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Exotic quantum vacuum phenomena are predicted in cavity quantum electrodynamics systems with ultrastrong light-matter interactions. Their ground states are predicted to be vacuum squeezed states with suppressed quantum fluctuations owing to antiresonant terms in the Hamiltonian. However, such predictions have not been realized because antiresonant interactions are typically negligible compared to resonant interactions in light-matter systems. Here we report an unusual, ultrastrongly coupled matter-matter system of magnons that is analytically described by a unique Hamiltonian in which the relative importance of resonant and antiresonant interactions can be easily tuned and the latter can be made vastly dominant. We found a regime where vacuum Bloch-Siegert shifts, the hallmark of antiresonant interactions, greatly exceed analogous frequency shifts from resonant interactions. Further, we theoretically explored the system’s ground state and calculated up to 5.9 dB of quantum fluctuation suppression. These observations demonstrate that magnonic systems provide an ideal platform for exploring exotic quantum vacuum phenomena predicted in ultrastrongly coupled light-matter systems.

In the superradiant phase transition (SRPT), coherent light and matter fields are expected to appear spontaneously in a coupled light–matter system in thermal equilibrium. However, such an equilibrium SRPT is forbidden in the case of charge-based light–matter coupling, known as no-go theorems. Here, we show that the low-temperature phase transition of ErFeO3 at a critical temperature of approximately 4 K is an equilibrium SRPT achieved through coupling between Fe3+ magnons and Er3+ spins. By verifying the efficacy of our spin model using realistic parameters evaluated via terahertz magnetospectroscopy and magnetization experiments, we demonstrate that the cooperative, ultrastrong magnon–spin coupling causes the phase transition. In contrast to prior studies on laser-driven non-equilibrium SRPTs in atomic systems, the magnonic SRPT in ErFeO3 occurs in thermal equilibrium in accordance with the originally envisioned SRPT, thereby yielding a unique ground state of a hybrid system in the ultrastrong coupling regime.

We report results of terahertz Faraday and Kerr rotation spectroscopy measurements on thin films of Bi1−xSbx, an alloy system that exhibits a semimetal-to-topological-insulator transition as the Sb composition x increases. By using a single-shot time-domain terahertz spectroscopy setup combined with a table-top pulsed mini-coil magnet, we conducted measurements in magnetic fields up to 30 T, observing distinctly different behaviors between semimetallic (x < 0.07) and topological insulator (x > 0.07) samples. Faraday and Kerr rotation spectra for the semimetallic films showed a pronounced dip that blue-shifted with the magnetic field, whereas spectra for the topological insulator films were positive and featureless, increasing in amplitude with increasing magnetic field and eventually saturating at high fields (>20 T). Ellipticity spectra for the semimetallic films showed resonances, whereas the topological insulator films showed no detectable ellipticity. To explain these observations, we developed a theoretical model based on realistic band parameters and the Kubo formula for calculating the optical conductivity of Landau-quantized charge carriers. Our calculations quantitatively reproduced all experimental features, establishing that the Faraday and Kerr signals in the semimetallic films predominantly arise from bulk hole cyclotron resonances while the signals in the topological insulator films represent combined effects of surface carriers originating from multiple electron and hole pockets. These results demonstrate that the use of high magnetic fields in terahertz magnetopolarimetry, combined with detailed electronic structure and conductivity calculations, allows us to unambiguously identify and quantitatively determine unique contributions from different species of carriers of topological and nontopological nature in Bi1−xSbx. arXiv:1907.00137v1 [cond-mat.mes-hall]

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The frequency dependence of the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of high-quality multijunction solar cells was examined by the modulated photocurrent spectroscopy method via an optical setup comprised of a light-pipe-coupled compact LED array. The optical excitation was achieved through sinusoidal electrical modulation of an appropriate LED by a custom-designed, high bandwidth amplifier. We observed unique features in the amplitude and phase data of the EQE frequency sweeps that are very sensitive to various subcell parameters and light bias conditions. These features are discussed extensively within the context of an AC equivalent circuit model, showing remarkable agreement between the experimental data and the proposed model.

We studied magnon-magnon ultrastrong coupling in YFeO3 using terahertz magnetospectroscopy in magnetic fields up to 30 T, which led to an extreme breakdown of the rotating-wave approximation where the counter-rotating term dominates the co-rotating term.