Pairing of Cooper Pairs in a Fully Frustrated Josephson Junction Chain

We study a one-dimensional Josephson junction chain embedded in a magnetic field. We show that when the magnetic flux per elementary loop equals half the superconducting flux quantum $\phi_0=h/2e$, a local \nbZ_2 symmetry arises. This symmetry is responsible for a nematic Luttinger liquid state associated to bound states of Cooper pairs. We analyze the phase diagram and we discuss some experimental possibilities to observe this exotic phase.Comment: 4 pages, 4 EPS figure

Classical simulation of quantum many-body systems with a tree tensor network

We show how to efficiently simulate a quantum many-body system with tree structure when its entanglement is bounded for any bipartite split along an edge of the tree. This is achieved by expanding the {\em time-evolving block decimation} simulation algorithm for time evolution from a one dimensional lattice to a tree graph, while replacing a {\em matrix product state} with a {\em tree tensor network}. As an application, we show that any one-way quantum computation on a tree graph can be efficiently simulated with a classical computer.Comment: 4 pages,7 figure

Effects of critical temperature inhomogeneities on the voltage-current characteristics of a planar superconductor near the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition

We analyze numerically how the voltage-current (V-I) characteristics near the so-called Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition of 2D superconductors are affected by a random spatial Gaussian distribution of critical temperature inhomogeneities with long characteristic lengths (much larger than the in-plane superconducting coherence length amplitude). Our simulations allow to quantify the broadening around the average BKT transition temperature of both the exponent alpha in V I^alpha and of the resistance V/I. These calculations reveal that strong spatial redistributions of the local current will occur around the transition as either I or the temperature T are varied. Our results also support that the condition alpha=3 provides a good estimate for the location of the average BKT transition temperature, and that extrapolating to alpha->1 the alpha(T) behaviour well below the transition provides a good estimate for the average mean-field critical temperature.Comment: 18 pages; pdfLaTeX; 1 TeX file + 8 PDF files for figures (figs.1,2,3a,3b,4,5a,5b,6

Resonant transmission of light through finite chains of subwavelength holes

In this paper we show that the extraordinary optical transmission phenomenon found before in 2D hole arrays is already present in a linear chain of subwavelength holes, which can be considered as the basic geometrical unit showing this property. In order to study this problem we have developed a new theoretical framework, able to analyze the optical properties of finite collections of subwavelength apertures and/or dimples (of any shape and placed in arbitrary positions) drilled in a metallic film.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Observation of enhanced transmission for s-polarized light through a subwavelength slit

Enhanced optical transmission (EOT) through subwavelength apertures is usually obtained for p-polarized light. The present study experimentally investigates EOT for s-polarized light. A subwavelength slit surrounded on each side by periodic grooves has been fabricated in a gold film and covered by a thin dielectric layer. The excitation of s-polarized dielectric waveguide modes inside the dielectric film strongly increases the s-polarized transmission. Transmission measurements are compared with a coupled mode model and show good qualitative agreement. Adding a waveguide can improve light transmission through subwavelength apertures, as both s and p-polarization can be efficiently transmitted.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Applied Physics Letter

Correlation function and mutual information

Correlation function and mutual information are two powerful tools to characterize the correlations in a quantum state of a composite system, widely used in many-body physics and in quantum information science, respectively. We find that these two tools may give different conclusions about the order of the degrees of correlation in two specific two-qubit states. This result implies that the orderings of bipartite quantum states according to the degrees of correlation depend on which correlation measure we adopt.Comment: 4.2 pages, 4 figure

FUSE Observations of the HD Molecule toward HD 73882

The Lyman and Werner band systems of deuterated molecular hydrogen (HD) occur in the far UV range below 1200 A. The high sensitivity of the FUSE mission can give access, at moderate resolution, to hot stars shining through translucent clouds, in the hope of observing molecular cores in which deuterium is essentially in the form of HD. Thus, the measurement of the HD/H2 ratio may become a new powerful tool to evaluate the deuterium abundance, D/H, in the interstellar medium. We report here on the detection of HD toward the high extinction star HD 73882 [E(B-V)=0.72]. A preliminary analysis is presented.Comment: 4 pages + 4 .ps figures. This paper will appear in a special issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters devoted to the first scientific results from the FUSE missio