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Thursday 20 August

Applied Physics

Spin-torque microwave detectors of positive rectangular pulse signals

V. Prokopenko, O. Shtanko, I. Sotnyk et al. (+1 more)

We analyze the performance of a spin-torque microwave detector (STMD) driven by positive rectangular current pulses $I(t)$ of various amplitudes $I_0$, durations $\tau$, and repetition periods $T$ and reveal two distinct regimes of STMD operation. In the first (linear) regime, the time-averaged voltage across the detector, $U_{\rm dc}$, changes linearly with the pulse amplitude $I_0$ and depends on the ratio $\tau/T$: $U_{\rm dc} \sim I_0 (\tau/T)$. This regime is observed for a wide range of pulse amplitudes $I_0$ in the case of in-plane (IP) magnetization dynamics and for rather small pulse amplitudes $I_0 \le I_{\rm th}$ in an STMD with out-of-plane (OOP) magnetization dynamics. The other (nonlinear) regime is characterized by voltage jumps and drops and is observed only in a structure with OOP magnetization dynamics for input pulses with short repetition periods and large amplitudes $I_0 \ge I_{\rm th}$. We believe that the linear regime of STMD operation can be used to unambiguously detect input pulse parameters, which could be important for the development and optimization of spintronic devices capable of detecting and processing non-harmonic (e.g., digital) microwave signals.
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All authors V. Prokopenko, O. Shtanko, I. Sotnyk, O. Prokopenko

Applied Physics

Acoustic Resonance Distribution for Core-Shell Scatterers

Naruna E. Rodrigues, Gilberto Nakamura, Odemir M. Bruno et al. (+1 more)

Acoustic metamaterials can exhibit unusual effective properties through mechanisms such as energy localization and resonant behavior in their constituent building blocks. Here, we investigate the internal acoustic energy of fluid core-shell spheres and map how resonances emerge from the interplay between material contrasts and shell geometry. The resulting phase diagram reveals an organized resonant landscape across distinct impedance-contrast regimes. From this structure, we obtain two compact predictive relations: one for resonance existence and another for spectral recurrence of successive peaks. Together, they enable the rapid identification of material and geometric combinations associated with targeted resonance responses. The framework is further tested against representative systems from the literature, reproducing their observed behavior. These results provide a physics-based route for screening and tailoring resonant core-shell building blocks before full-wave numerical simulations.
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All authors Naruna E. Rodrigues, Gilberto Nakamura, Odemir M. Bruno, Alexandre S. Martinez

Applied Physics · Cross-listed from physics.chem-ph

Incorporating multiscale mechanics in lithium-ion battery models

Andrea Giudici, Andres F. Galvis, Smita Sahu et al. (+4 more)

Lithiation-induced swelling in lithium-ion batteries generates stresses not only within active particles, but also across the surrounding non-active matrix, electrodes, and cell stack. These stresses can modify the chemical potential of lithium and therefore influence transport, reaction kinetics, and terminal voltage. We derive a reduced-order electro-chemo-mechanical model that captures this multiscale coupling while retaining a complexity comparable to standard Doyle–Fuller–Newman models. The electrode is modelled as a periodic array of spherical active particles embedded in a homogenised elastic non-active matrix. Exploiting the small stiffness of the non-active matrix relative to the active material, together with scale separation between particles, electrodes, and the full cell, we obtain an effective mechanical correction to the active-particle chemical potential and overpotential. This correction depends on particle swelling, electrode-scale strain, and macroscopic boundary conditions such as clamping or applied pressure. The resulting formulation can be incorporated directly into DFN, SPMe, and SPM frameworks, providing a computationally efficient route to include battery-scale mechanical effects in electrochemical simulations.
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All authors Andrea Giudici, Andres F. Galvis, Smita Sahu, Robert Timms, Colin Please, Jon Chapman, Jamie M. Foster

Applied Physics

Mid-infrared distributed-feedback lasing from black phosphorus under nanosecond excitation

Julien Brodeur, Laure Sène and Stéphane Kéna-Cohen

Mid-infrared (MIR) light sources compatible with silicon photonics are highly desirable for environmental sensing and free-space optical communications. Conventional GaSb-based quantum-well and interband-cascade lasers, however, rely on complex epitaxial heterostructures, complicating their integration with silicon photonic platforms. Here, we demonstrate a room-temperature MIR surface-emitting distributed-feedback (DFB) laser using black phosphorus (b-P) as the active gain medium. By deterministically integrating exfoliated b-P flakes onto lithographically patterned SiO$_2$ gratings, we obtain narrowband emission with a full width at half maximum below 3 nm under 1064 nm optical excitation. The lasing wavelength is tunable from 3.79 to 4.05$~\mu\text{m}$ through the b-P flake thickness, covering a technologically important region of the mid-infrared. Room-temperature thresholds as low as $(0.25 \pm 0.07)\ \text{mJ/cm}^2$ are achieved under nanosecond excitation. Upon cooling to 110 K, the threshold decreases tenfold to $(0.015 \pm 0.005)\ \text{mJ/cm}^2$. These results establish planar b-P DFB cavities as a promising platform for heterogeneously integrated MIR lasers based on van der Waals semiconductors.
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Applied Physics

Experimental Realization of Topological Surface Acoustic Wave Resonances under Surface Liquid Loading for Micro-volume sample Sensings

Bowei Wu, Tingfeng Ma, Hanbang Deng et al. (+1 more)

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors, owing to their high operating frequencies, compatibility with planar micro-fabrication, and exceptional sensitivity to surface perturbations, are widely used in lab -on-a-chip and biomedical diagnostic applications. However, conventional SAW sensors operating in liquid environments suffer from substantial energy dissipation, which markedly reduces their quality factors (Q factors) and limits sensing reliability. Here, we design and fabricate a topological SAW resonant sensor for surface liquid loading by exploiting interference coupling between topological interface states and resonant cavities. The band structures are validated using a semi-analytical plane wave expansion-finite element method. The device requires only 0.04 uL of sample and enables concentration sensing of NaCl and glucose solutions, with sensitivities of up to 190 kHz/% for NaCl and 101.8 kHz% for glucose, respectively, and a concentration resolution of 0.01%. This work offers a potential technological route towards high-performance SAW biomedical chips for micro-volume sample analysis.
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All authors Bowei Wu, Tingfeng Ma, Hanbang Deng, Shuanghuizhi Li

Applied Physics · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Physics-guided machine learning for sim-to-real calibration of NV diamond magnetometers

Jonathan Daniel, Martin Y. Kim, Jesse Hernandez et al. (+4 more)

Ensemble nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond enable robust vector magnetometry in unshielded environments, yet deployment remains bottlenecked by complex calibration and a reliance on external data references. Conventional statistical machine learning requires an exorbitantly large volume of training data and suffers from severe simulation-to-reality mismatches. To address this, we introduce a physics-guided hybrid machine learning framework that embeds the Zeeman splitting directly into the learning pipeline. Our physics-guided model significantly reduces the average tracking error demonstrating a 372-fold precision improvement over purely statistical baselines. Furthermore, our hybrid architecture pairs a sparse physical measurement with scalable synthetic data generation, seamlessly incorporating real-world hardware non-idealities. When deployed to decode uncalibrated, raw experimental ODMR data, our framework delivers exceptional predictive accuracy for the scalar magnetic field. This work paves the way toward self-calibrated sensors while establishing a machine learning training method applicable to other data-scarce physical systems
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All authors Jonathan Daniel, Martin Y. Kim, Jesse Hernandez, Emanuel Suarez, Sangwoo Lee, Jinhee Lee, Je-Hyung Kim

Applied Physics

Ultrafast optical coherence elastography for volumetric and dynamic in vivo imaging

Yongkang Zhao and Guo-Yang Li

Imaging the mechanical properties of biological tissues in vivo with high spatial and temporal resolution is essential for understanding physiological function and disease progression. Optical coherence elastography (OCE) provides label-free, micrometer-scale mapping of tissue biomechanics, but its application to dynamic and volumetric measurements has been limited by slow acquisition speeds and susceptibility to motion artifacts. Here we introduce ultrafast optical coherence elastography (ultrafast OCE), a general framework for real-time volumetric biomechanical imaging in vivo. By combining synchronized multi-phase acquisition with a demodulation strategy intrinsically robust to spectral aliasing, ultrafast OCE decouples mechanical excitation from acquisition speed, enabling reconstruction of full wave fields from only three sequential B-mode images. The method achieves frame rates up to two orders of magnitude higher than conventional approaches while preserving high sensitivity over frequencies ranging from the acoustic to ultrasonic regimes. We further develop a motion-correction strategy that compensates for bulk tissue motion under physiological conditions. We validate ultrafast OCE in dynamically stretched phantoms and pulsatile arteries and demonstrate sub-second volumetric imaging of the cornea and skin in vivo. Ultrafast OCE enables real-time interrogation of tissue biomechanics across space and time, opening new opportunities for mechanobiology, cardiovascular research, and clinical diagnostics.
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Applied Physics · Cross-listed from eess.SY

An end-to-end differentiable transient vapor-compression framework for automated machine sizing and unified optimal control

Sam Yang

Accelerating the electrification of thermal energy requires vapor-compression heat pumps capable of dynamic, grid-responsive operation. However, equipment engineering remains fragmented across static rating-point selection, stiff multi-phase transient simulation, and gradient-based optimal control. Here, we present an end-to-end differentiable, finite-volume vapor-compression framework implemented natively in JAX that automates machine sizing directly from stated thermal duties and unifies dynamic simulation with predictive control under a single compiled residual $\dot{y}={f}(t,{y},{u})$. Thermodynamic evaluations bypass runtime root-finding via bilinear $(p,h)$ manifolds pre-flashed from Helmholtz equations of state, enabling analytical forward-mode automatic differentiation. Mass conservation across multi-phase coils is strictly preserved by incorporating both $(\partial\rho/\partial p)_h$ and $(\partial\rho/\partial h)_p$ partial derivatives into the dynamic pressure differential equation. The sizer directly inverts compressor displacement, electronic expansion valve area, and heat-exchanger tube counts via four-point cycle synthesis and $\varepsilon$-NTU matching using the identical polytropic compressor map. Crucially, the compiled physics kernel is shared symmetrically between $L$-stable TR-BDF2 stiff integration and implicit-Euler Model Predictive Control (MPC), eliminating plant-controller surrogate mismatch. Validated against open-access experimental benchmarks without parameter fitting, the framework predicts cooling capacity with $7.37\%$ MAPE across 16 mini-split operational runs and bounds on-period cooling error within $1.19\%$–$1.62\%$ on utility-scale Hardware-in-the-Loop traces. This work provides an open-source, differentiable foundation for automated machine synthesis, dynamic grid orchestration, and gradient-based hardware-control co-design.
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Wednesday 19 August

Applied Physics

On-demand thermal power amplification enabled by active heat $Q$-switching

Qian Ye, Aleida Machorro-Ortiz, William Schmid et al. (+3 more)

Thermal management underpins essentially every energy technology, from solar harvesters and waste-heat recovery to industrial process heating and electronic cooling. Yet, thermal systems remain limited compared to their electrical and optical counterparts: they lack a direct equivalent of active control elements that enable on-demand pulse generation. As a result, in conventional thermal energy storage architectures, the amount of energy stored and the peak power at which it can be released are both fixed at design time by material properties and heat-exchanger geometry, locking each device to a single operating point in the energy–power plane. This rigidity is incompatible with applications that require short, high-power thermal bursts on demand. Here we show that a counter-flow heat oscillator admits an actively switchable effective thermal quality factor, $Q$, and that modulating $Q$ on sub-dwell-time scales generates transient outlet power exceeding the steady input by more than an order of magnitude. We formalize the system as a dissipative resonant thermal cavity with $Q$ controlled by the balance between advective and conductive transport and environmental losses, and we experimentally demonstrate, in a water-based dual-channel device, $\sim$5-fold transient power amplification through controlled flow detuning, in quantitative agreement with our thermofluidic model. Active $Q$-switching establishes a distinct mode of thermal power management, accessing $\sim$5$\times$ (demonstrated experimentally) to $\sim$40$\times$ (projected numerically) peak-power amplification on continuous input through a single architecture, a regime inaccessible to passive thermal storage and a missing analogue of the active pulse-generation tools long available in optics and electronics.
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All authors Qian Ye, Aleida Machorro-Ortiz, William Schmid, Geoff Wehmeyer, Naomi J. Halas, Alessandro Alabastri

Applied Physics · Cross-listed from physics.optics

Which pulse maximizes resonant nonlinear conversion?

Alex Krasnok

At fixed pulse energy, which drive waveform extracts the most $n$th-order nonlinear conversion from a resonator ($n=2$ for second harmonic)? A short pulse couples poorly to a narrow resonance, a long one dilutes its energy, and no linear rule fixes the compromise. We solve the problem exactly for a single mode of amplitude decay rate $\kappa$. Eliminating the drive turns fixed incident energy into a constraint on the stored field alone, and the optimization becomes a sharp Gagliardo–Nirenberg inequality whose extremal is the ground-state soliton of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The optimal stored field is $\mathrm{sech}^{1/(n-1)}[(n-1)\kappa t]$, sustained by an asymmetric input that rises as $e^{\kappa t}$ and falls as $e^{-(2n-1)\kappa t}$; the largest converted energy follows in closed form. A rising exponential, the time-reversal recipe, retains at most $79.0\%$ of the bound at $n=2$ and $2/e$ at large $n$; a two-rate pulse retains above $97\%$. Critical coupling generalizes to $n$-fold overcoupling, with optimal input coupling $n$ times the intrinsic loss rate. The bound applies from microrings to superconducting circuits and caps the per-pulse brightness of broadband photon-pair sources.
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Applied Physics · Cross-listed from physics.optics

In-situ Time-domain Physical Adjoint Optimization of Complex Wave Dynamics

Hoyeong Kwon, Arunn Suntharalingam, Laureano Bulus-Rossini et al. (+1 more)

Direct optimization of complex wave dynamics through the intrinsic evolution of physical systems is fundamentally limited by the lack of directly accessible gradients. Adjoint methods provide an exact route to gradient computation and have enabled optimization in numerical solvers and, more recently, in frequency-domain physical platforms. Yet their extension to the time domain has remained out of reach, as reproducing time-reversed propagation appears to require non-causal operations or compensating gain. Here we develop a protocol and experimentally demonstrate that time-domain adjoint dynamics can be realized in-situ in linear physical systems without gain, non-causal elements, or auxiliary backward networks. By combining time remapping with a transformation of system variables, we obtain a physically realizable adjoint evolution that constructs gradients from measurable signals. We experimentally demonstrate the approach in a complex RLC network, realizing in-situ optimization for time-dependent objectives, including time-windowed and broadband responses. This framework unifies physical optimization by enabling both system parameters and source excitations to be optimized within the same platform. Our results close the gap between adjoint theory and physical implementation, establishing a general foundation for hardware-native, in-situ temporal optimization across a broad class of complex dynamical systems.
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All authors Hoyeong Kwon, Arunn Suntharalingam, Laureano Bulus-Rossini, Tsampikos Kottos

Applied Physics · Cross-listed from physics.optics

Black-Box Coherence Matrix Eigen-Spectroscopy with Programmable Photonics

Kevin Zelaya, Jonathan Friedman and Mohammad-Ali Miri

The precise characterization of spatial optical coherence is fundamental to emerging applications in optical communications and computational imaging. However, extracting the full coherence matrix traditionally requires phase-sensitive interferometry, which is highly vulnerable to environmental noise and poses severe scalability challenges for integrated photonics. Here, we introduce an architecture-agnostic framework for analyzing and controlling partially coherent light on programmable photonic circuits. By leveraging the Schur-Horn theorem, our approach systematically diagonalizes the incident coherence matrix, relying solely on output intensity measurements and entirely circumventing the need for complex phase retrieval. We experimentally validate this black-box protocol on a low-depth, non-universal photonic integrated circuit, successfully reconstructing the hidden eigenvalues of mixed states generated from up to four mutually incoherent sources. Furthermore, we demonstrate active, in-situ statistical light control by introducing non-unitary amplitude modulation to significantly enhance interference visibility, exposing a fundamental physical trade-off between coherence enhancement and optical loss. Inherently resilient to hardware constraints and experimental noise, this scalable paradigm establishes a robust pathway for realizing ultra-compact, on-chip spatial coherence analyzers.
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Applied Physics · Cross-listed from hep-ex

Exploring the limits of high-energy proton-pion separation in granular calorimeters

Andrea De Vita, Abhishek, Tommaso Dorigo et al. (+1 more)

Highly granular calorimeters provide detailed information about hadronic-shower development that may enable particle identification beyond their conventional role in energy measurement. We investigate how well this information can distinguish protons from positively charged pions and how the achievable discrimination depends on detector segmentation and particle energy. The study uses Geant4 simulations of isolated particles with energies from 10 to 100 GeV in a homogeneous lead-tungstate calorimeter. A Deep Sets model operating directly on cell positions and detected energy and time outperforms a boosted decision tree based on reconstructed shower observables. With cells measuring $3 \times 3 \times 6$ mm$^3$, Deep Sets achieves an accuracy of 93.8% at 10 GeV, decreasing to 67.2% at 100 GeV. Shower topology is independently informative, deposited energy provides the largest additional contribution, and timing supplies complementary information. Coarser segmentation reduces discrimination, with performance more sensitive to longitudinal than transverse granularity. These results provide an encouraging benchmark for calorimeter-based hadron identification and motivate its inclusion among the optimization targets for future highly granular calorimeters.
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All authors Andrea De Vita, Abhishek, Tommaso Dorigo, Pietro Vischia

Tuesday 18 August

Applied Physics · Cross-listed from physics.optics

Bayesian Optimization for Practical H2 Sensors: Inverse Design of Pd-based Plasmonic Metasurfaces

Pernilla Ekborg-Tanner, Athanasios Theodoridis, Joachim Fritzsche et al. (+3 more)

Hydrogen detection is becoming increasingly important as its use grows across energy and industrial systems. Optical sensing platforms based on palladium (Pd) nanoparticles are attractive for this task because hydrogen uptake directly alters their plasmonic response. Organizing such nanoparticles into periodic two-dimensional arrays, known as metasurfaces, further enhances their optical response through collective resonances. However, the large design space presented by chemical composition, nanoparticle geometry, and array structure calls for systematic approaches for optimizing complex nanoalloy metasurface geometries. Here, we develop an inverse-design framework based on Bayesian optimization that couples first-principles dielectric functions with electromagnetic simulations to identify high-performance PdAu nanodisk arrays for hydrogen sensing in the 1 to 100 mbar range where the flammability of H2 becomes a concern. We use our approach to search a five-dimensional design space, comprising nanodisk height and radius, array pitch, polymer coating thickness, and Au fraction in order to maximize the H-induced change in extinction at a single wavelength of choice. The results show that integrating first-principles optical models with data-efficient optimization yields experimentally feasible nanoparticle metasurfaces tailored for targeted hydrogen pressures, while providing a pathway to future multiobjective sensor design. They also reveal remaining gaps in the modeling methodologies that still limit the quantitative reliability of the approach.
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All authors Pernilla Ekborg-Tanner, Athanasios Theodoridis, Joachim Fritzsche, Christoph Langhammer, Andrea Baldi, Paul Erhart

Applied Physics

Achieving Long Retention in Area-Dependent Resistive Memory with Phase-Separated Amorphous Tantalum Oxide

Sangyong Lee, Anton V. Ievlev, Dongjae Shin et al. (+2 more)

Resistive random-access memory (ReRAM) is a promising future nonvolatile memory technology. Most ReRAM exhibit a fundamental tradeoff: filament-type ReRAM provides long data retention but suffers from poor uniformity and high switching current, whereas nonfilamentary ReRAM shows lower-current, area-dependent switching but generally poor retention. No two-terminal device has been able to overcome this tradeoff. In this work, we present a two-terminal Ta2O5/ TaOX resistive memory cell that achieves both nonfilamentary switching and long retention. Electrical measurements and composition depth profile show that the switching is not confined to a single filament but is instead uniform across the entire switching region. Despite the nonfilamentary switching, this device can retain information for over 22 hours at 190 {\deg}C, which is comparable to the best filamentary devices. We propose that this long retention arises from composition phase separation in amorphous tantalum oxide. Our work shows that the fundamental tradeoff between information retention and switching uniformity can be overcome, and thereby provides a pathway toward more uniform and reliable oxide memory devices.
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All authors Sangyong Lee, Anton V. Ievlev, Dongjae Shin, Jingxian Li, Yiyang Li

Applied Physics · Cross-listed from physics.optics

Conservation of Pseudoangular Momentum in the Radiative Emission and Optical Excitation of Valley-Polarized Surface Lattice Resonances

Siamak Khorasani, Marc R. Bourgeois and David J. Masiello

Surface lattice resonances (SLRs) are collective polaritonic excitations in nanoparticle arrays, with band-edge states enabling symmetry-based control of radiation including scattering, photoluminescence, conventional and polariton lasing, and condensation. Here, we show that the integer pseudoangular momentum (PAM) of valley-polarized SLRs in parity-broken hexagonal arrays of honeycomb and kagome arrangements is directly encoded in the phase and polarization structure of their emitted electromagnetic fields. The effects of parity-symmetry breaking on SLR PAM and the localized surface plasmon angular momentum associated with the individual nanoparticles composing the array are investigated, and an explicit link between these quantities is established. Leveraging electromagnetic reciprocity, we further propose a structured optical field possessing the same array symmetries and integer PAM as the underlying SLRs and demonstrate theoretically and numerically that it selectively couples to valley-polarized SLRs with matching quantized PAM. Our results establish PAM-resolved light-matter interactions involving lattice resonances as providing new opportunities for symmetry-selective nanophotonic control, chiral light generation, and angular-momentum-engineered metasurfaces.
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Applied Physics · Cross-listed from physics.med-ph

Flexible Piezoresistive Yarn Pressure Sensor for Arterial Blood Pressure Waveform Measurement

Rizal Maulana, Ádám Rák, Sándor Földi et al. (+1 more)

The arterial blood pressure (ABP) waveform contains essential information concerning the hemodynamic status and its relation to the diagnosis of cardiovascular conditions. Therefore, the continuous monitoring of the ABP waveform has become important. A measurement system that offers a non-invasive approach and high accuracy in detecting morphological details of the ABP waveform is needed. In this study, we introduce a flexible piezoresistive yarn (FPY) pressure sensor for continuous non-invasive ABP waveform measurement. The sensor was experimentally validated using two scenarios: measurements on a hardware simulator and at an arterial site. The simulator measurement aimed to assess the sensor's performance in detecting consistent waveforms, while the arterial site measurements evaluated the sensor's performance in measuring ABP waveforms corresponding to the cardiovascular cycle. The simulator measurement results showed high repeatability, reproducibility, and accuracy relative to the reference signal at the upper limit of realistic force magnitude, as measured by the correlation metric: 0.9999 $\pm$ 0.0002, 0.9994 $\pm$ 0.0002, and 0.9731 $\pm$ 0.0027, respectively. The correlation value derived from measurements at the arterial site compared with measurements using a 3D force sensor as a reference sensor was 0.9880 $\pm$ 0.0035. Based on our results, the FPY pressure sensor can be used as an innovative solution for monitoring ABP waveforms and has further potential to be developed as a diagnostic device for evaluating cardiovascular conditions.
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All authors Rizal Maulana, Ádám Rák, Sándor Földi, György Cserey

Applied Physics · Cross-listed from cond-mat.mes-hall

Robust stabilization of high-frequency magnetic droplets in W-CoFeB-MgO nanoconstriction spin Hall nano-oscillators

Hind Prakash, Arunima TM, Roman Khymyn et al. (+1 more)

Magnetic droplets are highly nonlinear spin-wave solitons that can be excited in nanoscale spintronic devices with strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Although extensively studied in nanocontact-based spin-torque oscillators, their stabilization in pure spin current-driven devices such as spin Hall nano-oscillators (SHNOs) has remained elusive. Here, we micromagnetically demonstrate the robust stabilization of non-propagating high-frequency droplets in CMOS-compatible W/CoFeB/MgO nanoconstriction SHNOs under oblique magnetic fields. While the constriction geometry gives rise to noncircular droplet shapes in an inhomogeneous effective field landscape, stable droplet modes exhibiting complete core magnetization reversal and pronounced hysteresis are observed. At lower current densities, droplets display breathing oscillations with periodic expansion and contraction, whereas higher drive currents lead to drift, deformation, and the emergence of sidebands around the fundamental frequency. Tuning the strength and orientation of the applied magnetic field alters the effective field landscape, allowing droplets to escape confinement and propagate over distances exceeding 2$\mu$m.
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All authors Hind Prakash, Arunima TM, Roman Khymyn, Himanshu Fulara

Applied Physics · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Single-atom detection with a quantum-controlled mechanical oscillator

Maxime Perdriat, Maciej Dziewiecki, Josef-Anton Agner et al. (+4 more)

Using supersonic expansion, we create a time-gated, directional beam of Xe atoms with a narrow momentum distribution and detect their collisions with a levitated nanosphere cooled to its quantum ground state. We observe individual momentum kicks below 50 keV/c with 96% confidence and distinguish directional momentum transfer from the atomic beam against the background of thermal collisions. Our experiments constitute a first step toward the exploration of distance-dependent short-range interactions between atoms and levitated systems, as well as toward the use of levitated platforms for impulsive force sensing in previously unexplored parameter regimes.
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All authors Maxime Perdriat, Maciej Dziewiecki, Josef-Anton Agner, Massimiliano Rossi, Frederic Merkt, Martin Frimmer, Lukas Novotny

Applied Physics

Large area Waveguide Energy Harvesting Based on Fully Polarized Elastic Topological Metamaterials

Hanbang Deng, Bowei Wu, Tingfeng Ma et al. (+2 more)

To address the challenge that elastic wave energy can only transmit through narrow path waveguides in topological metamaterials, the proposal of large area waveguides effectively breaks through this technical bottleneck. Nevertheless, elastic waves are vector waves with complex multi component transmission characteristics. Realizing the cooperative transmission of in plane and out of plane fully polarized components poses substantial challenges for elastic wave energy transmission and trapping applications. To tackle the above mentioned problems, this paper proposes a fully polarized elastic topological heterostructure based on the quantum valley Hall effect. First, symmetric unit cell structures are designed to obtain unit cells with distinct topological properties for in plane and out of plane modes, and multiple types of supercell structures are fabricated to realize the simultaneous transmission of fully polarized elastic wave energy for both in plane and out of plane components. Furthermore, a gradient valley locked structure is designed using large area waveguide states to constrain and converge the transmitted energy, and its energy harvesting performance is analyzed. The results demonstrate that the proposed structure enables coupled transmission of fully polarized elastic wave components. Moreover, the energy harvesting capability of the gradient valley locked phononic crystal plate is approximately 4.79 times that of conventional single component transmission structures, which greatly improves the efficiency and transmission stability of acoustic energy harvesting. This work provides new insights for the engineering application of topological metamaterials in the field of energy harvesting.
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All authors Hanbang Deng, Bowei Wu, Tingfeng Ma, Teng Wang, Kun Hong

Applied Physics · Cross-listed from cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Giant Bandgap Pulsation Driven by Hotspot Breathing Phonons in a Flat-Band Solid

Wenjie Liu, Huaxin Wu and Jiyang Fan

The electronic bandgap of solids is conventionally viewed as a static property at a given temperature, with only weak and stochastic thermal fluctuations under equilibrium conditions. Here, using ab initio molecular dynamics and first-principles electron-phonon calculations, we reveal a pronounced room-temperature bandgap pulsation at about 7.8 THz in a perovskite-like flat-band solid, with a maximum peak-to-peak variation approaching 0.95 eV. This behavior originates from a dual selection mechanism: the A1g-like breathing branch couples much more strongly to the flat conduction-band edge than other phonon branches, while real-space phase selectivity distinguishes its hotspot gamma-point and finite-q components. Although finite-q modes retain appreciable microscopic coupling, their intercell phase shifts produce smaller-amplitude shorter-recurrence-period responses, leaving the unit-cell-synchronous gamma-point A1g component to dominate the fundamental-period bandgap pulsation. The resulting band-edge dynamics further modulates the optical response on femtosecond timescales. These findings demonstrate that an unexpectedly ordered electronic response can emerge from intrinsically disordered thermal lattice fluctuations.
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Applied Physics · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Quantum sensors that compute: quantum computational magnetic-field sensing using a superconducting qubit

Purnendu Sen, Mathieu Ouellet, Saeed A. Khan et al. (+6 more)

A measurement of a single-qubit quantum sensor reveals at most 1 bit of information about the signal that was sensed. To perform a classification task on the signal, the conventional approach is to repeat a sensing protocol many times, averaging the measurement results to obtain a high-precision estimate of the sensed signal, and then to apply classical postprocessing. Quantum computational sensing (QCS) is an alternative approach that breaks with the paradigm of first obtaining a classical estimate of the signal and then computing a function of the estimated signal in postprocessing. QCS instead combines quantum sensing with quantum computing to concentrate information about the signal relevant to the task into the solitary bit revealed by each measurement. Here, we report on the experimental demonstration of QCS where sensing and computing were both performed by the same single superconducting transmon qubit. We consider various binary classification tasks based on static and oscillating magnetic fields induced by current through a flux line. The fields were sensed through a double-junction superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) loop that was part of the qubit. We used a protocol based on quantum signal processing to preprocess the sensed signals in the quantum domain prior to measurement. For tasks on static magnetic fields, our protocol outperformed the conventional baseline of Ramsey-based phase estimation by as much as 15 percentage points. For tasks on oscillating magnetic fields, we classified signal amplitude and frequency with up to 20 and 15 percentage points higher accuracy, respectively, compared to the conventional baseline of optimized dynamical-decoupling protocols. Our results illustrate how quantum computing can enhance quantum sensing even with a minimally sized quantum system subject to the practical limitations of decoherence and error-prone operations.
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All authors Purnendu Sen, Mathieu Ouellet, Saeed A. Khan, Wayne Wang, Sridhar Prabhu, Alen Senanian, William P. Banner, William D. Oliver, Peter L. McMahon

Applied Physics · Cross-listed from quant-ph

A Connectivity-Order Law and Conditional Minimal-Mechanism Identification in Many-Body Geometric Phases

Kuo Hai, Junhao Huang, Qiong Chen et al. (+1 more)

The value of a multiqubit geometric phase at a single operating point does not reveal whether it was generated directly or through a connected sequence of lower-body interactions. For analytic, gapped, nondegenerate Abelian holonomies, we jointly resolve logical support and independently calibrated coupling support. Every nonzero connected response must involve an active set that connects and covers the target and must contain one factor of each active coupling, yielding the sharp onset bound $\nu_S \geq \tau_E(S)$. The same selection law applies locally to projected Berry curvature. Conversely, an unrestricted finite-dimensional construction realizes all responses allowed by the connected-cover condition simultaneously, making the condition necessary and sufficient within this theorem class. Operationally, simultaneous confidence bands certify detected mixed responses while controlling false positives; a factor-of-two separation condition additionally recovers exact library-relative response minima. In a complete dictionary, nontriviality of every minimal-cover response is generically necessary and sufficient for these minima to coincide with the minimal calibrated mechanisms. Three-qubit Wilson calculations distinguish direct and pair-mediated routes with the same endpoint phase, and a synthetic Ramsey audit locates the finite-resolution boundary.
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All authors Kuo Hai, Junhao Huang, Qiong Chen, Wenhua Hai

Monday 17 August

Applied Physics · Cross-listed from cond-mat.supr-con

Demonstration of a scalable all-solid-state refrigerator exploiting diffusion geometries and limiting interfacial conductances at temperatures below 1 kelvin

Robert M. Young, Zachary Stegen, John X. Przybysz et al. (+32 more)

Solid-state refrigerators using Normal-metal/Insulator/Superconductor (NIS) junctions have previously demonstrated excellent electron cooling but limited ability to cool phonons. The energy gap of the superconductor is used as an energy filter to allow higher than average energy electrons to preferentially tunnel from the normal-metal through the insulator into the superconductor where they travel as quasi-particles. Typically, the heat is moved and work is done to deposit hot quasi-particles into a normal-metal quasi-particle trap for rejection to the next refrigeration stage. Realizing that (1) the quasi-particles flow diffusively, driven by a concentration gradient in the electric field-free superconductor, and (2) that the undesirable backwards leaking of heat from the hot-side trap can be reduced by engineering the geometry and materials at the superconductor-to-trap interface, enhanced cooling can be achieved. Fabrication of the refrigerator was accomplished using a tungsten and titanium-tungsten alloy as the cold-side normal-metal, aluminum oxide as the insulator, aluminum as the superconductor, and gold as the trap, with the cold-side NIS portion being attached to the hot-side gold trap by bump bonding. The refrigerator consisted of 1121 junction pairs, each pair being an SINIS unit, all electrically connected in series. Using this we have measured the effective phonon temperature of a 3.9 mm x 3.9 mm x 0.65 mm silicon chip driven down to 70 mK from a bath temperature of 120 mK, and down to 174 mK from a 271 mK rejection temperature (a cooling of -97 mK). This is the first demonstration of the sub 1 K cooling of an entire silicon chip using NIS junctions.
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All authors Robert M. Young, Zachary Stegen, John X. Przybysz, Edward R. Engbrecht, Aaron A. Hathaway, Justin C. Hackley, Kirby B. Myers, Christian C. Thorpe, Aurelius L. Graninger, Robert Miller, Diego A. Morales, Roberto D. Carcamo, Glen Walters, Jeric P. Sarad, Nicholas F. Pleim, Seth Whitsitt, Joshua T. Shipman, Anil Erol, Melissa G. Loving, Evan Donohue, Corey A. Kegerreis, Benjamin Dalfort, Moe S. Khalil, Christopher Pinion, Randi Jaramillo, John Milinichik, Sandro J. Di Giacomo, Thomas Zodda, Nilesh Tralshawala, Gregory R. Boyd, Jonathan M. Cochran, Katherine A. Maddock, Michael P. De Feo, Aaron A.Pesetski, Marc E. Sherwin

Applied Physics

Impact of Nonlinear Absorption on Energy Distribution During FLASH-Like Deposition

Bo-Rong Lin

FLASH radiotherapy for tumors has proven highly effective in preserving normal tissue; however, the physical origin of its biological selectivity has yet to be elucidated. This study developed a minimal diffusion-absorption model to examine the effects of nonlinear energy absorption on the spatial distribution of energy during FLASH-like deposition. Simulations revealed that nonlinear absorption alters the transfer of energy through the system while reducing the amount of energy absorbed in surrounding, unexposed regions. This behavior qualitatively resembles the tissue-sparing effect observed in FLASH radiotherapy. Parameter-space analysis revealed that the effect of incident pulse intensity depends on the absorption properties of the material, including its saturation behavior and energy threshold. These results suggest that energy-deposition conditions should be matched to the absorption characteristics of the target material.
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Applied Physics · Cross-listed from physics.class-ph

Modeling Newtonian noise of acoustic origin in the Virgo gravitational wave detector

Lionel Maurin, François Gautier, Maël Brun et al. (+9 more)

Since the first gravitational-wave (GW) detection of September 14th 2015 and with hundreds of gravitational-wave sources identified by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA network, GW have produced many important results in astrophysics and fundamental physics. Along with planned new data takings, current detectors will be upgraded and new project, such as Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer, are under study. Among noises limiting low frequency sensitivity, vibro-acoustic noises are particularly important. In this work, we focus on the gravity gradient noise (also called Newtonian noise) of acoustic origin, which refers to the small fluctuations in the gravity field resulting from the acoustic pressure field present in the experimental areas of the detector. The induced noise is quantified in an original way, using a detailed nu- merical acoustic model of the experimental room, when the pressure field is excited by the air conditioning system. The method is used for Virgo, but it can be easily extended for future detectors and used to guide the design of caverns and experimental areas.
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All authors Lionel Maurin, François Gautier, Maël Brun, Soizic Terrien, Matteo Barsuglia, Donatella Fiorucci, Irene Fiori, Maria Tringali, Roberto Passaquieti, Federico Paoletti, Mariusz Suchenek, Tomasz Bulik

Applied Physics

Topological Skyrmion-type microparticle manipulation based on surface acoustic wave phase modulations

Jiaqi Zhang, Decai Wu, Tingfeng Ma et al. (+3 more)

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) micromanipulation enables the precise, non-contact handling of microscale particles and has attracted considerable interest in microfluidics and biomedicine. However, conventional SAW platforms generally rely on simple interference fields which are susceptible to fabrication imperfections and environmental perturbations, resulting in limited trapping stability. Here, we develop a SAW-based acoustofluidic platform that generates an acoustic skyrmion lattice through the coherent interference of three SAWs. The topologically structured field provides robust phase singularities and a stable gradient-force landscape, enabling microparticles to be localized at predefined lattice sites and supporting controllable rotational manipulation. Independent modulation of the amplitude and phase of the electrical inputs allows the field strength to be tuned for particles of different sizes. Numerical simulations and proof-of-concept experiments confirm particle trapping and ordered lattice assembly in the acoustic skyrmion field, demonstrating the feasibility of translating topological acoustic textures into practical on-chip manipulation functions. This reconfigurable strategy offers a route to robust SAW manipulation and may support applications in single-cell analysis, three-dimensional cell assembly, high-throughput screening, and microscale and nanoscale device assembly.
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All authors Jiaqi Zhang, Decai Wu, Tingfeng Ma, Chenbowen Lou, Bowei Wu, Shuanghuizhi Li

Applied Physics · Cross-listed from physics.optics

Hyperbolic Metamaterials for Enhanced Scintillation

Priyankar Pandey, Subrahmanyam Mantha and Harish N S Krishnamoorthy

Scintillators are indispensable for the detection of X-rays, $\gamma$-rays, and energetic particles in applications ranging from medical imaging and security screening to high-energy physics. A major limitation of conventional scintillators is the inefficient extraction of scintillation photons caused by isotropic emission and total internal reflection at the scintillator–detector interface. Here, we propose and numerically investigate a grating-coupled hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) in which the scintillation medium CsPbBr$_3$ forms one of the constituent layers. The proposed architecture simultaneously enhances spontaneous emission through broadband Purcell enhancement enabled by high-$k$ modes and improves optical extraction by directing the emitted radiation along the hyperbolic resonance cone, with a bullseye grating providing efficient far-field outcoupling. Finite-difference time-domain simulations predict broadband enhancement of the detected scintillation signal exceeding threefold across the CsPbBr$_3$ emission band, with a peak enhancement of approximately fivefold around the emission wavelength of 523 nm compared with an equivalent bulk scintillator. The proposed multilayer architecture is compatible with established thin-film deposition and nanofabrication techniques, robust against fabrication-induced layer-thickness variations, and scalable to accommodate larger volumes of scintillating material, providing a practical route toward high-performance scintillators for radiation detection and imaging applications.
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Applied Physics · Cross-listed from quant-ph

zenDot: An LLM-integrated quantum TCAD platform for semiconductor quantum-device design and optimization automation

Zeheng Wang, Yan Liu, Yue Hao et al. (+1 more)

Semiconductor quantum-device design still lacks an integrated Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD)-like environment that connects material geometry, quantum many-body simulation, and automated design. Here we introduce zenDot, a large-language model (LLM)-integrated quantum TCAD platform that links a material-labelled device state to a unified condensed-matter physics toolbox. The device and calculation components are integrated into a desktop workbench, Python API, and an embedded LLM agent, allowing electrostatics, charge and transport characterization, correlated-state calculations, and qubit modelling to be executed within one reproducible environment. We demonstrate zenDot on a Si/SiO2 double quantum dot, where a single device state reproduces the characterization workflow and supports hybrid, tunnel-charge, and singlet-triplet qubit analyses. A platform-level universal-control scan revises the singlet-triplet operating point and reduces the predicted worst-gate infidelity by nearly 30-fold. Beyond analysis, the LLM agent directly operates the same physics environment as human users, proposing design changes, executing registered simulations, and iterating on solver-returned metrics under physics-aware validation. Across three demonstration tasks it completes 18 validated design iterations, including geometry modification followed by a full re-solve from the material stack. zenDot establishes a machine-operable quantum TCAD workflow that connects device physics with LLM-driven design exploration.
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All authors Zeheng Wang, Yan Liu, Yue Hao, Genquan Han

Sunday 16 August

Applied Physics

On-chip nanoplasma for adaptive electromagnetic protection

Ruiqi Huang, Hanqing Liu, Kui Dang et al. (+12 more)

Over the past decade, semiconductor diodes have served as the primary switching elements in adaptive electromagnetic (EM) protection, yet their performance has been compromised by parasitic effects and thermal accumulation, rendering them inadequate against the rapidly evolving landscape of high-power microwave (HPM) threats. Here we show that on-chip nanoplasma switches (NPMS), composed of gallium nitride electrodes on silicon carbide substrates, exhibit superior radio frequency (RF) and thermal characteristics, positioning them as ideal field-driven switches in RF front-end protectors. By integrating NPMS into metasurfaces, antennas and circuit limiters, we achieve an adaptive response that ensures low-loss transmission for normal signals and high shielding against HPMs, while offering extended operating bandwidth and substantially higher tolerance than conventional solid-state devices. This robust, nanoscale structure has significant potential for protecting unmanned aerial vehicles, radars, satellites and other highly integrated platforms requiring strength and stability in EM environments. The findings of this study open up new routes to support EM safety of high-precision detection and imaging for next-generation RF front ends, with straightforward scalability to millimetre-wave and terahertz frequencies.
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All authors Ruiqi Huang, Hanqing Liu, Kui Dang, Yue Lang, Ruiyang Peng, Qihui Zhou, Qian Dong, Xiaocheng Ni, Yuan Xu, Jibin Liu, Yanlin Xu, Chenxi Liu, Song Zha, Jincheng Zhang, Peiguo Liu