Condensed Matter

Discrete time crystals are periodically driven systems characterized by a response with periodicity nT , with T the period of the drive and n>1 . Typically, n is an integer and bounded from above by the dimension of the local (or single particle) Hilbert space, the most prominent example being spin- 1/2 systems with n restricted to 2 . Here we show that a clean spin- 1/2 system in the presence of long-range interactions and transverse field can sustain a huge variety of different `higher-order' discrete time crystals with integer and, surprisingly, even fractional n>2 . We characterize these (arguably prethermal) non-equilibrium phases of matter thoroughly using a combination of exact diagonalization, semiclassical methods, and spin-wave approximations, which enable us to establish their stability in the presence of competing long- and short-range interactions. Remarkably, these phases emerge in a model with continous driving and time-independent interactions, convenient for experimental implementations with ultracold atoms or trapped ions.

Type-I clathrate compounds with off-center guest ions realize the phonon-glass electron-crystal concept by exhibiting almost identical lattice thermal conductivities κ L to those observed in network-forming glasses. This is in contrast with type-I clathrates with on-center guest ions showing κ L of conventional crystallines. Glasslike κ L stems from the peculiar THz frequency dynamics in off-center type-I clathrates where there exist three kinds of modes classified into extended(EX), weakly(WL) and strongly localized(SL) modes as demonstrated by Liu et.al. , Phys. Rev. B 93 , 214305(2016). Our calculated results based on the hopping mechanism of SL modes via anharmonic interactions show fairly good agreement with observed T -linear rise of κ L above the plateau. We emphasize that both the magnitude and the temperature dependence are in accord with the experimental data of off-center type-I clathrates.

Relaxation-induced dipolar modulation enhancement (RIDME) is a pulse EPR technique that is particularly suitable to determine distances between paramagnetic centers with a broad EPR spectrum, e.g. metal-ion-based ones. As far as high-spin systems (S > 1/2) are concerned, the RIDME experiment provides not only the basic dipolar frequency but also its overtones, which complicates the determination of interspin distances. An r.m.s.d.-based approach for the calibration of the overtone coefficients is proposed and illustrated for a series of molecular rulers doubly labelled with Gd(III)-PyMTA tags. The constructed 2D total-penalty diagrams clearly show that there is no unique set but rather a certain pool of overtone coefficients, which can be used to extract distance distributions between high-spin paramagnetic centers as determined from the RIDME experiment.

Particles have been used for more than a decade to visualize and study the dynamics of quantum vortices in superfluid helium. In this work we study how the dynamics of a collection of particles set inside a vortex reflects the motion of the vortex. We use a self-consistent model based on the Gross-Pitaevskii equation coupled with classical particle dynamics. We find that each particle oscillates with a natural frequency proportional to the number of vortices attached to it. We then study the dynamics of an array of particles trapped in a quantum vortex and use particle trajectories to measure the frequency spectrum of the vortex excitations. Surprisingly, due to the discreetness of the array, the vortex excitations measured by the particles exhibits bands, gaps and Brillouin zones, analogous to the ones of electrons moving in crystals. We then establish a mathematical analogy where vortex excitations play the role of electrons and particles that of the potential barriers constituting the crystal. We find that the height of the effective potential barriers is proportional to the particle mass and the frequency of the incoming waves. We conclude that large-scale vortex excitations could be in principle directly measured by particles and novel physics could emerge from particle-vortex interaction.

Using the theory of imaging with partially coherent light, we derive general expressions for different kinds of interferometric setups like double slit, shift and mirror interference. We show that in all cases the interference patterns depend not only on the point spread function of the imaging setup but also strongly on the spatial emission pattern of the sample. Taking typical experimentally observed spatial emission patterns into account, we can reproduce at least qualitatively all the observed interference structures, which have been interpreted as signatures for spontaneous long range coherence of excitons, already for incoherent emitters. This requires a critical reexamination of the previous work.

We demonstrate that intersubband (ISB) polaritons are robust to inhomogeneous effects originating from the presence of multiple quantum wells (MQWs). In a series of samples that exhibit mid-infrared ISB absorption transitions with broadenings varying by a factor of 5 (from 4 meV to 20meV), we have observed polariton linewidths always lying in the 4 - 7 meV range only. We have experimentally verified the dominantly inhomogeneous origin of the broadening of the ISB transition, and that the linewidth reduction effect of the polariton modes persists up to room-temperature. This immunity to inhomogeneous broadening is a direct consequence of the coupling of the large number of ISB oscillators to a single photonic mode. It is a precious tool to gauge the natural linewidth of the ISB plasmon , that is otherwise masked in such MQWs system , and is also beneficial in view of perspective applications such as intersubband polariton lasers.

Recently, one analog of the Anderson's Theorem for the s -wave superconductor has attracted much interest in the context of the p -wave polar pairing state of superfluid 3 He in a model aerogel in the limit of strong uniaxial anisotropy. We discuss to what extent the theorem is satisfied in the polar phase in real aerogels by examining the normal to polar transition temperature T c and the low temperature behavior of the superfluid energy gap under an anisotropy of a moderate strength and comparing the obtained results with experimental data. The situation in which the Anderson's theorem clearly breaks down is also discussed.

Magnetocaloric effect (MCE) was investigated in the single crystal of CsGd(MoO 4 ) 2 in the temperature range from 2 to 30 K and fields up to 5 T applied along the easy and hard magnetic axis. The analysis of specific heat and magnetization provided the refinement of crystal electric field (CEF) parameters supporting the dominance of uniaxial symmetry. The knowledge of CEF energy levels enabled the extrapolation of MCE parameters outside the experimental region. Consequently, maximum values of the isothermal entropy change, −Δ S M , in magnetic fields up to 5 T are expected to occur at temperatures between 1 and 2 K. While −Δ S M achieves 19.2 J/kgK already for the field 1 T, for the field change 7 T, maximal −Δ S M ≈ 26.8 J/kgK with a refrigerant capacity of 215 J/kg is expected. The absence of thermal hysteresis and the losses due to eddy currents as well as good chemical stability makes the compound CsGd(MoO 4 ) 2 attractive for magnetic refrigeration at low temperatures. The possibilities of further enhancement of MCE parameters are discussed.

We analyze the experimental data on inelastic neutron scattering by a thin ~5-atomic-layer film of liquid helium at three different temperatures: T=0.4K, 0.98K and 1.3K. These data were partially published previously, but here we present them in a better quality and at various temperatures. The neutron scattering intensity plots, in addition to the previously know dispersion of phonons and ripplons, suggest a branch of gapped surface excitations with activation energy ∼4.5 K and the dispersion similar to that expected for surfons - the bound quantum states of helium atoms above liquid helium surface, proposed and investigated theoretically. These data, probably, provide the first direct experimental confirmation of surfons. Before these surface excitations received only indirect experimental substantiation, based on the temperature dependence of surface tension coefficient and on their interaction with surface electrons. The existence of surfons as an additional type of surface excitations, although being debated yet, is very important for various physical properties of He surface. We also analyze previous numerical results on excitations in liquid helium and argue that surface excitations similar to surfons have been previously obtained by numerical calculations and called resonance interface states.

We study inelastic interactions of particles with quantized vortices in superfluids by using a semi-classical matter wave theory that is analogous to the Landau two-fluid equations, but allows for the vortex dynamics. The research is motivated by recent experiments on xenon doped helium nanodroplets that show clustering of the impurities along the vortex cores. We numerically simulate the dynamics of trapping and interactions of xenon atoms by quantized vortices in superfluid helium and the obtained results can be extended to scattering of other impurities by quantized vortices. Different energies and impact parameters of incident particles are considered. We show that inelastic scattering is closely linked to the generation of Kelvin waves along a quantized vortex during the interaction even if there is no capture. The capture criterion of an impurity is formulated in terms of the binding energy.