We introduce a new transfer matrix method for calculating the thermodynamic properties of random-tiling models of quasicrystals in any number of dimensions, and describe how it may be used to calculate the phason elastic properties of these models, which are related to experimental measurables such as phason Debye-Waller factors, and diffuse scattering wings near Bragg peaks. We apply our method to the canonical-cell model of the icosahedral phase, making use of results from a previously-presented calculation in which the possible structures for this model under specific periodic boundary conditions were cataloged using a computational technique. We give results for the configurational entropy density and the two fundamental elastic constants for a range of system sizes. The method is general enough allow a similar calculation to be performed for any other random tiling model.

M. E. J. Newman C. L. Henley

We demonstrate optical spin polarization of the neutrally-charged silicon-vacancy defect in diamond ($\mathrm{SiV^{0}}$), an $S=1$ defect which emits with a zero-phonon line at 946 nm. The spin polarization is found to be most efficient under resonant excitation, but non-zero at below-resonant energies. We measure an ensemble spin coherence time $T_2>100~\mathrm{\mu s}$ at low-temperature, and a spin relaxation limit of $T_1>25~\mathrm{s}$. Optical spin state initialization around 946 nm allows independent initialization of $\mathrm{SiV^{0}}$ and $\mathrm{NV^{-}}$ within the same optically-addressed volume, and $\mathrm{SiV^{0}}$ emits within the telecoms downconversion band to 1550 nm: when combined with its high Debye-Waller factor, our initial results suggest that $\mathrm{SiV^{0}}$ is a promising candidate for a long-range quantum communication technology.

B. L. Green S. Mottishaw B. G. Breeze A. M. Edmonds U. F. S. D'Haenens-Johansson M. W. Doherty S. D. Williams D. J. Twitchen M. E. Newton

The structural properties of Er-doped AlNO epilayers grown by radio frequency magnetron sputtering were studied by Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) spectra recorded at the Er L 3 edge. The analysis revealed that Er substitutes for Al in all the studied samples and the increase in Er concentration from 0.5 to 3.6 at.% is not accompanied by formation of ErN, Er 2 O 3 or Er clusters. Simultaneously recorded X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) spectra verify that the bonding configuration of Er is similar in all studied samples. The Er-N distance is 2 constant at 2.18-2.19 {\AA} i.e. approximately 15% larger than the Al-N bondlength, revealing that the introduction of Er in the cation sublattice causes considerable local distortion. The Debye-Waller factor, which measures the static disorder, of the second nearest shell of Al neighbors, has a local minimum for the sample containing 1% Er that coincides with the highest photoluminescence efficiency of the sample set.

M. Katsikini V. Kachkanov Pascal Boulet P. Edwards Kevin Peter O'Donnell Valerie Brien

Quantum emitters in two-dimensional layered hexagonal boron nitride are quickly emerging as a highly promising platform for next-generation quantum technologies. However, precise identification and control of defects are key parameters to achieve the next step in their development. We conducted a comprehensive study by analyzing over 10,000 photoluminescence emission lines, revealing 11 distinct defect families within the 1.6 to 2.2 eV energy range. This challenges hypotheses of a random energy distribution. We also reported averaged defect parameters, including emission linewidths, spatial density, phonon side bands, and the Debye-Waller factors. These findings provide valuable insights to decipher the microscopic origin of emitters in hBN hosts. We also explored the influence of hBN host morphology on defect family formation, demonstrating its crucial impact. By tuning flake size and arrangement we achieve selective control of defect types while maintaining high spatial density. This offers a scalable approach to defect emission control, diverging from costly engineering methods. It highlights the importance of investigating flake morphological control to gain deeper insights into the origins of defects and to expand the spectral tailoring capabilities of defects in hBN.

M. S. Islam R. K. Chowdhury M. Barthelemy L. Moczko P. Hebraud S. Berciaud A. Barsella F. Fras

In this work, we study the heat transfer from electron to phonon system within a five monolayer thin epitaxial Pb film on Si(111) upon fs-laser excitation. The response of the electron system is determined using time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy while the lattice excitation is measured by means of the Debye-Waller effect in time-resolved reflection high-energy electron diffraction. The electrons lose their heat within 0.5 ps while the lattice temperature rises slowly in 3.5 to 8 ps, leaving a gap of 3-7 ps. We propose that the hidden energy is transiently stored in high-frequency phonon modes for which diffraction is insensitive and which are excited in 0.5 ps. Within a three-temperature model we use three heat baths, namely electrons, high-frequency and low-frequency phonon modes to simulate the observations. The excitation of low-frequency acoustic phonons, i.e., thermalization of the lattice is facilitated through anharmonic phonon-phonon interaction.

M. Tajik T. Witte Ch. Brand L. Rettig B. Sothmann U. Bovensiepen M. Horn von Hoegen

Event cameras, also known as dynamic vision sensors, are an emerging modality for measuring fast dynamics asynchronously. Event cameras capture changes of log-intensity over time as a stream of 'events' and generally cannot measure intensity itself; hence, they are only used for imaging dynamic scenes. However, fluctuations due to random photon arrival inevitably trigger noise events, even for static scenes. While previous efforts have been focused on filtering out these undesirable noise events to improve signal quality, we find that, in the photon-noise regime, these noise events are correlated with the static scene intensity. We analyze the noise event generation and model its relationship to illuminance. Based on this understanding, we propose a method, called Noise2Image, to leverage the illuminance-dependent noise characteristics to recover the static parts of a scene, which are otherwise invisible to event cameras. We experimentally collect a dataset of noise events on static scenes to train and validate Noise2Image. Our results provide a novel approach for capturing static scenes in event cameras, solely from noise events, without additional hardware.

Ruiming Cao Dekel Galor Amit Kohli Jacob L Yates Laura Waller

The negatively charged nickel vacancy center (NiV$^-$) in diamond is a promising spin qubit candidate with predicted inversion symmetry, large ground state spin orbit splitting to limit phonon-induced decoherence, and emission in the near-infrared. Here, we experimentally confirm the proposed geometric and electronic structure of the NiV defect via magneto-optical spectroscopy. We characterize the optical properties and find a Debye-Waller factor of 0.62. Additionally, we engineer charge state stabilized defects using electrical bias in all-diamond p-i-p junctions. We measure a vanishing static dipole moment and no spectral diffusion, characteristic of inversion symmetry. Under bias, we observe stable transitions with lifetime limited linewidths as narrow as 16\,MHz and convenient frequency tuning of the emission via a second order Stark shift. Overall, this work provides a pathway towards coherent control of the NiV$^-$ and its use as a spin qubit and contributes to a more general understanding of charge dynamics experienced by defects in diamond.

I. M. Morris T. Lühmann K. Klink L. Crooks D. Hardeman D. J. Twitchen S. Pezzagna J. Meijer S. S. Nicley J. N. Becker

Small vibrations observed in video can unveil information beyond what is visual, such as sound and material properties. It is possible to passively record these vibrations when they are visually perceptible, or actively amplify their visual contribution with a laser beam when they are not perceptible. In this paper, we improve upon the active sensing approach by leveraging event-based cameras, which are designed to efficiently capture fast motion. We demonstrate our method experimentally by recovering audio from vibrations, even for multiple simultaneous sources, and in the presence of environmental distortions. Our approach matches the state-of-the-art reconstruction quality at much faster speeds, approaching real-time processing.

Mingxuan Cai Dekel Galor Amit Pal Singh Kohli Jacob L. Yates Laura Waller

This note has no new results and is therefore not intended to be submitted to a "research" journal in the foreseeable future, but to be available to the numerous individuals who are interested in this issue. The Debye-Waller factor is the ratio of the coherent scattering or absorption cross section of a photon or electron by particles bound in a complex system to the value for the same process on an analgous free particle. It is often interpreted also as the probability of the coherent process, normalized to unity, with the difference between unity and the Debye Waller factor interpreted as the probability of incoherent processes. The Debye-Waller factor is then interpreted as a measure of decoherence. The breakdown of this description for a test particle which cannot give or lose energy is not generally appreciated. Prime examples are: Bragg scattering, the M\"ossbauer effect and related phenomena at zero temperature. The physics of the change in the interpretation of the Debye-Waller factor is summarized here in a hopefully pedagogical manner.

Harry J. Lipkin

We report a fully {\it ab-initio} calculation of the temperature dependence of the electronic band structure of PbTe. We address two main features relevant for the thermoelectric figure of merit: the temperature variations of the direct gap and the difference in energies of the two topmost valence band maxima located at L and $\Sigma$. We account for the energy shift of the electronic states due to thermal expansion, as well as electron-phonon interaction computed using the non-adiabatic Allen-Heine-Cardona formalism within density functional perturbation theory and the local density approximation. We capture the increase of the direct gap with temperature in very good agreement with experiment. We also predict that the valence band maxima at L and $\Sigma$ become aligned at $\sim 600-700$ K. We find that both thermal expansion and electron-phonon interaction have a considerable effect on these temperature variations. The Fan-Migdal and Debye-Waller terms are of almost equal magnitude but have an opposite sign, and the delicate balance of these terms gives the correct band shifts. The electron-phonon induced renormalization of the direct gap is produced mostly by high-frequency optical phonons, while acoustic phonons are also responsible for the alignment of the valence band maxima at L and $\Sigma$.

José D. Querales-Flores Jiang Cao Stephen Fahy Ivana Savić