Atomic and molecular physics articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Experimentally following the ultrafast dynamics of microsolvated molecules is challenging due to the inherently produced soup mix of various gas-phase aggregates. Here, the authors exploit neutral-species selection to reveal intimate details of the UV-induced ultrafast dynamics in the prototypical indole-water system.

    • Jolijn Onvlee
    • , Sebastian Trippel
    •  & Jochen Küpper

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Breaking of Lorentz symmetry is related to the unification of fundamental forces and the extension of the standard model. Here the authors provide updated bounds on the Lorentz violation, by using measurements with trapped Yb+ ion, that represent an improvement over existing results.

    • Laura S. Dreissen
    • , Chih-Han Yeh
    •  & Tanja E. Mehlstäubler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy probes the chemical environment in a molecule at a specific atomic site. Here the authors extend this concept with a site selective trigger to follow chemical bond changes as they occur on the femtosecond time scale.

    • Andre Al-Haddad
    • , Solène Oberli
    •  & Christoph Bostedt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Floquet engineering aims at inducing new properties in materials with light. Here the authors have used pulses of variable durations, to investigate its applicability in the femtosecond domain. Surprisingly, they found that it holds to the few-cycle limit.

    • Matteo Lucchini
    • , Fabio Medeghini
    •  & Mauro Nisoli

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High-resolution molecular spectroscopy with cryogenic setups is hampered by the lack of a skilled interrogation tool. Here, the authors demonstrate absolute metrology of cold rovibrational spectra at 1 kHz accuracy level, by coupling a Lamb-dip saturated-absorption cavity ring-down spectrometer to a buffer-gas cooling source.

    • Roberto Aiello
    • , Valentina Di Sarno
    •  & Pasquale Maddaloni

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Atoms and molecules under extreme temperature and pressure can be investigated using dense plasmas achieved by laser-driven implosion. Here the authors report spectral change of copper in billions atmosphere pressure that can only be explained by a self-consistent approach.

    • S. X. Hu
    • , David T. Bishel
    •  & Timothy Walton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Accurately computed chemisorption energies are essential for modeling catalytic conversions in heterogeneous catalysis, but are challenging to obtain. Here authors combine two approaches to improve this situation: standard DFT applied to the extended system, and small cluster models that can be treated with higher-level computational techniques to improve the description of chemical bonding.

    • Rafael B. Araujo
    • , Gabriel L. S. Rodrigues
    •  & Lars G. M. Pettersson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pauli exclusion principle has fundamental and practical consequences to the structure of matter and particle interaction. Here the authors demonstrate Pauli blocking in a coherently driven system using trapped 3He degenerate Fermi gases.

    • Raphael Jannin
    • , Yuri van der Werf
    •  & Kjeld S. E. Eikema

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Synthetic lattice systems are powerful platforms for studying the influence of intrinsic nonlinearities on topological phenomena. Here the authors elucidate the topological transport of solitons in terms of Wannier functions displacement and they introduce a nonlinearity-induced topological transport effect that could be observed in ultracold quantum mixtures.

    • Nader Mostaan
    • , Fabian Grusdt
    •  & Nathan Goldman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High-precision measurements are useful to find isotopic shifts and electron correlation. Here the authors measure electron affinity and hyperfine splitting of atomic oxygen with higher precision than previous studies.

    • Moa K. Kristiansson
    • , Kiattichart Chartkunchand
    •  & Dag Hanstorp

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Energy transfer between the electromagnetic field and atoms or molecules is fundamentally interesting. Here the authors demonstrate stepwise energy transfer between broadband mid-infrared optical pulses and vibrating methylsulfonylmethane molecules in aqueous solution.

    • Martin T. Peschel
    • , Maximilian Högner
    •  & Ioachim Pupeza

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bose-Einstein condensate of excitons is expected in photo-excited bulk semiconductors, but a direct experimental evidence has been lacking. Here the authors report the observation of a condensate of 1s paraexcitons in Cu2O using real-space mid-infrared absorption imaging realized in a dilution refrigerator.

    • Yusuke Morita
    • , Kosuke Yoshioka
    •  & Makoto Kuwata-Gonokami

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding of photoionization dynamics, one of the fastest processes in nature, requires the characterization of all underlying ionization channels. Here the authors use an interferometry technique based on attosecond pulses to measure the phase and amplitude of the individual angular momentum channels in the photoionization of neon.

    • Jasper Peschel
    • , David Busto
    •  & Per Eng-Johnsson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Determining the time evolution of reactions at the quantum mechanical level improves our understanding of molecular dynamics. Here, authors separate the breakup of water, one bond at a time, from other processes leading to the same final products and experimentally identify, separate, and follow step by step two breakup paths of the transient OD+ fragment.

    • Travis Severt
    • , Zachary L. Streeter
    •  & Itzik Ben-Itzhak

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cold-atom interferometers have been miniaturized towards fieldable quantum inertial sensing applications. Here the authors demonstrate a compact cold-atom interferometer using microfabricated gratings and discuss the possible use of photonic integrated circuits for laser systems.

    • Jongmin Lee
    • , Roger Ding
    •  & Peter D. D. Schwindt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the photoelectron emission time after the interaction of photon with atoms and molecules is of fundamental interest. Here the authors examine the role of partial waves to the photoionization phase shift of atoms using an attosecond clock and electron-ion coincidence spectroscopy.

    • Wenyu Jiang
    • , Gregory S. J. Armstrong
    •  & Jian Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In strong field ionization, entanglement between an electron and an ion has been discussed previously. Here the authors explore orbital angular momentum entanglement between the electrons released in non-sequential double ionization.

    • Andrew S. Maxwell
    • , Lars Bojer Madsen
    •  & Maciej Lewenstein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In quantum computing, realistic error models can allow tailored correction schemes for specific platforms. Here, while considering the case of qubits encoded in metastable electronic levels of atomic arrays, the authors propose a way to convert a large fraction of occurring errors into detectable leakages, or erasure errors, which are vastly easier to correct.

    • Yue Wu
    • , Shimon Kolkowitz
    •  & Jeff D. Thompson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here the authors provide a theoretical description of non-Hermitian topological phenomena in an atomic mirror. They find out diverse and unexpected phenomena by constructing an ad-hoc theoretical model. In particular, exceptional points, dispersive bulk Fermi arcs, and non-Hermitian geometry-dependent skin effect.

    • Yi-Cheng Wang
    • , Jhih-Shih You
    •  & H. H. Jen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum simulators should be able to give insight on exotic physics models such as supersymmetric extensions of Standard Model. Here, the authors demonstrate a first step in this direction, realising a prototypical SUSY model (and spontaneous SUSY breaking within it) using a trapped ion quantum simulator.

    • M.-L. Cai
    • , Y.-K. Wu
    •  & L.-M. Duan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the interaction of single chromophores with nanoparticles remains a challenging task in nanoscience. Here the authors provide insight into the interaction between isolated base-free phthalocyanine molecules and He and Ne nanoclusters in the gas phase using high-resolution two-dimensional spectroscopy.

    • Ulrich Bangert
    • , Frank Stienkemeier
    •  & Lukas Bruder

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In large qubit registers, long coherence times and individual qubit control are difficult to achieve at the same time. Here, the authors assemble a 2D register of qubits in an array of fermionic alkaline-earth atoms, where tailored pulses can be applied to subsets of individual qubits in parallel.

    • Katrina Barnes
    • , Peter Battaglino
    •  & Michael Yarwood

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultrafast pulses are useful to investigate the electron dynamics in excited atoms, molecules and other complex systems. Here, the authors measure transient photoelectron momentum maps following the free-electron laser pulse-induced ionization of a bilayer pentacene thin film on Ag (110) by using time-resolved orbital tomography.

    • Kiana Baumgärtner
    • , Marvin Reuner
    •  & Markus Scholz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dicke superradiance is an important collective quantum phenomenon, but its analysis is hindered by the exponential growth of the state space with atom number. Here, the authors develop a theoretical framework that overcomes this, and predict a critical distance below which superradiant decay can be observed in large ordered arrays.

    • Stuart J. Masson
    •  & Ana Asenjo-Garcia

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The understanding and control of non-Hermitian phenomena is becoming every day more important. Here the authors establish the duality between non-Hermiticity and curved spaces. It unfolds a geometric root of non-Hermitian phenomena and provides a study and tailor non-Hermiticity using curved spaces.

    • Chenwei Lv
    • , Ren Zhang
    •  & Qi Zhou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rydberg atoms are sensitive to microwave signals and hence can be used to detect them. Here the authors demonstrate a Rydberg receiver enhanced by deep learning, Rydberg atoms acting as antennae, to receive, extract, and decode the multi-frequency microwave signal effectively.

    • Zong-Kai Liu
    • , Li-Hua Zhang
    •  & Bao-Sen Shi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The long-standing question whether ammonia dimer is hydrogen bonded is solved by first-principles quantum mechanical calculations. The authors show that the dimer is extremely fluxional, but the probability of hydrogen-bonded configurations prevails.

    • Jing Aling
    • , Krzysztof Szalewicz
    •  & Ad van der Avoird

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The photodissociation of transition metal carbonyls is involved in catalysis and synthetic processes. Here the authors, using semi-classical excited state molecular dynamics, observe details of the early stage dynamics in the photodissociation of Fe(CO)5, including synchronous bursts of CO at periodic intervals of 90 femtoseconds.

    • Ambar Banerjee
    • , Michael R. Coates
    •  & Michael Odelius

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors introduce the concept of real-synthetic symmetries and use it as a tool to derive selection rules in seemingly symmetry-broken strong-field interactions. These symmetries and their corresponding selection rules can be applied in various systems form harmonic generation to topological photonics

    • Matan Even Tzur
    • , Ofer Neufeld
    •  & Oren Cohen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Synthetic dimensions, states of a system engineered to act as if they were a reconfigurable extra spatial dimension, have been demonstrated with different systems previously. Here the authors create a synthetic dimension using Rydberg atoms and configure it to support topological edge states.

    • S. K. Kanungo
    • , J. D. Whalen
    •  & T. C. Killian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Associative electronic detachment (AED) reactions of anions play a key role in many natural processes. Here, Hassan and colleagues investigate AED reactions between hydroxyl anions and ultracold rubidium atoms in a hybrid atom-ion trap, revealing different dynamics for collisions with ground and electronically excited state rubidium.

    • Saba Zia Hassan
    • , Jonas Tauch
    •  & Matthias Weidemüller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The internal Stark effect, a shift of the spectral lines of a chromophore induced by electrostatic fields in its close environment, plays an important role in nature. Here the authors observe a Stark shift in the fluorescence spectrum of a phthalocyanine molecule upon charge modifications within the molecule itself, achieved by sequential removal of the central protons with a STM tip.

    • Kirill Vasilev
    • , Benjamin Doppagne
    •  & Guillaume Schull

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Imaging the charge flow in photoexcited molecules would provide key information on photophysical and photochemical processes. Here the authors demonstrate tracking in real time after photoexcitation the change in charge density at a specific site of 2-thiouracil using time-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

    • D. Mayer
    • , F. Lever
    •  & M. Gühr

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Probing resonance features in a scattering process is of fundamental interest. Here the authors discuss the Fano interference due to different angular momentum components in the angle resolved scattering cross section of He*-D2 elastic collisions.

    • Prerna Paliwal
    • , Alexander Blech
    •  & Edvardas Narevicius

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Previously, the study of caustics has mostly focused on experiments with light. Here, the authors demonstrate gravitational caustics and investigate catastrophe atom optics using the matter waves of an atom laser generated from a Bose-Einstein condensate.

    • M. E. Mossman
    • , T. M. Bersano
    •  & P. Engels

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cold atoms have recently become a versatile platform for the study of quantum transport phenomena. Here the authors realize an alternative experimental scheme for quantum transport with cold atoms, by using spin-dependent impurity scattering in a spinful Fermi gas instead of spatially separated particle distributions.

    • Koki Ono
    • , Toshiya Higomoto
    •  & Yoshiro Takahashi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Measuring photoionization time delays is an interesting and challenging topic. Here the authors demonstrate a method to measure the photoionization time delays using inner-shell ionization of CO molecule.

    • Jonas Rist
    • , Kim Klyssek
    •  & Till Jahnke

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ion storage rings allow reactions to be studied over orders of magnitude in time, bridging the gap between typical experimental and astronomical timescales. Here the authors observe that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon fragments produced upon collision with He atoms at velocities typical of stellar winds and supernova shockwaves remain intact up to second timescales, thus may play an important role in interstellar chemistry.

    • Michael Gatchell
    • , João Ameixa
    •  & Henning Zettergren

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Attosecond pulse generation needs improvements both in terms of tunability and photon flux for next level attosecond experiments. Here the authors show how to control the HHG emission and its spectral-temporal characteristics by driving the IAP generation with synthesized sub-cycle optical pulses.

    • Yudong Yang
    • , Roland E. Mainz
    •  & Franz X. Kärtner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons play an important role in interstellar chemistry, where interaction with high energy photons can induce ionization and fragmentation reactions. Here the authors, with XUV-IR pump-probe experiments, investigate the ultrafast photoinduced dynamics of fluorene, phenanthrene and pyrene, providing insight into their preferred reaction channels.

    • J. W. L. Lee
    • , D. S. Tikhonov
    •  & M. Schnell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A general theory for Floquet topology applicable to all crystalline symmetry groups is lacking. Here, the authors propose such a theory for noninteracting Floquet crystals and predict an inversion-protected Floquet higher-order topological phase with anomalous chiral hinge modes.

    • Jiabin Yu
    • , Rui-Xing Zhang
    •  & Zhi-Da Song

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Non-equilibrium Bose-Einstein condensates exist in different systems like polaritons, photons. Here the authors demonstrate photonic BECs in an excited or a non-equilibrium state and explore the flow of the photons coupled to the interferometer in order to minimize the loss.

    • Mario Vretenar
    • , Chris Toebes
    •  & Jan Klaers

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultrafast diffraction is fundamental in capturing the structural dynamics of molecules. Here, the authors establish a variant of quantum state tomography for arbitrary degrees of freedom to characterize the molecular quantum states, which will enable the reconstruction of a quantum molecular movie from diffraction data.

    • Ming Zhang
    • , Shuqiao Zhang
    •  & Zheng Li

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