arXiv subjects

Yu Chen

Publications and source records attributed to Yu Chen.

At least 649 records · Page 36Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Superradiant Phase Transition of Fermi Gases in a Cavity across a Feshbach Resonance

In this letter we consider the superradiant phase transition of a two-component Fermi gas in a cavity across a Feshbach resonance. It is known that quantum statistics plays a crucial role for the superradiant phase transition in atomic gases; in contrast to bosons, in a Fermi gas this transition exhibits strong density dependence. We show that across a Feshbach resonance, while the two-component Fermi gas passes through the BEC-BCS crossover, the superradiant phase transition undergoes a corresponding crossover from a fermionic behavior on the weakly interacting BCS side, to a bosonic behavior on the molecular BEC side. This intricate statistics crossover makes the superradiance maximally enhanced either in the unitary regime for low densities, in the BCS regime for moderate densities close to Fermi surface nesting, or in the BEC regime for high densities.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

The Origin of the Metal-Poor Common Proper Motion Pair HD 134439/134440: Insights from New Elemental Abundances

The low [alpha/Fe] ratio in the metal-poor ([Fe/H]= -1.50) common proper motion pair HD 134439 and HD 134440 has been variously attributed to chemical evolution in an extragalactic environment with an irregular star formation history, planetessimal accretion, and formation in an environment with an unusually high dust-to-gas ratio. We explore these various putative origins using CNO, Be, Ag, and Eu abundances derived from high-resolution near-UV Keck/HIRES spectroscopy. While we confirm a previously suggested correlation between elemental abundance ratios and condensation temperature at the 95% confidence level, these ratios lie within the continuum of values manifested by extant dSph data. We argue that the most plausible origin of our stars' distinctive abundance distribution relative to the Galactic halo field is formation in an environment chemically dominated by products of Type II SN of low progenitor mass; such a progenitor mass bias has been previously suggested as an explanation of low alpha-element ratios of dSph stars. The proper motion pair's heavy-to-light $n$-capture element ratio, which is > 0.3-0.5 dex lower than in the Galactic halo field and dSph stars, is discussed in the context of the truncated r-process, phenomenlogical n-capture production models, and alpha-rich freezeout in a high neutron excess environment; the latter simultaneously provides an attractive explanation of the difference in [Ca,Ti/O,Mg,Si] ratio in HD 134439/134440 compared to in situ dSph stars.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2014

Planck's quantum-driven integer quantum Hall effect in chaos

The integer quantum Hall effect (IQHE) and chaos are commonly conceived as being unrelated. Contrary to common wisdoms, we find in a canonical chaotic system, the kicked spin-$1/2$ rotor, a Planck's quantum($h_e$)-driven phenomenon bearing a firm analogy to IQHE but of chaos origin. Specifically, the rotor's energy growth is unbounded ('metallic' phase) for a discrete set of critical $h_e$-values, but otherwise bounded ('insulating' phase). The latter phase is topological in nature and characterized by a quantum number ('quantized Hall conductance'). The number jumps by unity whenever $h_e$ decreases passing through each critical value. Our findings, within the reach of cold-atom experiments, indicate that rich topological quantum phenomena may emerge from chaos.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2014

Electroluminescence and photocurrent generation from atomically sharp WSe2/MoS2 heterojunction p-n diodes

The p-n diodes represent the most fundamental device building block for diverse optoelectronic functions, but are difficult to achieve in atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) due to the inability to selectively dope them into p- or n-type semiconductors. Here we report the first demonstration of an atomically thin and atomically sharp heterojunction p-n diode by vertically stacking p-type monolayer tungsten diselenide (WSe2) and n-type few-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). Electrical measurement demonstrates excellent diode characteristics with well-defined current rectification behaviour and an ideality factor of 1.2. Photocurrent mapping shows fast photoresponse over the entire overlapping region with a highest external quantum efficiency up to 12 %. Electroluminescence studies show prominent band edge excitonic emission and strikingly enhanced hot electron luminescence. A systematic investigation shows distinct layer-number dependent emission characteristics and reveals important insight about the origin of hot-electron luminescence and the nature of electron-orbital interaction in TMDs. We believe that these atomically thin heterojunction p-n diodes represent an interesting system for probing the fundamental electro-optical properties in TMDs, and can open up a new pathway to novel optoelectronic devices such as atomically thin photodetectors, photovoltaics, as well as spin-/valley-polarized light emitting diodes and on-chip lasers.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Characterization and reduction of microfabrication-induced decoherence in superconducting quantum circuits

Many superconducting qubits are highly sensitive to dielectric loss, making the fabrication of coherent quantum circuits challenging. To elucidate this issue, we characterize the interfaces and surfaces of superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators and study the associated microwave loss. We show that contamination induced by traditional qubit lift-off processing is particularly detrimental to quality factors without proper substrate cleaning, while roughness plays at most a small role. Aggressive surface treatment is shown to damage the crystalline substrate and degrade resonator quality. We also introduce methods to characterize and remove ultra-thin resist residue, providing a way to quantify and minimize remnant sources of loss on device surfaces.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Observation of topological transitions in interacting quantum circuits

The discovery of topological phases in condensed matter systems has changed the modern conception of phases of matter. The global nature of topological ordering makes these phases robust and hence promising for applications. However, the non-locality of this ordering makes direct experimental studies an outstanding challenge, even in the simplest model topological systems, and interactions among the constituent particles adds to this challenge. Here we demonstrate a novel dynamical method to explore topological phases in both interacting and non-interacting systems, by employing the exquisite control afforded by state-of-the-art superconducting quantum circuits. We utilize this method to experimentally explore the well-known Haldane model of topological phase transitions by directly measuring the topological invariants of the system. We construct the topological phase diagram of this model and visualize the microscopic evolution of states across the phase transition, tasks whose experimental realizations have remained elusive. Furthermore, we developed a new qubit architecture that allows simultaneous control over every term in a two-qubit Hamiltonian, with which we extend our studies to an interacting Hamiltonian and discover the emergence of an interaction-induced topological phase. Our implementation, involving the measurement of both global and local textures of quantum systems, is close to the original idea of quantum simulation as envisioned by R. Feynman, where a controllable quantum system is used to investigate otherwise inaccessible quantum phenomena. This approach demonstrates the potential of superconducting qubits for quantum simulation and establishes a powerful platform for the study of topological phases in quantum systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

A binary differential evolution algorithm learning from explored solutions

Although real-coded differential evolution (DE) algorithms can perform well on continuous optimization problems (CoOPs), it is still a challenging task to design an efficient binary-coded DE algorithm. Inspired by the learning mechanism of particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms, we propose a binary learning differential evolution (BLDE) algorithm that can efficiently locate the global optimal solutions by learning from the last population. Then, we theoretically prove the global convergence of BLDE, and compare it with some existing binary-coded evolutionary algorithms (EAs) via numerical experiments. Numerical results show that BLDE is competitive to the compared EAs, and meanwhile, further study is performed via the change curves of a renewal metric and a refinement metric to investigate why BLDE cannot outperform some compared EAs for several selected benchmark problems. Finally, we employ BLDE solving the unit commitment problem (UCP) in power systems to show its applicability in practical problems.

cs.NE↗

arXiv2014

Tunable coupler for superconducting Xmon qubits: Perturbative nonlinear model

We study a recently demonstrated design for a high-performance tunable coupler suitable for superconducting Xmon and planar transmon qubits [Y. Chen et al., arXiv:1402.7367]. The coupler circuit uses a single flux-biased Josephson junction and acts as a tunable current divider. We calculate the effective qubit-qubit interaction Hamiltonian by treating the nonlinearity of the qubit and coupler junctions perturbatively. We find that the qubit nonlinearity has two principal effects: The first is to suppress the magnitude of the transverse XX coupling from that obtained in the harmonic approximation by about 15%. The second is to induce a small diagonal ZZ coupling. The effects of the coupler junction nonlinearity are negligible in the parameter regime considered.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Simulating weak localization using superconducting quantum circuits

Understanding complex quantum matter presents a central challenge in condensed matter physics. The difficulty lies in the exponential scaling of the Hilbert space with the system size, making solutions intractable for both analytical and conventional numerical methods. As originally envisioned by Richard Feynman, this class of problems can be tackled using controllable quantum simulators. Despite many efforts, building an quantum emulator capable of solving generic quantum problems remains an outstanding challenge, as this involves controlling a large number of quantum elements. Here, employing a multi-element superconducting quantum circuit and manipulating a single microwave photon, we demonstrate that we can simulate the weak localization phenomenon observed in mesoscopic systems. By engineering the control sequence in our emulator circuit, we are also able to reproduce the well-known temperature dependence of weak localization. Furthermore, we can use our circuit to continuously tune the level of disorder, a parameter that is not readily accessible in mesoscopic systems. By demonstrating a high level of control and complexity, our experiment shows the potential for superconducting quantum circuits to realize scalable quantum simulators.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Dissipative superconductivity: a universal non-equilibrium state of nanowires

The ability to carry electric current with zero dissipation is the hallmark of superconductivity. It is this very property which is used in applications from MRI machines to LHC magnets. But, is it indeed the case that superconducting order is incompatible with dissipation? One notable exception, known as vortex flow, takes place in high magnetic fields. Here we report observation of dissipative superconductivity in far more basic configurations: superconducting nanowires with superconducting leads. We provide evidence that in such systems, normal current may flow in the presence of superconducting order throughout the wire. The phenomenon is attributed to the formation of a non-equilibrium state, where superconductivity coexists with dissipation, mediated by the so-called Andreev quasiparticles. Besides promise for applications such as single-photon detectors, the effect is a vivid example of a controllable non-equilibrium state of a quantum liquid. Thus our findings provide an accessible generic platform to investigate conceptual problems of out-of-equilibrium quantum systems.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Heterogeneously integrated silicon photonics for the mid-infrared and spectroscopic sensing

Besides being the foundational material for microelectronics, in optics, crystalline silicon has long been used for making infrared lenses and mirrors. More recently, silicon has become the key material to achieve large-scale integration of photonic devices for optical interconnect and telecommunication. For optics, silicon has significant advantages: it offers a very high refractive index and is highly transparent in the spectral range from 1.2 to 8 micron. To fully exploit silicon's superior performance in a remarkably broad range and to enable new optoelectronic functionalities, here we describe a general method to integrate silicon photonic devices on arbitrary substrates. In particular, we apply the technique to successfully integrate silicon micro-ring resonators on mid-infrared compatible substrates for operation in the mid-infrared. These high-performance mid-infrared optical resonators are utilized to demonstrate, for the first time, on-chip cavity-enhanced mid-infrared spectroscopic analysis of organic chemicals with a limit of detection of less than 0.1 ng.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2014

Qubit architecture with high coherence and fast tunable coupling

We introduce a superconducting qubit architecture that combines high-coherence qubits and tunable qubit-qubit coupling. With the ability to set the coupling to zero, we demonstrate that this architecture is protected from the frequency crowding problems that arise from fixed coupling. More importantly, the coupling can be tuned dynamically with nanosecond resolution, making this architecture a versatile platform with applications ranging from quantum logic gates to quantum simulation. We illustrate the advantages of dynamic coupling by implementing a novel adiabatic controlled-Z gate, at a speed approaching that of single-qubit gates. Integrating coherence and scalable control, our "gmon" architecture is a promising path towards large-scale quantum computation and simulation.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Strong environmental coupling in a Josephson parametric amplifier

We present a lumped-element Josephson parametric amplifier designed to operate with strong coupling to the environment. In this regime, we observe broadband frequency dependent amplification with multi-peaked gain profiles. We account for this behaviour using the "pumpistor" model which allows for frequency dependent variation of the external impedance. Using this understanding, we demonstrate control over gain profiles through changes in the environment impedance at a given frequency. With strong coupling to a suitable external impedance we observe a significant increase in dynamic range, and large amplification bandwidth up to 700 MHz giving near quantum-limited performance.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Field Effect Transistor Nanosensor for Breast Cancer Diagnostics

Silicon nanochannel field effect transistor (FET) biosensors are one of the most promising technologies in the development of highly sensitive and label-free analyte detection for cancer diagnostics. With their exceptional electrical properties and small dimensions, silicon nanochannels are ideally suited for extraordinarily high sensitivity. In fact, the high surface-to-volume ratios of these systems make single molecule detection possible. Further, FET biosensors offer the benefits of high speed, low cost, and high yield manufacturing, without sacrificing the sensitivity typical for traditional optical methods in diagnostics. Top down manufacturing methods leverage advantages in Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technologies, making richly multiplexed sensor arrays a reality. Here, we discuss the fabrication and use of silicon nanochannel FET devices as biosensors for breast cancer diagnosis and monitoring.

q-bio.QM↗

arXiv2013

Catching Shaped Microwave Photons with 99.4% Absorption Efficiency

We demonstrate a high efficiency deterministic quantum receiver to convert flying qubits to logic qubits. We employ a superconducting resonator, which is driven with a shaped pulse through an adjustable coupler. For the ideal "time reversed" shape, we measure absorption and receiver fidelities at the single microwave photon level of, respectively, 99.41% and 97.4%. These fidelities are comparable with gates and measurement and exceed the deterministic quantum communication and computation fault tolerant thresholds.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Fabrication and Characterization of Aluminum Airbridges for Superconducting Microwave Circuits

Superconducting microwave circuits based on coplanar waveguides (CPW) are susceptible to parasitic slotline modes which can lead to loss and decoherence. We motivate the use of superconducting airbridges as a reliable method for preventing the propagation of these modes. We describe the fabrication of these airbridges on superconducting resonators, which we use to measure the loss due to placing airbridges over CPW lines. We find that the additional loss at single photon levels is small, and decreases at higher drive powers.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Design and characterization of a lumped element single-ended superconducting microwave parametric amplifier with on-chip flux bias line

We demonstrate a lumped-element Josephson parametric amplifier, using a single-ended design that includes an on-chip, high-bandwidth flux bias line. The amplifier can be pumped into its region of parametric gain through either the input port or through the flux bias line. Broadband amplification is achieved at a tunable frequency $ω/2 π$ between 5 to 7 GHz with quantum-limited noise performance, a gain-bandwidth product greater than 500 MHz, and an input saturation power in excess of -120 dBm. The bias line allows fast frequency tuning of the amplifier, with variations of hundreds of MHz over time scales shorter than 10 ns.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Superradiance of Degenerate Fermi Gases in a Cavity

In this letter we consider spinless Fermi gases placed inside a cavity and study the critical strength of pumping field for driving a superradiance transition. We emphasize that Fermi surface nesting effect strongly enhances the superradiance tendency. Around certain fillings, when the Fermi surface is nearly nested with a relevant nesting momentum, the susceptibility of the system toward a checkboard density-wave ordered state is strongly enhanced, because of which a much smaller (sometime even vanishingly small) critical pumping field strength can lead to superradiance. This leads to interesting reentrance behavior and topologically distinct structure in the phase diagram. Away from these fillings, the Pauli exclusion principle brings about the dominant effect for which the critical pumping strength is lowered in the low-density regime and increased in the high-density regime, in comparison to a Bose gas with same density. These results open the prospect of studying rich phenomena of degenerate Fermi gases in cavity.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗