TY - JOUR AB - Atom-based quantum simulators have had many successes in tackling challenging quantum many-body problems, owing to the precise and dynamical control that they provide over the systems' parameters. They are, however, often optimized to address a specific type of problem. Here, we present the design and implementation of a 6Li-based quantum gas platform that provides wide-ranging capabilities and is able to address a variety of quantum many-body problems. Our two-chamber architecture relies on a robust combination of gray molasses and optical transport from a laser-cooling chamber to a glass cell with excellent optical access. There, we first create unitary Fermi superfluids in a three-dimensional axially symmetric harmonic trap and characterize them using in situ thermometry, reaching temperatures below 20 nK. This allows us to enter the deep superfluid regime with samples of extreme diluteness, where the interparticle spacing is sufficiently large for direct single-atom imaging. Second, we generate optical lattice potentials with triangular and honeycomb geometry in which we study diffraction of molecular Bose-Einstein condensates, and show how going beyond the Kapitza-Dirac regime allows us to unambiguously distinguish between the two geometries. With the ability to probe quantum many-body physics in both discrete and continuous space, and its suitability for bulk and single-atom imaging, our setup represents an important step towards achieving a wide-scope quantum simulator. AU - Jin, Shuwei AU - Dai, Kunlun AU - Verstraten, Joris AU - Dixmerias, Maxime AU - Al Hyder, Ragheed AU - Salomon, Christophe AU - Peaudecerf, Bruno AU - de Jongh, Tim AU - Yefsah, Tarik ID - 15053 IS - 1 JF - Physical Review Research KW - General Physics and Astronomy SN - 2643-1564 TI - Multipurpose platform for analog quantum simulation VL - 6 ER - TY - JOUR AB - It may come as a surprise that a phenomenon as ubiquitous and prominent as the transition from laminar to turbulent flow has resisted combined efforts by physicists, engineers and mathematicians, and remained unresolved for almost one and a half centuries. In recent years, various studies have proposed analogies to directed percolation, a well-known universality class in statistical mechanics, which describes a non-equilibrium phase transition from a fluctuating active phase into an absorbing state. It is this unlikely relation between the multiscale, high-dimensional dynamics that signify the transition process in virtually all flows of practical relevance, and the arguably most basic non-equilibrium phase transition, that so far has mainly been the subject of model studies, which I review in this Perspective. AU - Hof, Björn ID - 12165 JF - Nature Reviews Physics KW - General Physics and Astronomy TI - Directed percolation and the transition to turbulence VL - 5 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Lead halide perovskites enjoy a number of remarkable optoelectronic properties. To explain their origin, it is necessary to study how electromagnetic fields interact with these systems. We address this problem here by studying two classical quantities: Faraday rotation and the complex refractive index in a paradigmatic perovskite CH3NH3PbBr3 in a broad wavelength range. We find that the minimal coupling of electromagnetic fields to the k⋅p Hamiltonian is insufficient to describe the observed data even on the qualitative level. To amend this, we demonstrate that there exists a relevant atomic-level coupling between electromagnetic fields and the spin degree of freedom. This spin-electric coupling allows for quantitative description of a number of previous as well as present experimental data. In particular, we use it here to show that the Faraday effect in lead halide perovskites is dominated by the Zeeman splitting of the energy levels and has a substantial beyond-Becquerel contribution. Finally, we present general symmetry-based phenomenological arguments that in the low-energy limit our effective model includes all basis coupling terms to the electromagnetic field in the linear order. AU - Volosniev, Artem AU - Shiva Kumar, Abhishek AU - Lorenc, Dusan AU - Ashourishokri, Younes AU - Zhumekenov, Ayan A. AU - Bakr, Osman M. AU - Lemeshko, Mikhail AU - Alpichshev, Zhanybek ID - 12723 IS - 10 JF - Physical Review Letters KW - General Physics and Astronomy SN - 0031-9007 TI - Spin-electric coupling in lead halide perovskites VL - 130 ER - TY - JOUR AB - The self-assembly of nanoparticles driven by small molecules or ions may produce colloidal superlattices with features and properties reminiscent of those of metals or semiconductors. However, to what extent the properties of such supramolecular crystals actually resemble those of atomic materials often remains unclear. Here, we present coarse-grained molecular simulations explicitly demonstrating how a behavior evocative of that of semiconductors may emerge in a colloidal superlattice. As a case study, we focus on gold nanoparticles bearing positively charged groups that self-assemble into FCC crystals via mediation by citrate counterions. In silico ohmic experiments show how the dynamically diverse behavior of the ions in different superlattice domains allows the opening of conductive ionic gates above certain levels of applied electric fields. The observed binary conductive/nonconductive behavior is reminiscent of that of conventional semiconductors, while, at a supramolecular level, crossing the “band gap” requires a sufficient electrostatic stimulus to break the intermolecular interactions and make ions diffuse throughout the superlattice’s cavities. AU - Lionello, Chiara AU - Perego, Claudio AU - Gardin, Andrea AU - Klajn, Rafal AU - Pavan, Giovanni M. ID - 13346 IS - 1 JF - ACS Nano KW - General Physics and Astronomy KW - General Engineering KW - General Materials Science SN - 1936-0851 TI - Supramolecular semiconductivity through emerging ionic gates in ion–nanoparticle superlattices VL - 17 ER - TY - JOUR AB - The power factor of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) film can be significantly improved by optimizing the oxidation level of the film in oxidation and reduction processes. However, precise control over the oxidation and reduction effects in PEDOT:PSS remains a challenge, which greatly sacrifices both S and σ. Here, we propose a two-step post-treatment using a mixture of ethylene glycol (EG) and Arginine (Arg) and sulfuric acid (H2SO4) in sequence to engineer high-performance PEDOT:PSS thermoelectric films. The high-polarity EG dopant removes the excess non-ionized PSS and induces benzenoid-to-quinoid conformational change in the PEDOT:PSS films. In particular, basic amino acid Arg tunes the oxidation level of PEDOT:PSS and prevents the films from over-oxidation during H2SO4 post-treatment, leading to increased S. The following H2SO4 post-treatment further induces highly orientated lamellar stacking microstructures to increase σ, yielding a maximum power factor of 170.6 μW m−1 K−2 at 460 K. Moreover, a novel trigonal-shape thermoelectric device is designed and assembled by the as-prepared PEDOT:PSS films in order to harvest heat via a vertical temperature gradient. An output power density of 33 μW cm−2 is generated at a temperature difference of 40 K, showing the potential application for low-grade wearable electronic devices. AU - Zhang, Li AU - Liu, Xingyu AU - Wu, Ting AU - Xu, Shengduo AU - Suo, Guoquan AU - Ye, Xiaohui AU - Hou, Xiaojiang AU - Yang, Yanling AU - Liu, Qingfeng AU - Wang, Hongqiang ID - 12113 JF - Applied Surface Science KW - Surfaces KW - Coatings and Films KW - Condensed Matter Physics KW - Surfaces and Interfaces KW - General Physics and Astronomy KW - General Chemistry SN - 0169-4332 TI - Two-step post-treatment to deliver high performance thermoelectric device with vertical temperature gradient VL - 613 ER -