Two-dimensional (2D) materials exhibit exceptionally strong nonlinear optical responses, benefiting from their reduced dimensionality, relaxed phase-matching requirements, and enhanced light-matter interaction. With additional degrees of freedom in the modulation of the physical properties by stacking 2D layers together, nonlinear optics of 2D heterostructures becomes increasingly fascinating. In this perspective, we provide a brief overview of recent advances in the field of nonlinear optics of 2D heterostructures, with a particular focus on their remarkable capabilities in characterization and modulation. Given the recent advances and the emergence of novel heterostructures, combined with innovative tuning knobs and advanced nonlinear optical techniques, we anticipate deeper insights into the underlying mechanisms and more associated applications in this rapidly evolving field.

The curved surface has emerged as new research platform for understanding and manipulating novel electromagnetic behaviors in complex media. In this paper, we explore the anisotropic polaritons on the spherical surface based on Maxwell’s fish-eye metric through stereographic projection. Additionally, this phenomenon can be extended to spindle surface by conformal mapping. Our calculations and simulations demonstrate the elliptic and hyperbolic polaritons, excited by an electric dipole on the sphere, will self-focus or focus on the poles on the sphere affected by anisotropic permittivity. Furthermore, we reveal the optical singularity nature of the curved hyperbolic polaritons from the perspective of transformation optics by obtaining the equivalent optical refractive index profiles and the particle potential energy. Based on natural anisotropic materials and metamaterials, the curved polaritons have potential applications in curved surface focusing and chaos regulation. This work not only bridges the transformation optics and anisotropic polaritons at curved surface, but also provides a new route to surface optical field manipulation.

Creation of stable intrinsically anisotropic self-bound states with embedded vorticity is a challenging issue. Previously, no such states in Bose−Einstein condensates (BECs) or other physical settings were known. Dipolar BEC suggests a unique possibility to predict stable two dimensional anisotropic vortex quantum droplets (2D-AVQDs). We demonstrate that they can be created with the vortex axis oriented perpendicular to the polarization of dipoles. The stability area and characteristics of the 2D-AVQDs in the parameter space are revealed by means of analytical and numerical methods. Further, the rotation of the polarizing magnetic field is considered, and the largest angular velocities, up to which spinning 2D-AVQDs can follow the rotation in clockwise and anti-clockwise directions, are found. Collisions between moving 2D-AVQDs are studied too, demonstrating formation of bound states with a vortex−antivortex−vortex structure. A stability domain for such stationary bound states is identified. Unstable dipolar states, that can be readily implemented by means of phase imprinting, quickly transform into robust 2D-AVQDs, which suggests a straightforward possibility for the creation of these states in the experiment.

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) exhibit promising application prospects in the domains of electronic devices, optoelectronic devices and spintronic devices due to their distinctive energy band structures and spin−orbit coupling properties. Cr-based chalcogenides with narrow or even zero bandgap, covering from semiconductors to metallic materials, have considerable potential for wide-band photodetection and two-dimensional magnetism. Currently, the preparation of 2D CrX_n (X = S, Se, Te) nanosheets primarily relies on chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and molecule beam epitaxy (MBE), which enable the production of high-quality large-area materials. This review article focuses on recent progress of 2D Cr-based chalcogenides, including unique crystal structure of the CrX_n system, phase-controlled synthesis, and heterojunction construction. Furthermore, a detailed introduction of room-temperature ferromagnetism and electrical/optoelectronic properties of 2D CrX_n is presented. Ultimately, this paper summarizes the challenges associated with utilizing 2D Cr-based chalcogenides in preparation strategies, optoelectronics devices, and spintronic devices while providing further insights.

We review the physics of monolayer graphene in a strong magnetic field, with emphasis on highly collective states that emerge from the weakly interacting system because of correlations (emergent states). After reviewing the general properties of graphene and of electrons in a magnetic field, we give a brief introduction to the integer quantum Hall effect (IQHE) and the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) in a 2D electron gas as foundation to show that monolayer graphene in a magnetic field exhibits both effects, but with properties modified by the influence of the graphene crystal. After giving an introduction to standard methods of dealing with emergent states for this system, we show that an SO(8) fermion dynamical symmetry governs the emergent degrees of freedom and that the algebraic and group properties of the dynamical symmetry provide a new view of strongly correlated states observed in monolayer graphene subject to a strong magnetic field.

Vortex wave and plane wave, as two most fundamental forms of wave propagation, are widely applied in various research fields. However, there is currently a lack of basic mechanism to enable arbitrary conversion between them. In this paper, we propose a new paradigm of extremely anisotropic acoustic metasurface (AM) to achieve the efficient conversion from 2D vortex waves with arbitrary orbital angular momentum (OAM) to plane waves. The underlying physics of this conversion process is ensured by the symmetry shift of AM medium parameters and the directional compensation of phase. Moreover, this novel phenomenon is further verified by analytical calculations, numerical demonstrations, and acoustic experiments, and the deflection angle and direction of the converted plane waves are qualitatively and quantitatively confirmed by a simple formula. Our work provides new possibilities for arbitrary manipulation of acoustic vortex, and holds potential applications in acoustic communication and OAM-based devices.

Valleytronic materials can provide new degrees of freedom to future electronic devices. In this work, the concepts of the ferrovalley metal (FVM) and valley gapless semiconductor (VGS) are proposed, which can be achieved in valleytronic bilayer systems by electric field engineering. In valleytronic bilayer systems, the interaction between out-of-plane ferroelectricity and A-type antiferromagnetism can induce layer-polarized anomalous valley Hall (LP-AVH) effect. The K and −K valleys of FVM are both metallic, and electron and hole carriers simultaneously exist. In the extreme case, the FVM can become VGS by analogizing spin gapless semiconductor (SGS). Moreover, it is proposed that the valley splitting enhancement and valley polarization reversal can be achieved by electric field engineering in valleytronic bilayer systems. Taking the bilayer \mathrm{R}\mathrm{u}\mathrm{B}{\mathrm{r}}_2 as an example, our proposal is confirmed by the first-principle calculations. The FVM and VGS can be achieved in bilayer \mathrm{R}\mathrm{u}\mathrm{B}{\mathrm{r}}_2 by applying electric field. With appropriate electric field range, increasing electric field can enhance valley splitting, and the valley polarization can be reversed by flipping electric field direction. To effectively tune valley properties by electric field in bilayer systems, the parent monolayer should possess out-of-plane magnetization, and have large valley splitting. Our results shed light on the possible role of electric field in tuning valleytronic bilayer systems, and provide a way to design the ferrovalley-related material by electric field.

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) is an intriguing phenomenon that can break diffraction limitations and exhibit excellent light-confinement abilities, making it an attractive strategy for enhancing the light absorption capabilities of photodetectors. However, the complex mechanism behind this enhancement is still plaguing researchers, especially for hot-electron injection process, which inhibits further optimization and development. A clear guideline for basic physical model, enhancement mechanism, material selection and architectural design for LSPR photodetector are still required. This review firstly describes the mainstream understanding of fundamental physical modes of LSPR and related enhancement mechanism for LSPR photodetectors. Then, the universal strategies for tuning the LSPR frequency are introduced. Besides, the state-of-the-art progress in the development of LSPR photodetectors is briefly summarized. Finally, we highlight the remaining challenges and issues needed to be resolved in the future research.

Many-body localization (MBL) of a disordered interacting boson system in one dimension is studied numerically at the filling faction one-half. The von Neumann entanglement entropy S_{\mathrm{v}\mathrm{N}} is commonly used to detect the MBL phase transition but remains challenging to be directly measured. Based on the U(1) symmetry from the particle number conservation, S_{\mathrm{v}\mathrm{N}} can be decomposed into the particle number entropy S_N and the configuration entropy S_C. In light of the tendency that the eigenstate’s S_C nears zero in the localized phase, we introduce a quantity describing the deviation of S_N from the ideal thermalization distribution; finite-size scaling analysis illustrates that it shares the same phase transition point with S_{\mathrm{v}\mathrm{N}} but displays the better critical exponents. This observation hints that the phase transition to MBL might largely be determined by S_N and its fluctuations. Notably, the recent experiments [A. Lukin, et al., Science 364, 256 (2019); J. Léonard, et al., Nat. Phys. 19, 481 (2023)] demonstrated that this deviation can potentially be measured through the S_N measurement. Furthermore, our investigations reveal that the thermalized states primarily occupy the low-energy section of the spectrum, as indicated by measures of localization length, gap ratio, and energy density distribution. This low-energy spectrum of the Bose model closely resembles the entire spectrum of the Fermi (or spin XXZ) model, accommodating a transition from the thermalized to the localized states. While, owing to the bosonic statistics, the high-energy spectrum of the model allows the formation of distinct clusters of bosons in the random potential background. We analyze the resulting eigenstate properties and briefly summarize the associated dynamics. To distinguish between the phase regions at the low and high energies, a probing quantity based on the structure of S_{\mathrm{v}\mathrm{N}} is also devised. Our work highlights the importance of symmetry combined with entanglement in the study of MBL. In this regard, for the disordered Heisenberg XXZ chain, the recent pure eigenvalue analyses in [J. Šuntajs, et al., Phys. Rev. E 102, 062144 (2020)] would appear inadequate, while methods used in [A. Morningstar, et al., Phys. Rev. B 105, 174205 (2022)] that spoil the U(1) symmetry could be misleading.

Since the isolation of graphene, two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted increasing interest because of their excellent chemical and physical properties, as well as promising applications. Nonetheless, particular challenges persist in their further development, particularly in the effective identification of diverse 2D materials, the domains of large-scale and high-precision characterization, also intelligent function prediction and design. These issues are mainly solved by computational techniques, such as density function theory and molecular dynamic simulation, which require powerful computational resources and high time consumption. The booming deep learning methods in recent years offer innovative insights and tools to address these challenges. This review comprehensively outlines the current progress of deep learning within the realm of 2D materials. Firstly, we will briefly introduce the basic concepts of deep learning and commonly used architectures, including convolutional neural and generative adversarial networks, as well as U-net models. Then, the characterization of 2D materials by deep learning methods will be discussed, including defects and materials identification, as well as automatic thickness characterization. Thirdly, the research progress for predicting the unique properties of 2D materials, involving electronic, mechanical, and thermodynamic features, will be evaluated succinctly. Lately, the current works on the inverse design of functional 2D materials will be presented. At last, we will look forward to the application prospects and opportunities of deep learning in other aspects of 2D materials. This review may offer some guidance to boost the understanding and employing novel 2D materials.

Exciton physics in atomically thin transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) holds paramount importance for fundamental physics research and prospective applications. However, the experimental exploration of exciton physics, including excitonic coherence dynamics, exciton many-body interactions, and their optical properties, faces challenges stemming from factors such as spatial heterogeneity and intricate many-body effects. In this perspective, we elaborate upon how optical two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy (2DCS) emerges as an effective tool to tackle the challenges, and outline potential directions for gaining deeper insights into exciton physics in forthcoming experiments with the advancements in 2DCS techniques and new materials.

We study the local quantum Fisher information (LQFI) in the mixed-spin Heisenberg XXZ chain. Both the maximal and minimal LQFI are studied and the former is essential to determine the accuracy of the quantum parameter estimation, the latter can be well used to characterize the discord-type quantum correlations. We investigate the effects of the temperature and the anisotropy parameter on the maximal LQFI and thus on the accuracy of the parameter estimation. Then we make use of the minimal LQFI to study the discord-type correlations of different site pairs. Different dimensions of the subsystems cause different values of the minimal LQFI which reflects the asymmetry of the discord-type correlation. In addition, the site pairs at different positions of the spin chains have different minimal LQFI, which reveals the influence of the surrounding spins on the bipartite quantum correlation. Our results show that the LQFI obtained through a simple calculation process provides a convenient way to investigate the discord-type correlation in high-dimensional systems.

We concentrate on the skin effects and topological properties in the multilayer non-Hermitian Su−Schrieffer−Heeger (SSH) structure, by taking into account the nonreciprocal couplings between the different sublattices in the unit cells. Following the detailed demonstration of the theoretical method, we find that in this system, the skin effects and topological phase transitions induced by nonreciprocal couplings display the apparent parity effect, following the increase of the layer number of this SSH structure. On the one hand, the skin effect is determined by the parity of the layer number of this SSH system, as well as the parity of the band index of the bulk states. On the other hand, for the topological edge modes, such an interesting parity effect can also be observed clearly. Next, when the parameter disorders are taken into account, the zero-energy edge modes in the odd-layer structures tend to be more robust, whereas the other edge modes are easy to be destroyed. In view of these results, it can be ascertained that the findings in this work promote to understand the influences of nonreciprocal couplings on the skin effects and topological properties in the multilayer SSH lattices.

The generalized time-dependent generator coordinate method (TD-GCM) is extended to include pairing correlations. The correlated GCM nuclear wave function is expressed in terms of time-dependent generator states and weight functions. The particle−hole channel of the effective interaction is determined by a Hamiltonian derived from an energy density functional, while pairing is treated dynamically in the standard BCS approximation with time-dependent pairing tensor and single-particle occupation probabilities. With the inclusion of pairing correlations, various time-dependent phenomena in open-shell nuclei can be described more realistically. The model is applied to the description of saddle-to-scission dynamics of induced fission. The generalized TD-GCM charge yields and total kinetic energy distribution for the fission of ²⁴⁰Pu, are compared to those obtained using the standard time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) approach, and with available data.

We study mathematical, physical and computational aspects of the stabilizer formalism arising in quantum information and quantum computation. The measurement process of Pauli observables with its algorithm is given. It is shown that to detect genuine entanglement we need a full set of stabilizer generators and the stabilizer witness is coarser than the GHZ (Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger) witness. We discuss stabilizer codes and construct a stabilizer code from a given linear code. We also discuss quantum error correction, error recovery criteria and syndrome extraction. The symplectic structure of the stabilizer formalism is established and it is shown that any stabilizer code is unitarily equivalent to a trivial code. The structure of graph codes as stabilizer codes is identified by obtaining the respective stabilizer generators. The distance of embeddable stabilizer codes in lattices is obtained. We discuss the Knill−Gottesman theorem, tableau representation and frame representation. The runtime of simulating stabilizer gates is obtained by applying stabilizer matrices. Furthermore, an algorithm for updating global phases is given. Resolution of quantum channels into stabilizer channels is shown. We discuss capacity achieving codes to obtain the capacity of the quantum erasure channel. Finally, we discuss the shadow tomography problem and an algorithm for constructing classical shadow is given.

Optimization problems are prevalent in various fields, and the gradient-based gradient descent algorithm is a widely adopted optimization method. However, in classical computing, computing the numerical gradient for a function with d variables necessitates at least d+1 function evaluations, resulting in a computational complexity of O(d). As the number of variables increases, the classical gradient estimation methods require substantial resources, ultimately surpassing the capabilities of classical computers. Fortunately, leveraging the principles of superposition and entanglement in quantum mechanics, quantum computers can achieve genuine parallel computing, leading to exponential acceleration over classical algorithms in some cases. In this paper, we propose a novel quantum-based gradient calculation method that requires only a single oracle calculation to obtain the numerical gradient result for a multivariate function. The complexity of this algorithm is just O(1). Building upon this approach, we successfully implemented the quantum gradient descent algorithm and applied it to the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE), creating a pure quantum variational optimization algorithm. Compared with classical gradient-based optimization algorithm, this quantum optimization algorithm has remarkable complexity advantages, providing an efficient solution to optimization problems.The proposed quantum-based method shows promise in enhancing the performance of optimization algorithms, highlighting the potential of quantum computing in this field.

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is regarded as the future superstar for analytical chemistry and widely applied in various fields. Improving the quality of LIBS signal is fundamental to achieving accurate quantification and large-scale commercialization of LIBS. To propose control methods that improve LIBS signal quality, it is essential to have a comprehensive understanding of the influence of key parameters, such as ambient gas pressure, temperature, and sample temperature on LIBS signals. To date, extensive research has been carried out. However, different researchers often yield significantly different experimental results for LIBS, preventing the formation of consistent conclusions. This greatly prevents the understanding of influencing laws of key parameters and the improvement of LIBS quantitative performance. Taking ambient gas pressure as an example, this paper compares the effects of ambient gas pressure under different optimization conditions, reveals the influence of spatiotemporal window caused by inherent characteristics of LIBS signal sources, i.e., intense temporal changes and spatial non-uniformity of laser-induced plasmas, on the impact patterns of key parameters. From the perspective of plasma spatiotemporal evolution, the paper elucidates the influence patterns of ambient gas pressure on LIBS signals, clarifying seemingly contradictory research results in the literature.

A simple semi-analytical collective model that takes into account the limitations of the variation interval of the collective variable is suggested to describe the chiral dynamics in triaxial odd−odd nuclei with a fixed particle−hole configuration. The collective Hamiltonian is constructed with the potential energy obtained using the postulated ansatz for the wave function symmetric with respect to chiral transformation. By diagonalizing the collective Hamiltonian the wave functions of the lowest states are obtained and the evolution of the energy splitting of the chiral doublets in transition from chiral vibration to chiral rotation regime is demonstrated.

Non-Hermitian systems with parity−time (PT)-symmetry have been extensively studied and rapidly developed in resonance wireless power transfer (WPT). The WPT system that satisfies PT-symmetry always has real eigenvalues, which promote efficient energy transfer. However, meeting the condition of PT-symmetry is one of the most puzzling issues. Stable power transfer under different transmission conditions is also a great challenge. Bound state in the continuum (BIC) supporting extreme quality-factor mode provides an opportunity for efficient WPT. Here, we propose theoretically and demonstrate experimentally that BIC widely exists in resonance-coupled systems without PT-symmetry, and it can even realize more stable and efficient power transfer than PT-symmetric systems. Importantly, BIC for efficient WPT is universal and suitable in standard second-order and even high-order WPT systems. Our results not only extend non-Hermitian physics beyond PT-symmetry, but also bridge the gap between BIC and practical application engineering, such as high-performance WPT, wireless sensing and communications.

Recently universal dynamic scaling is observed in several systems, which exhibit a spatiotemporal self-similar scaling behavior, analogous to the spatial scaling near phase transition. The latter one arises from the emergent continuous scaling symmetry. Motivated by this, we investigate the possible relation between the scaling dynamics and the continuous scaling symmetry in this paper. We derive a theorem that the scaling invariance of the quenched Hamiltonian and the initial density matrix can lead to the universal dynamic scaling. It is further demonstrated both in a two-body system analytically and in a many-body system numerically. For the latter one, we calculate the dynamics of quantum gases quenched from the zero interaction to a finite interaction via the non-equilibrium high-temperature virial expansion. A dynamic scaling of the momentum distribution appears in certain momentum-time windows at unitarity as well as in the weak interacting limit. Remarkably, this universal scaling dynamics persists approximately with smaller scaling exponents even if the scaling symmetry is fairly broken. Our findings may offer a new perspective to interpret the related experiments. We also study the Contact dynamics in the BEC−BCS crossover. Surprisingly, the half-way time displays a maximum near unitarity while some damping oscillations occur on the BEC side due to the dimer state, which can be used to detect possible two-body bound states in experiments.

Currently, magnetic storage devices are encountering the problem of achieving lightweight and high integration in mobile computing devices during the information age. As a result, there is a growing urgency for two-dimensional half-metallic materials with a high Curie temperature (T_C). This study presents a theoretical investigation of the fundamental electromagnetic properties of the monolayer hexagonal lattice of Mn₂X₃ (X = S, Se, Te). Additionally, the potential application of Mn₂X₃ as magneto-resistive components is explored. All three of them fall into the category of ferromagnetic half-metals. In particular, the Monte Carlo simulations indicate that the T_C of Mn₂S₃ reachs 381 K, noticeably greater than room temperature. These findings present notable advantages for the application of Mn₂S₃ in spintronic devices. Hence, a prominent spin filtering effect is apparent when employing non-equilibrium Green’s function simulations to examine the transport parameters. The resulting current magnitude is approximately 2 × 10⁴ nA, while the peak gigantic magnetoresistance exhibits a substantial value of 8.36 × 10¹⁶ %. It is noteworthy that the device demonstrates a substantial spin Seebeck effect when the temperature differential between the electrodes is modified. In brief, Mn₂X₃ exhibits outstanding features as a high T_C half-metal, exhibiting exceptional capabilities in electrical and thermal drives spin transport. Therefore, it holds great potential for usage in spintronics applications.

Superconducting critical temperature is the most attractive material property due to its impact on the applications of electricity transmission, railway transportation, strong magnetic fields for nuclear fusion and medical imaging, quantum computing, etc. The ability to predict its value is a constant pursuit for condensed matter physicists. We developed a new hierarchical neural network (HNN) AI algorithm to resolve the contradiction between the large number of descriptors and the small number of datasets always faced by neural network AI approaches to materials science. With this new HNN-based AI model, a much-increased number of 909 universal descriptors for inorganic compounds, and a dramatically cleaned database for conventional superconductors, we achieved high prediction accuracy with a test R² score of 95.6%. The newly developed HNN model accurately predicted T_{\mathrm{c}} of 45 new high-entropy alloy superconductors with a mean absolute percent error below 6% compared to the experimental data. This demonstrated a significant potential for predicting other properties of inorganic materials.

Two-dimensional (2D) ferroelectric materials, which possess electrically switchable spontaneous polarization and can be easily integrated with semiconductor technologies, is of utmost importance in the advancement of high-integration low-power nanoelectronics. Despite the experimental discovery of certain 2D ferroelectric materials such as CuInP₂S₆ and In₂Se₃, achieving stable ferroelectricity at room temperature in these materials continues to present a significant challenge. Herein, stable ferroelectric order at room temperature in the 2D limit is demonstrated in van der Waals SnP₂S₆ atom layers, which can be fabricated via mechanical exfoliation of bulk SnP₂S₆ crystals. Switchable polarization is observed in thin SnP₂S₆ of ~7 nm. Importantly, a van der Waals ferroelectric field-effect transistor (Fe-FET) with ferroelectric SnP₂S₆ as top-gate insulator and p-type WTe_0.6Se_1.4 as the channel was designed and fabricated successfully, which exhibits a clear clockwise hysteresis loop in transfer characteristics, demonstrating ferroelectric properties of SnP₂S₆ atomic layers. In addition, a multilayer graphene/SnP₂S₆/multilayer graphene van der Waals vertical heterostructure phototransistor was also fabricated successfully, exhibiting improved optoelectronic performances with a responsivity (R) of 2.9 A/W and a detectivity (D) of 1.4 × 10¹² Jones. Our results show that SnP₂S₆ is a promising 2D ferroelectric material for ferroelectric-integrated low-power 2D devices.

We present a novel class of Rydberg-mediated nuclear-spin entanglement in divalent atoms with global laser pulses. First, we show a fast nuclear-spin controlled phase gate of an arbitrary phase realizable either with two laser pulses when assisted by Stark shifts, or with three pulses. Second, we propose to create an electrons−nuclei-entangled state, which is named a super bell state (SBS) for it mimics a large Bell state incorporating three small Bell states. Third, we show a protocol to create a three-atom electrons-nuclei entangled state which contains the three-body W and Greenberger−Horne−Zeilinger (GHZ) states simultaneously. These protocols possess high intrinsic fidelities, do not require single-site Rydberg addressing, and can be executed with large Rydberg Rabi frequencies in a weak, Gauss-scale magnetic field. The latter two protocols can enable measurement-based preparation of Bell, hyperentangled, and GHZ states, and, specifically, SBS can enable quantum dense coding where one can share three classical bits of information by sending one particle.

In recent years, cat-state encoding and high-dimensional entanglement have attracted much attention. However, previous works are limited to generation of entangled states of cat-state qubits (two-dimensional entanglement with cat-state encoding), while how to prepare entangled states of cat-state qutrits or qudits (high-dimensional entanglement with cat-state encoding) has not been investigated. We here propose to generate a maximally-entangled state of multiple cat-state qutrits (three-dimensional entanglement by cat-state encoding) in circuit QED. The entangled state is prepared with multiple microwave cavities coupled to a superconducting flux ququart (a four-level quantum system). This proposal operates essentially by the cavity-qutrit dispersive interaction. The circuit hardware resource is minimized because only a coupler ququart is employed. The higher intermediate level of the ququart is occupied only for a short time, thereby decoherence from this level is greatly suppressed during the state preparation. Remarkably, the state preparation time does not depend on the number of the qutrits, thus it does not increase with the number of the qutrits. As an example, our numerical simulations demonstrate that, with the present circuit QED technology, the high-fidelity preparation is feasible for a maximally-entangled state of two cat-state qutrits. Furthermore, we numerically analyze the effect of the inter-cavity crosstalk on the scalability of this proposal. This proposal is universal and can be extended to accomplish the same task with multiple microwave or optical cavities coupled to a natural or artificial four-level atom.

Engineering phonon transport in low-dimensional materials has great significance not only for fundamental research, but also for thermal management applications of electric devices. However, due to the difficulties of micro and nano processing and characterization techniques, the work on tuning phonon transport at nanoscale are scarce. In this work, by introducing Ar⁺ plasma, we probed the phonon transport in two-dimensional (2D) layered semiconductor PdSe₂ under different defect concentrations. By using thermal bridge method, the thermal conductivity was measured to decrease by 50% after a certain Ar⁺ irradiation, which implied a possible phase transition. Moreover, Raman characterizations were performed to show that the Raman sensitive peaks of PdSe₂ was red-shifted and finally became disappeared with the increase of defect concentration. “Defect engineering” proves be a practical strategy in tuning the phonon thermal transport in low-dimensional materials, thus providing guidance for potential application in designing thermoelectric devices with various emerging materials.

In our study, we explore high-order exceptional points (EPs), which are crucial for enhancing the sensitivity of open physical systems to external changes. We utilize the Hilbert−Schmidt speed (HSS), a measure of quantum statistical speed, to accurately identify EPs in non-Hermitian systems. These points are characterized by the simultaneous coalescence of eigenvalues and their associated eigenstates. One of the main benefits of using HSS is that it eliminates the need to diagonalize the evolved density matrix, simplifying the identification process. Our method is shown to be effective even in complex, multi-dimensional and interacting Hamiltonian systems. In certain cases, a generalized evolved state may be employed over the conventional normalized state. This necessitates the use of a metric operator to define the inner product between states, thereby introducing additional complexity. Our research confirms that HSS is a reliable and practical tool for detecting EPs, even in these demanding situations.

With the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the rapid growth of big data generated by edge devices, there has been a growing need for electronic devices that are capable of processing and transmitting data at low power and high speeds. Traditional Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) devices are nonvolatile and often limited by their ability for certain IoT applications due to their unnecessary power consumption for data movement in von Neuman architecture-based systems. This has led to a surge in research and development efforts aimed at creating innovative electronic components and systems that can overcome these shortcomings and meet the evolving needs of the information era, which share features such as improved energy efficiency, higher processing speeds, and increased functionality. Memristors are a novel type of electronic device that has the potential to break down the barrier between storage and computing. By storing data and processing information within the same device, memristors can minimize the need for data movement, which allows for faster processing speeds and reduced energy consumption. To further improve the energy efficiency and reliability of memristors, there has been a growing trend toward diversifying the selection of dielectric materials used in memristors. Halide perovskites (HPs) have unique electrical and optical properties, including ion migration, charge trapping effect caused by intrinsic defects, excellent optical absorption efficiency, and high charge mobility, which makes them highly promising in applications of memristors. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive overview of the recent development in resistive switching behaviors of HPs and the underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, we summarize the diverse range of HPs, their respective performance metrics, as well as their applications in various fields. Finally, we critically evaluate the current bottlenecks and possible opportunities in the future research of HP memristors.

Quasi-two-dimensional (2D) Ruddlesden‒Popper (RP) halide perovskites, as a kind of emerged two-dimensional layered materials, have recently achieved great attentions in lasing materials field owing to their large exciton binding energy, high emission yield, large optical gain, and wide-range tuning of optical bandgap. This review will introduce research progresses of RP halide perovskites for lasing applications in aspects of materials, photophysics, and devices with emphasis on emission and lasing properties tailored by the molecular composition and interface. The materials, structures and fabrications are introduced in the first part. Next, the optical transitions and amplified spontaneous emission properties are discussed from the aspects of electronic structure, exciton, gain dynamics, and interface tailoring. Then, the research progresses on lasing devices are summarized and several types of lasers including VCSEL, DFB lasers, microlasers, random lasers, plasmonic lasers, and polariton lasers are discussed. At last, the challenges and perspectives would be provided.

We propose a scheme to realize antibunched multiple-photon bundles based on phonon blockade in a quadratically coupled optomechanical system. Through adjusting the detunings to match the conditions of phonon blockade in the photon sidebands, we establish super-Rabi oscillation between zero-photon state and multiple-photon states with adjustable super-Rabi frequencies under appropriate single-phonon resonant conditions. Taking the system dissipation into account, we numerically calculate the standard and generalized second-order functions of the cavity mode as well as the quantum trajectories of the state populations with Monte Carlo simulation to confirm that the emitted photons form antibunched multiple-photon bundles. Interestingly, the desirable n-photon states are reconstructed after a direct phonon emission based on phonon blockade, and thus the single-phonon emission heralds the cascade emission of n-photon bundles. Our proposal shows that the optomechanical system can simultaneously behave as antibunched multiple-photon emitter and single-phonon gun. Such a nonclassical source could have potential applications in quantum information science.