An arbitrary unknown quantum state cannot be precisely measured or perfectly replicated. However, quantum teleportation allows faithful transfer of unknown quantum states from one object to another over long distance, without physical travelling of the object itself. Long-distance teleportation has been recognized as a fundamental element in protocols such as large-scale quantum networks and distributed quantum computation. However, the previous teleportation experiments between distant locations were limited to a distance on the order of 100 kilometers, due to photon loss in optical fibres or terrestrial free-space channels. An outstanding open challenge for a global-scale "quantum internet" is to significantly extend the range for teleportation. A promising solution to this problem is exploiting satellite platform and space-based link, which can conveniently connect two remote points on the Earth with greatly reduced channel loss because most of the photons' propagation path is in empty space. Here, we report the first quantum teleportation of independent single-photon qubits from a ground observatory to a low Earth orbit satellite - through an up-link channel - with a distance up to 1400 km. To optimize the link efficiency and overcome the atmospheric turbulence in the up-link, a series of techniques are developed, including a compact ultra-bright source of multi-photon entanglement, narrow beam divergence, high-bandwidth and high-accuracy acquiring, pointing, and tracking (APT). We demonstrate successful quantum teleportation for six input states in mutually unbiased bases with an average fidelity of 0.80+/-0.01, well above the classical limit. This work establishes the first ground-to-satellite up-link for faithful and ultra-long-distance quantum teleportation, an essential step toward global-scale quantum internet.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure

An upgraded version of the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System, PHITS2.52, was developed and released to the public. The new version has been greatly improved from the previously released version, PHITS2.24, in terms of not only the code itself but also the contents of its package, such as the attached data libraries. In the new version, a higher accuracy of simulation was achieved by implementing several latest nuclear reaction models. The reliability of the simulation was improved by modifying both the algorithms for the electron-, positron-, and photon-transport simulations and the procedure for calculating the statistical uncertainties of the tally results. Estimation of the time evolution of radioactivity became feasible by incorporating the activation calculation program DCHAIN-SP into the new package. The efficiency of the simulation was also improved as a result of the implementation of shared-memory parallelization and the optimization of several time-consuming algorithms. Furthermore, a number of new user-support tools and functions that help users to intuitively and effectively perform PHITS simulations were developed and incorporated. Due to these improvements, PHITS is now a more powerful tool for particle transport simulation applicable to various research and development fields, such as nuclear technology, accelerator design, medical physics, and cosmic-ray research.

The endohedral fullerene Sc(3)NC@C(80)-I(h) has been synthesized and characterized; it has an unprecedented planar quinary cluster in a fullerene cage. It is also the first chemical compound in which the presence of an unprecedented (NC)(3-) trianion has been disclosed. The fascinating intramolecular dynamics in Sc(3)NC@C(80)-I(h) enables the whole molecule to display high polarity and promising ferroelectricity. This finding inspires the possibility that such a planar quinary cluster may be useful in constructing many other endohedral fullerenes.

For the first time, we have produced the stable compound Sc(4)C(2)@C(80)-I(h) and characterized it as a metal carbide endofullerene by FTIR and Raman spectroscopies in combination with DFT calculations. Furthermore, DFT calculations have demonstrated that this molecule has a Russian-doll-type structure, C(2)@Sc(4)@C(80).

A series of endohedral fullerenes Sc3- x Y x N@C80 (x = 0−3) with variable encaged moieties and the same C80 cage were synthesized, isolated, and spectroscopically characterized by the laser desorption time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LD-TOF−MS), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), visible-near-infrared (vis-NIR) absorption spectrometry, and so forth. It was revealed that Sc3- x Y x N@C80 (x = 0−3) have a similar electronic structure, (Sc3- x Y x N)6+@(C80)6-. However, because of the relatively larger van der Waals radius of yttrium to that of scandium which induces the size increase of Sc3- x Y x N from x = 0 to x = 3, the frontier orbitals of this series of endohedral fullerenes dramatically change. For example, Sc2YN@C80 shows similar electronic property with its left neighbor Sc3N@C80 but is quite different with its right neighbor ScY2N@C80. The cycloaddition reactions of N-enthylazomethine ylide with Sc3- x Y x N@C80 (x = 0−3) were carried out, and the regioselectivity of endohedral fullerenes shows the same trend of variation to that of their electronic properties along with the size of endohedral moiety increasing. It was found that Sc3N@C80 and Sc2YN@C80 produce only the [5,6]-pyrrolidine regioisomers, and a critical change in fullerene regioselectivity occurs from ScY2N@C80 where the [6,6]-pyrrolidine regioisomer appears as a minor regioisomer and finally becomes the major regioisomer in the case of Y3N@C80.

Density functional theory calculations have shown that the open-shell metal-carbide endofullerene Sc3C2@C80 has the valence state (Sc3+)3(C2)(3-)@C80(6-). A lot of low-lying isomers differing in geometries and locations of the endohedral [(Sc3+)3(C2)(3-)] cluster have been located, indicating unusual dual intramolecular dynamic behaviors of this endofullerene at room temperature. The electrochemical redox properties of this endofullerene have been elucidated in terms of electronic structure theory. Its redox states are found to follow the general charge-state formula (Sc3+)3C2(3-q)-@C80(6-) (q is the charge of the whole molecule ranging from +1 to -3), demonstrating the high charge flexibility of the endohedral metal-carbide cluster. The structure of the endohedral [(Sc3+)3C2(3-q)-)] cluster varies with the redox processes, shifting from a planar structure (for q = 0 and -1) to a trifoliate structure (for q = +1, -2, -3).

In this article, single-crystalline tetrahedral Ag 3 PO 4 microcrystals with exposed {111} facets was successfully synthesized via a facile wet chemical method. The tetrahedral Ag 3 PO 4 with exposed {111} facets showed the highest photocatalytic activity in visible light irradiation among the {111}, {110} and {100} facets. By DFT calculations, it is demonstrated that the surface energy of the {111} facets is higher than that of the {110} and {100} facets. It was found that the largest band gap of the Ag 3 PO 4 {111} surface is likely to suppress the recombination of electron-hole pairs by exploring the electronic structures of the different surfaces of Ag 3 PO 4 . Meanwhile, the dispersion between the valence bands and conduction bands of the {111} surface is beneficial for the separation of photogenerated electrons and holes on the {111} surface, which further improves the photocatalytic activity of the {111} surface.

In nature, protein subunits on the capsids of many icosahedral viruses form rotational patterns, and mathematicians also incorporate asymmetric patterns into faces of polyhedra. Chemists have constructed molecular polyhedra with vacant or highly symmetric faces, but very little is known about constructing polyhedra with asymmetric faces. Here we report a strategy to embellish a C3h truxene unit with rotational patterns into the faces of an octahedron, forming chiral octahedra that exhibit the largest molar ellipticity ever reported, to the best of our knowledge. The directionalities of the facial rotations can be controlled by vertices to achieve identical rotational directionality on each face, resembling the homo-directionality of virus capsids. Investigations of the kinetics and mechanism reveal that non-covalent interaction among the faces is essential to the facial homo-directionality.