Three research groups, led by Professors Li Pengbo, Gao Hong, and Zhang Pei from the Quantum Optics Research Team at the School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU), have recently made significant breakthroughs in their respective fields, publishing three articles in the prestigious international physics journal Physical Review Letters.

The research team led by Professor Li, in collaboration with colleagues, conducted a comprehensive quantum theoretical study on the interaction between magnons and skyrmions, proposing a novel theoretical model. This model utilizes magnetic dipole interactions to achieve strong coupling between magnon and skyrmion two-level systems.

Diagram of the coupling mechanism in magnon-skyrmion hybrid quantum systems.

Professor Gao's research team, in collaboration with partners, conducted theoretical and experimental studies on the interaction between vector structured light fields and cold atomic media. They have proposed a novel method to measure the inseparability of vector structured light fields – utilizing the spatial electromagnetically induced transparency effect in cold atomic media. This approach establishes a direct correlation between the inseparability of vector structured light fields and the absorption characteristics of cold atomic media.

Illustration of the interaction between vector structured light fields and cold atomic medium.

Professor Zhang's team, in collaboration with partners, has proposed a new theoretical concept – true high-dimensional asymmetric guiding, where quantum states exhibit higher guiding dimensions in one direction while not in the other.

They have developed new criteria for the two guiding dimensions, providing a method to measure the asymmetry of guiding dimensions in two directions. These asymmetric guiding structures are distinct from symmetric guiding and standard one-way guiding. For example, while guidance from Alice to Bob is three-dimensional, guidance from Bob to Alice is two-dimensional.

In experiments conducted in collaboration with Professor Liu Biheng's team from the University of Science and Technology of China, they used the photon's path and polarization degrees of freedom to generate a biphoton three-dimensional (qutrit-qutrit) mixed state, demonstrating these asymmetric guiding structures experimentally.

(a) New structure of high-dimensional asymmetric quantum guidance.  

(b) Experimental observation setup for high-dimensional entanglement systems based on path-polarization degrees of freedom.