Related papers: Collective behavior in the kinetics and equilibriu…
Supersolidity - simultaneous superfluid flow and crystalline order - has been realized in quantum atomic systems but remains unexplored in purely photonic platforms operating at weak light-matter coupling. We predict a supersolid phase of…
We show through rigorous calculations that dielectric microspheres can be organized by an incident electromagnetic plane wave into stable cluster configurations, which we call photonic molecules. The long-range optical binding force arises…
Optical activation of material properties illustrates the potentials held by tuning light-matter interactions with impacts ranging from basic science to technological applications. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that composite…
Solid-state dewetting is the process by which thin solid films break up and retract on a substrate, forming nanostructures. While dewetting of single-crystalline films is understood as a surface-energy-driven process mediated by surface…
Many biological processes are supported by special molecules, called motor proteins or molecular motors, that transport cellular cargoes along linear protein filaments and can reversibly associate to their tracks. Stimulated by these…
We develop a model for predicting fine- and hyperfine intensities in the direct photoionization of molecules based on the separability of electron and nuclear spin states from vibrational-electronic states. Using spherical tensor algebra,…
The extreme electro-optical contrast between crystalline and amorphous states in phase change materials is routinely exploited in optical data storage and future applications include universal memories, flexible displays, reconfigurable…
Experiments carried out at our laboratories have led to observing a new type of electrification, now called surface photocharging. For a consistent description, we are weighing carefully the experimental evidence against the common…
Rydberg-mediated quantum optics is a useful route toward deterministic quantum information processing based on single photons and quantum networks, but is bottlenecked by the fast motional dephasing of Rydberg atoms. Here, we propose and…
We present a scheme for coherently manipulating quantum states of photons by incorporating multiple photonic modes in a system with long-range interactions. The presence of nonlocal photon-photon interactions destroys the energy or momentum…
We investigate the physical properties of steady flows in a holographic first-order phase transition model, extending from the thermodynamics at equilibrium to the real-time dynamics far from equilibrium. Through spinodal decomposition or…
A major challenge in condensed matter physics is active control of quantum phases. Dynamic control with pulsed electromagnetic fields can overcome energetic barriers enabling access to transient or metastable states that are not thermally…
Colloidal model systems allow studying crystallization kinetics under fairly ideal conditions with rather well characterized pair interactions and minimized external influences. In complementary approaches therefore experiment, analytic…
Colloidal photonic crystals display peculiar optical properties which make them particularly suitable for application in different fields. However, the low packing fraction of the targeted structures usually poses a real challenge in the…
In equilibrium, the physical properties of matter are set by the interactions between the constituents. In contrast, the energy input of the individual components controls the behavior of synthetic or living active matter. Great progress…
A remarkable feat of active matter physics is that systems as diverse as collections of self-propelled particles, nematics mixed with molecular motors, and interacting robots can all be described by symmetry-based continuum theories. These…
Photons excited into ground state modes at finite temperature display partitioning among photon phases, lifetimes and distances travelled since creation. These distributions set the distance from an interface a created photon has some…
We study experimentally and numerically the motion of a self-phoretic active particle in two-dimensional (2D) loosely-packed colloidal crystals at fluid interfaces. Two scenarios emerge depending on the interaction between the active…
There is a broad interest in enhancing the strength of light-atom interactions to the point where injecting a single photon induces a nonlinear material response. Here, we show theoretically that sub-Doppler-cooled, two-level atoms that are…
One of the most pertinent problems in the debate on non-trivial quantum effects in biology concerns natural photosynthesis. Since sunlight is composed of thermal photons, it was argued to be unable to induce quantum coherence in matter, and…