Longitudinal manipulation of local nonseparability in vector beams.

The inherent nonseparability of vector beams presents a unique opportunity to explore novel optical functionalities, expanding new degrees of freedom for optical information processing. In this Letter, we introduce a novel, to the best of our knowledge, method for tailoring the local nonseparability along the propagation axis of vector beams. Employing higher-order Bessel vector beams, the longitudinal control over the local nonseparability is achieved through targeted amplitude modulation of constituent orthogonal polarization components within the main ring region. Experimental demonstrations of diverse longitudinal nonseparability profiles corroborate the efficacy and versatility of our approach, opening avenues for further exploration of the nonseparability manipulation in vector beams.

Could the presence and proportion of three/multiple pronuclei (3PN/MPN) zygotes indicate the cytoplasmic maturation state of oocyte cohort in conventional IVF patients?

Although abnormally fertilized zygotes with three or multiple pronuclei (3 PN/MPN) are commonly believed to be associated with improper maturation of the oocyte cytoplasm in conventional IVF cycles, no studies investigated the association between the proportion of MPN zygotes and the maturation state of the oocyte cohort. We compared the cytoplasmic maturity of oocytes from conventional IVF cycles with different proportions of 3 PN/MPN zygotes. A total of 1428 conventional IVF patients with ≥6 oocytes retrieved and fresh embryos transferred were divided into 4 groups according to the proportions of 3 PN/MPN zygotes. The pregnancy outcomes and the proportion of nuclear immature oocytes were analyzed to suggest the cytoplasmic maturation state of the oocyte cohort. Our results showed that the group with a low proportion of 3 PN/MPN zygotes had a higher clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) than those without 3 PN/MPN zygotes (P < 0.05). However, the live birth rate (LBR) was not significantly different between the two groups. The implantation rate (IR), CPR, and LBR did not differ between the low-proportion and high-proportion 3 PN/MPN groups. The proportion of nuclear immature oocytes on day 1 was highest in the group without 3 PN/MPN zygotes (23.8 %) and gradually decreased with an increased proportion of 3 PN/MPN zygotes (P < 0.001). Therefore, the presence of 3 PN/MPN zygotes after conventional IVF may indicate a more mature cytoplasmic state of the oocyte cohort, and the increased proportion of 3 PN/MPN zygotes is associated with an increased maturation state of the whole oocyte cohort. The occurrence and proportion of 3 PN/MPN zygotes may serve as an indicator for the cytoplasmic maturity of the oocyte cohort and help clinicians evaluate the efficiency of ovarian stimulation and optimize the stimulation protocols in subsequent cycles.

Tailoring nonuniform local orbital angular momentum density.

As is well known, a light beam with a helical phase carries an optical orbital angular momentum (OAM), which can cause the orbital motion of trapped microparticles around the beam axis. Usually, the speed of the orbital motion is uniform along the azimuthal direction and depends on the amount of OAM and the light intensity. Here, we present the reverse customized method to tailor the nonuniform local OAM density along the azimuthal direction of the focal field, which has a hybrid polarization distribution and maintains a doughnut-shaped intensity profile. Theoretical analysis and experimental results about the orbital motion of the trapped polystyrene sphere show that the nonuniform local OAM density can be tailored by manipulating the polarization states of the focal field. Our results provide an ingenious way to control the local tangential optical force and the speed of the orbital motion of particles driven by the local OAM density and will promote exciting possibilities for exploring ways to control the mechanical dynamics of microparticles in optical trapping and microfluidics.

Single-shot measurement of the Jones matrix for anisotropic media using four-channel digital polarization holography.

Dynamic measurement of the Jones matrix is crucial in investigating polarization light fields, which have wide applications in biophysics, chemistry, and mineralogy. However, acquiring the four elements of the Jones matrix instantly is difficult, hindering the characterization of random media and transient processes. In this study, we propose a single-shot measurement method of the Jones matrix for anisotropic media called "four-channel digital polarization holography" (FC-DPH). The FC-DPH system is created by a slightly off-axis superposition of reference light waves, which are modulated by a spatial light modulator (SLM), and signal light waves that pass through a Ronchi grating. The SLM enables flexible adjustment of the spatial carrier frequency, which can be adapted to different anisotropic media. The four elements of the Jones matrix can be obtained from the interferogram through the inverse Fourier transform. Optical experiments on anisotropic objects validate the feasibility and accuracy of the proposed method.

Double-Shock Compression Pathways from Diamond to BC8 Carbon.

Carbon is one of the most important elements for both industrial applications and fundamental research, including life, physics, chemistry, materials, and even planetary science. Although theoretical predictions on the transition from diamond to the BC8 (Ia3[over ¯]) carbon were made more than thirty years ago, after tremendous experimental efforts, direct evidence for the existence of BC8 carbon is still lacking. In this study, a machine learning potential was developed for high-pressure carbon fitted from first-principles calculations, which exhibited great capabilities in modeling the melting and Hugoniot line. Using the molecular dynamics based on this machine learning potential, we designed a thermodynamic pathway that is achievable for the double shock compression experiment to obtain the elusive BC8 carbon. Diamond was compressed up to 584 GPa after the first shock at 20.5 km/s. Subsequently, in the second shock compression at 24.8 or 25.0 km/s, diamond was compressed to a supercooled liquid and then solidified to BC8 in around 1 ns. Furthermore, the critical nucleus size and nucleation rate of BC8 were calculated, which are crucial for nano-second x-ray diffraction measurements to observe BC8 carbon during shock compressions. The key to obtaining BC8 carbon lies in the formation of liquid at a sufficient supercooling. Our work provides a feasible pathway by which the long-sought BC8 phase of carbon can be reached in experiments.

Spatio-temporal structuring control of a vectorial focal field.

Focal field modulation has attracted a lot of interest due to its potential in many applications such as optical tweezers or laser processing, and it has recently been facilitated by spatial light modulators (SLMs) owing to their dynamic modulation abilities. However, capabilities for manipulating focal fields are limited by the space-bandwidth product of SLMs. This difficulty can be alleviated by taking advantage of the high-speed modulation ability of digital micromirror devices (DMDs), i.e., trading time for space to achieve fine focus shaping. In this paper, we propose a new, to the best of our knowledge, technique for achieving four-dimensional focal field modulation, which allows for independent manipulation of the focal field's parameters (including amplitude, phase, and polarization) in both the space and time domains. This technique combines a DMD and a vector field synthesis system based on a 4-f system. The high-speed modulation ability of DMDs enables versatile focus patterns to be fast switchable during the exposure time of the detector, forming multiple patterns in a single recording frame. By generating different kinds of focal spots and lines at different moments during the exposure time of the detector, we can finally get complete multifocal spots and lines. Our proposed method is effective at improving the flexibility and speed of the focal field modulation, which is beneficial to applications.

MAGUS: machine learning and graph theory assisted universal structure searcher.

Crystal structure predictions based on first-principles calculations have gained great success in materials science and solid state physics. However, the remaining challenges still limit their applications in systems with a large number of atoms, especially the complexity of conformational space and the cost of local optimizations for big systems. Here, we introduce a crystal structure prediction method, MAGUS, based on the evolutionary algorithm, which addresses the above challenges with machine learning and graph theory. Techniques used in the program are summarized in detail and benchmark tests are provided. With intensive tests, we demonstrate that on-the-fly machine-learning potentials can be used to significantly reduce the number of expensive first-principles calculations, and the crystal decomposition based on graph theory can efficiently decrease the required configurations in order to find the target structures. We also summarized the representative applications of this method on several research topics, including unexpected compounds in the interior of planets and their exotic states at high pressure and high temperature (superionic, plastic, partially diffusive state, etc.); new functional materials (superhard, high-energy-density, superconducting, photoelectric materials), etc. These successful applications demonstrated that MAGUS code can help to accelerate the discovery of interesting materials and phenomena, as well as the significant value of crystal structure predictions in general.

Characterization of Orbital Angular Momentum Quantum States Empowered by Metasurfaces.

Twisted photons can in principle carry a discrete unbounded amount of orbital angular momentum (OAM), which are of great significance for quantum communication and fundamental tests of quantum theory. However, the methods for characterization of the OAM quantum states present a fundamental limit for miniaturization. Metasurfaces can exploit new degrees of freedom to manipulate optical fields beyond the capabilities of bulk optics, opening a broad range of novel and superior applications in quantum photonics. Here we present a scheme to reconstruct the density matrix of the OAM quantum states of single photons with all-dielectric metasurfaces composed of birefringent meta-atoms. We have also measured the Schmidt number of the OAM entanglement by the multiplexing of multiple degrees of freedom. Our work represents a step toward the practical application of quantum metadevices for the measurement of OAM quantum states in free-space quantum imaging and communications.

Magnesium oxide-water compounds at megabar pressure and implications on planetary interiors.

Magnesium Oxide (MgO) and water (H2O) are abundant in the interior of planets. Their properties, and in particular their interaction, significantly affect the planet interior structure and thermal evolution. Here, using crystal structure predictions and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, we find that MgO and H2O can react again at ultrahigh pressure, although Mg(OH)2 decomposes at low pressure. The reemergent MgO-H2O compounds are: Mg2O3H2 above 400 GPa, MgO3H4 above 600 GPa, and MgO4H6 in the pressure range of 270-600 GPa. Importantly, MgO4H6 contains 57.3 wt % of water, which is a much higher water content than any reported hydrous mineral. Our results suggest that a substantial amount of water can be stored in MgO rock in the deep interiors of Earth to Neptune mass planets. Based on molecular dynamics simulations we show that these three compounds exhibit superionic behavior at the pressure-temperature conditions as in the interiors of Uranus and Neptune. Moreover, the water-rich compound MgO4H6 could be stable inside the early Earth and therefore may serve as a possible early Earth water reservoir. Our findings, in the poorly explored megabar pressure regime, provide constraints for interior and evolution models of wet planets in our solar system and beyond.

Two-Measurement Tomography of High-Dimensional Orbital Angular Momentum Entanglement.

High-dimensional (HD) entanglement enables an encoding of more bits than in the two-dimensional case and promises to increase communication capacity over quantum channels and to improve robustness to noise. In practice, however, one of the central challenges is to devise efficient methods to quantify the HD entanglement explicitly. Full quantum state tomography is a standard technology to obtain all the information about the quantum state, but it becomes impractical because the required measurements increase exponentially with the dimension in HD systems. Hence, it is highly anticipated that a new method will be found for characterizing the HD entanglement with as few measurements as possible and without introducing unwarranted assumptions. Here, we present and demonstrate a scan-free tomography method independent of dimension, which only requires two measurements for the characterization of two-photon HD orbital angular momentum (OAM) entanglement. Taking Laguerre-Gaussian modes of photons as an example, the density matrices of OAM entangled states are experimentally reconstructed with very high fidelity. Our method is also generalized to the mixed HD OAM entanglement. Our results provide realistic approaches for quantifying more complex OAM entanglement in many scientific and engineering fields such as multiphoton HD quantum systems and quantum process tomography.

Pressure Stabilized Lithium-Aluminum Compounds with Both Superconducting and Superionic Behaviors.

Superconducting and superionic behaviors have physically intriguing dynamic properties of electrons and ions, respectively, both of which are conceptually important and have great potential for practical applications. Whether these two phenomena can appear in the same system is an interesting and important question. Here, using crystal structure predictions and first-principle calculations combined with machine learning, we identify several stable Li-Al compounds with electride behavior under high pressure, and we find that the electronic density of states of some of the compounds has characteristics of the two-dimensional electron gas. Among them, we estimate that Li_{6}Al at 150 GPa has a superconducting transition temperature of around 29 K and enters a superionic state at a high temperature and wide pressure range. The diffusion in Li_{6}Al is found to be affected by an electride and attributed to the atomic collective motion. Our results indicate that alkali metal alloys can be effective platforms to study the abundant physical properties and their manipulation with pressure and temperature.

Metallic Aluminum Suboxides with Ultrahigh Electrical Conductivity at High Pressure.

Aluminum, as the most abundant metallic elemental content in the Earth's crust, usually exists in the form of alumina (Al2O3). However, the oxidation state of aluminum and the crystal structures of aluminum oxides in the pressure range of planetary interiors are not well established. Here, we predicted two aluminum suboxides (Al2O, AlO) and two superoxides (Al4O7, AlO3) with uncommon stoichiometries at high pressures using first-principle calculations and crystal structure prediction methods. We find that the P4/nmm Al2O becomes stable above ~765 GPa and may survive in the deep mantles or cores of giant planets such as Neptune. Interestingly, the Al2O and AlO are metallic and have electride features, in which some electrons are localized in the interstitials between atoms. We find that Al2O has an electrical conductivity one order of magnitude higher than that of iron under the same pressure-temperature conditions, which may influence the total conductivity of giant planets. Our findings enrich the high-pressure phase diagram of aluminum oxides and improve our understanding of the interior structure of giant planets.

Experimental Demonstration of Quantum Pseudotelepathy.

Quantum pseudotelepathy is a strong form of nonlocality. Different from the conventional nonlocal games where quantum strategies win statistically, e.g., the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt game, quantum pseudotelepathy in principle allows quantum players to with probability 1. In this Letter, we report a faithful experimental demonstration of quantum pseudotelepathy via playing the nonlocal version of Mermin-Peres magic square game, where Alice and Bob cooperatively fill in a 3×3 magic square. We adopt the hyperentanglement scheme and prepare photon pairs entangled in both the polarization and the orbital angular momentum degrees of freedom, such that the experiment is carried out in a resource-efficient manner. Under the locality and fair-sampling assumption, our results show that quantum players can simultaneously win all the queries over any classical strategy.

Electronegativity and chemical hardness of elements under pressure.

SignificanceOver the years, many unusual chemical phenomena have been discovered at high pressures, yet our understanding of them is still very fragmentary. Our paper addresses this from the fundamental level by exploring the key chemical properties of atoms-electronegativity and chemical hardness-as a function of pressure. We have made an appropriate modification to the definition of Mulliken electronegativity to extend its applicability to high pressures. The change in atomic properties, which we observe, allows us to provide a unified framework explaining (and predicting) many chemical phenomena and the altered behavior of many elements under pressure.

Experimental self-testing for photonic graph states.

Graph states-one of the most representative families of multipartite entangled states-are important resources for multiparty quantum communication, quantum error correction, and quantum computation. Device-independent certification of highly entangled graph states plays a prominent role in quantum information processing tasks. Here we have experimentally demonstrated device-independent certification for multipartite graph states by adopting the robust self-testing scheme based on scalable Bell inequalities. Specifically, the prepared multi-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states and linear cluster states achieve a high degree of Bell violation, which are beyond the nontrivial bounds of the robust self-testing scheme. Furthermore, our work paves the way to the device-independent certification of complex multipartite quantum states.

Ultrahigh-Pressure Magnesium Hydrosilicates as Reservoirs of Water in Early Earth.

The origin of water on the Earth is a long-standing mystery, requiring a comprehensive search for hydrous compounds, stable at conditions of the deep Earth and made of Earth-abundant elements. Previous studies usually focused on the current range of pressure-temperature conditions in the Earth's mantle and ignored a possible difference in the past, such as the stage of the core-mantle separation. Here, using ab initio evolutionary structure prediction, we find that only two magnesium hydrosilicate phases are stable at megabar pressures, α-Mg_{2}SiO_{5}H_{2} and ß-Mg_{2}SiO_{5}H_{2}, stable at 262-338 GPa and >338 GPa, respectively (all these pressures now lie within the Earth's iron core). Both are superionic conductors with quasi-one-dimensional proton diffusion at relevant conditions. In the first 30 million years of Earth's history, before the Earth's core was formed, these must have existed in the Earth, hosting much of Earth's water. As dense iron alloys segregated to form the Earth's core, Mg_{2}SiO_{5}H_{2} phases decomposed and released water. Thus, now-extinct Mg_{2}SiO_{5}H_{2} phases have likely contributed in a major way to the evolution of our planet.

Superionic Silica-Water and Silica-Hydrogen Compounds in the Deep Interiors of Uranus and Neptune.

Silica, water, and hydrogen are known to be the major components of celestial bodies, and have significant influence on the formation and evolution of giant planets, such as Uranus and Neptune. Thus, it is of fundamental importance to investigate their states and possible reactions under the planetary conditions. Here, using advanced crystal structure searches and first-principles calculations in the Si-O-H system, we find that a silica-water compound (SiO_{2})_{2}(H_{2}O) and a silica-hydrogen compound SiO_{2}H_{2} can exist under high pressures above 450 and 650 GPa, respectively. Further simulations reveal that, at high pressure and high temperature conditions corresponding to the interiors of Uranus and Neptune, these compounds exhibit superionic behavior, in which protons diffuse freely like liquid while the silicon and oxygen framework is fixed as solid. Therefore, these superionic silica-water and silica-hydrogen compounds could be regarded as important components of the deep mantle or core of giants, which also provides an alternative origin for their anomalous magnetic fields. These unexpected physical and chemical properties of the most common natural materials at high pressure offer key clues to understand some abstruse issues including demixing and erosion of the core in giant planets, and shed light on building reliable models for solar giants and exoplanets.

Hong-Ou-Mandel Interference between Two Hyperentangled Photons Enables Observation of Symmetric and Antisymmetric Particle Exchange Phases.

Two-photon Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference is a fundamental quantum effect with no classical counterpart. The existing research on two-photon interference was mainly limited in one degree of freedom (DOF); hence, it is still a challenge to realize quantum interference in multiple DOFs. Here, we demonstrate HOM interference between two hyperentangled photons in two DOFs of polarization and orbital angular momentum (OAM) for all 16 hyperentangled Bell states. We observe hyperentangled two-photon interference with a bunching effect for ten symmetric states (nine boson-boson states and one fermion-fermion state) and an antibunching effect for six antisymmetric states (three boson-fermion states and three fermion-boson states). More interestingly, expanding the Hilbert space by introducing an extra DOF for two photons enables one to transfer the unmeasurable external phase in the initial DOF to a measurable internal phase in the expanded two DOFs. We directly measured the symmetric exchange phases being 0.012±0.002, 0.025±0.002, and 0.027±0.002 in radian for the three boson states in OAM and the antisymmetric exchange phase being 0.991π±0.002 in radian for the other fermion state, as theoretical predictions. Our Letter may not only pave the way for more wide applications of quantum interference, but also develop new technologies by expanding Hilbert space in more DOFs.

Radially self-accelerating Stokes vortices in nondiffracting Bessel-Poincaré beams.

We theoretically propose and experimentally generate the nondiffracting Bessel-Poincaré beams whose Stokes vortices radially accelerate during propagation. To this end, we design the Bessel beams whose intensity is specified to be uniformly distributed along the longitudinal direction. By superposing two such Bessel beams having different helical phases and mutually orthogonal polarizations, the synthesized vector beam is endowed with the polarization singularity that can rotate about the optical axis, while the total intensities maintain their profiles. Radially self-accelerating Stokes vortices in the resulting beam can be manipulated by adjusting the predefined parameters in the constituent beams.

Use of a new set of key performance indicators for evaluating the performance of an in vitro fertilization laboratory in which blastocyst culture and the freeze-all strategy are the primary treatment in patients with in vitro fertilization.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the performance of an in vitro fertilization (IVF) laboratory using a new set of key performance indicators (KPIs) when the main treatment of IVF patients had been changed. METHODS: Patients who underwent fresh embryo transfer and the freeze-all strategy in August, September, and October 2017 were retrospectively studied to evaluate the performance of an IVF laboratory in September when implantation rate of fresh embryo transfer decreased. KPIs associated with blastocyst culture and the first frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycle in patients with the freeze-all strategy were compared over 3 months. RESULTS: Day 5 usable blastocyst and good quality blastocyst rates, and day 3 usable/good quality embryo rates were not different among the three periods. The implantation rate and KPIs associated with morphological changes in warmed blastocysts in the first FET cycle in patients with the freeze-all strategy were also not different among the periods. CONCLUSIONS: KPIs associated with embryo quality, blastocyst culture, and the pregnancy outcome of the first FET cycle in patients with the freeze-all strategy suggested that performance was unaffected in our IVF laboratory in September. These KPIs might be useful for internal quality control analysis of IVF laboratories.