bilayer models allow for deeply bound and highly mobile pairs of charges at more accessible temperatures.

    • Annabelle Bohrdt
    • , Lukas Homeier
    •  & Fabian Grusdt

  • News & Views |

    Encircling a so-called exceptional point in parameter space elicits a topological response in an open system. An experiment now demonstrates topologically robust chiral spin transfer in a sea of ultracold fermions.

    • Wei Yi

  • News & Views |

    Noble gas nuclear spins can store quantum information for hours but are hard to control. Creating a large coherent coupling to an alkali vapour gives a route to manipulating the collective nuclear spin of a helium-3 gas.

    • Alice Sinatra

  • Article |

    Polaritons are quasiparticles created through the coupling of matter excitations and light. A cold-atom experiment using matter waves instead of photons reports the observation of analogues of polaritons with tunable properties and no dissipation.

    • Joonhyuk Kwon
    • , Youngshin Kim
    •  & Dominik Schneble

  • News & Views |

    Circular Rydberg states provide an ideal resource for large-scale quantum computing and simulation. These circular states can be controlled using coherent optical pulses, providing a route to programmable quantum hardware.

    • Jonathan Pritchard

  • Letter |

    The capabilities of optically accessible Rydberg levels are limited by their lifetime. An experiment demonstrates how to detect and manipulate long-lived circular states through the coupling of valence electrons in alkaline-earth Rydberg atoms.

    • Andrea Muni
    • , Léa Lachaud
    •  & Sébastien Gleyzes

  • News & Views |

    Controlling chemistry at the single-collision level is one of the main goals of experiments at ultralow temperatures. A method based on quantum logic techniques has now been shown to detect inelastic collisions in a hybrid ion–atom platform.

    • Michał Tomza

  • Article |

    The study of single-atom collisions in ultracold gases has so far been limited to certain atomic and molecular species. A more general scheme based on quantum logic techniques has now been realized in a hybrid cold ion–atom platform.

    • Or Katz
    • , Meirav Pinkas
    •  & Roee Ozeri

  • News & Views |

    Isolated gases of ultracold atoms have long provided a window into the study of continuous quantum phase transitions. Discontinuous quantum phase transitions have now been observed in a shaken lattice gas of strongly interacting atoms.

    • Bryce Gadway

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Visualizing the structural dynamics of isolated molecules would help to understand chemical reactions, but this is difficult for complex structures. Intense femtosecond X-ray pulses allow the full imaging of exploding photoionized molecules, in this case, with eleven atoms.

    • Rebecca Boll
    • , Julia M. Schäfer
    •  & Till Jahnke

  • News & Views |

    Entanglement can provide an extra boost in precision, but entangled states are hard to detect. A recent experiment solves this problem by letting the entangling dynamics come full circle — or not, depending on the subtle perturbation to be sensed.

    • Philipp Kunkel
    •  & Monika Schleier-Smith

  • Article |

    Whether or not an electron wavepacket accumulates a time delay when tunnelling out of an atom is still under debate. Improved all-optical characterization of the tunnelling dynamics by combining one- and two-colour driving fields may shed light on this question.

    • Ihar Babushkin
    • , Álvaro Jiménez Galán
    •  & Misha Ivanov

  • News & Views |

    Environmental noise can severely hinder the storage and transmission of quantum information. Experiments now reveal that trapped ions are promising candidates for reliable quantum memories.

    • Shruti Puri

  • Article |

    Nonlinear interferometry based on time reversal enables entanglement-enhanced measurements without the need for low-noise detection. An alternative approach now exploits cyclic dynamics and shows performance beyond the standard quantum limit.

    • Qi Liu
    • , Ling-Na Wu
    •  & Li You

  • Comment |

    Methods for studying Bose–Einstein condensation in ultracold gases have been under development for over 40 years. A highly sophisticated suite of techniques has emerged from rapid technological advances that show no sign of slowing down.

    • Jook Walraven

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