资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Using lipid residues absorbed in potsherds, the ages of pottery from various archaeological sites are determined and validated using sites for which the dates are well known from other methods.

The measurement sensitivity of quantum probes using N uncorrelated particles is restricted by the standard quantum limit(1), which is proportional to 1/root N. This limit, however, can be overcome by exploiting quantum entangled states, such as spin-squeezed states(2). Here we report the measurement-based generation of a quantum state that exceeds the standard quantum limit for probing the collective spin of 10(11) rubidium atoms contained in a macroscopic vapour cell. The state is prepared and verified by sequences of stroboscopic quantum non-demolition (QND) measurements. We then apply the theory of past quantum states(3,4) to obtain spin state information from the outcomes of both earlier and later QND measurements. Rather than establishing a physically squeezed state in the laboratory, the past quantum state represents the combined system information from these prediction and retrodiction measurements. This information is equivalent to a noise reduction of 5.6 decibels and a metrologically relevant squeezing of 4.5 decibels relative to the coherent spin state. The past quantum state yields tighter constraints on the spin component than those obtained by conventional QND measurements. Our measurement uses 1,000 times more atoms than previous squeezing experiments(5-10), with a corresponding angular variance of the squeezed collective spin of 4.6 x 10(-13) radians squared. Although this work is rooted in the foundational theory of quantum measurements, it may find practical use in quantum metrology and quantum parameter estimation, as we demonstrate by applying our protocol to quantum enhanced atomic magnetometry.

Strongly correlated insulating Mott and generalized Wigner phases are detected in WSe2/WS2 moire superlattices, and their electrical properties and excited spin states are studied using an optical technique.

Moire superlattices can be used to engineer strongly correlated electronic states in two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures, as recently demonstrated in the correlated insulating and superconducting states observed in magic-angle twisted-bilayer graphene and ABC trilayer graphene/boron nitride moire superlattices(1-4). Transition metal dichalcogenide moire heterostructures provide another model system for the study of correlated quantum phenomena(5) because of their strong light-matter interactions and large spin-orbit coupling. However, experimental observation of correlated insulating states in this system is challenging with traditional transport techniques. Here we report the optical detection of strongly correlated phases in semiconducting WSe2/WS2 moire superlattices. We use a sensitive optical detection technique and reveal a Mott insulator state at one hole per superlattice site and surprising insulating phases at 1/3 and 2/3 filling of the superlattice, which we assign to generalized Wigner crystallization on the underlying lattice(6-11). Furthermore, the spin-valley optical selection rules(12-14) of transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures allow us to optically create and investigate low-energy excited spin states in the Mott insulator. We measure a very long spin relaxation lifetime of many microseconds in the Mott insulating state, orders of magnitude longer than that of charge excitations. Our studies highlight the value of using moire superlattices beyond graphene to explore correlated physics.