Weber number and the outcome of binary collisions between quantum droplets.

A theoretical analysis of binary collisions of quantum droplets under feasible experimental conditions is reported. Droplets formed from degenerate dilute Bose gases made up from binary mixtures of ultracold atoms are considered. Reliable expressions for the surface tension of the droplets are introduced based on a study of low energy excitations of their ground state within the random phase approximation. Their relevance is evaluated considering an estimation of the expected excitation energy having in mind the Thouless variational theorem. The surface tension expressions allow calculating the Weber number of the droplets involved in the collisions. Several regimes on the outcomes of the binary frontal collisions that range from the coalescence of the quantum droplets to their disintegration into smaller droplets are identified. Atoms losses of the droplets derived from self-evaporation and three-body scattering are quantified for both homo- and hetero-nuclear mixtures. Their control is mandatory for the observation of some interesting effects arising from droplets collisions.

Theoretical and numerical investigation of internal conical refraction of structured light beams.

We present an ab initio numerical investigation of the internal conical refraction of structured light beams in a biaxial crystal. Starting from the solutions of the Fresnel equation, a theoretical analysis is developed without assuming any analytical approximation, thus obtaining a set of exact equations that can be solved by standard methods of integration for any impinging light beam. As examples of applications, we consider the particular cases of linearly and circularly polarized Gaussian and Bessel beams inside a KTP crystal. Numerical calculations follow the evolution of the refracted beam inside the crystal. It is seen that for realistic boundary conditions, a refraction cone appears in a certain range of distances within the crystal, and its shape is rather sensitive to the initial conditions.

Comparative study of single cultures and a consortium of white rot fungi for polychlorinated biphenyls treatment.

AIMS: To evaluate the mycoremediation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) by either single cultures or binary consortia of Pleurotus pulmonarius LBM 105 and Trametes sanguinea LBM 023. METHODS AND RESULTS: PCBs tolerance, removal capacity, toxicity reduction and ligninolytic enzyme expression were assessed when growing single culture and binary consortium of fungus in 217 mg l-1 of a technical mixture of Aroclor 1242, 1254 and 1260 in transformer oil. A decrease in tolerance and variation in ligninolytic enzyme secretion were observed in PCB-amended solid media. Pleurotus pulmonarius LBM 105 mono-culture was able to remove up to 95·4% of PCBs, whereas binary consortium and T. sanguinea LBM 023 could biodegrade about 55% after 24 days. Significant detoxification levels were detected in all treatments by biosorption mechanism. CONCLUSIONS: Pleurotus pulmonarius LBM 105 in single culture had the best performance regarding PCBs biodegradation and toxicity reduction. Ligninolytic enzyme secretion changed in co-culture. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The evaluation of PCBs bioremediation effectiveness of basidiomycetes consortium in terms of PCB removal, toxicity and ligninolytic enzyme production to unravel the differences between using individual cultures or consortium has not been reported. The results from this study enable the selection of P. pulmonarius LBM 105 mono-culture to bioremediate PCBs as it showed higher efficiency compared to binary consortium with T. sanguinea LBM 023 for potential decontamination of PCB-contaminated transformer oil.

Feedback-Induced Quantum Phase Transitions Using Weak Measurements.

We show that applying feedback and weak measurements to a quantum system induces phase transitions beyond the dissipative ones. Feedback enables controlling essentially quantum properties of the transition, i.e., its critical exponent, as it is driven by the fundamental quantum fluctuations due to measurement. Feedback provides the non-Markovianity and nonlinearity to the hybrid quantum-classical system, and enables simulating effects similar to spin-bath problems and Floquet time crystals with tunable long-range (long-memory) interactions.

Multipartite entangled spatial modes of ultracold atoms generated and controlled by quantum measurement.

We show that the effect of measurement backaction results in the generation of multiple many-body spatial modes of ultracold atoms trapped in an optical lattice, when scattered light is detected. The multipartite mode entanglement properties and their nontrivial spatial overlap can be varied by tuning the optical geometry in a single setup. This can be used to engineer quantum states and dynamics of matter fields. We provide examples of multimode generalizations of parametric down-conversion, Dicke, and other states; investigate the entanglement properties of such states; and show how they can be transformed into a class of generalized squeezed states. Furthermore, we propose how these modes can be used to detect and measure entanglement in quantum gases.