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The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition in ultra-thin NbN films is investigated in the presence of weak perpendicular magnetic fields. A jump in the phase stiffness at the BKT transition is detected up to 5 G, while the BKT features are smeared between 5 G and 50 G, disappearing altogether at 100 G, where conventional current-voltage behaviour is observed. Our findings demonstrate that weak magnetic fields, insignificant in bulk systems, deeply affect our ultra-thin system, promoting a crossover from Halperin-Nelson fluctuations to a BCS-like state with Ginzburg-Landau fluctuations, as the field increases. This behavior is related to field-induced free vortices that screen the vortex-antivortex interaction and smear the BKT transition., Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures

For integers $m$ and $n$, the Baumslag-Solitar groups, denoted as $BS(m,n)$, are groups generated by two elements with a single defining relation: $BS(m,n) = \langle a, b | a^mb=ba^n\rangle$. The sum of dilates, denoted as $r \cdot A + s \cdot B$ for integers $r$ and $s$, is defined as $\{ra + sb; a\in A, b\in B\}$. In 2014, Freiman et al. \cite{freiman} derived direct and inverse results for sums of dilates and applied these findings to address specific direct and inverse problems within Baumslag-Solitar groups, assuming suitable small doubling properties. In 2015, Freiman et al. \cite{freiman15} tackled the general problem of small doubling types in a monoid, a subset of the Baumslag-Solitar group $BS(1,2)$. This paper extends these investigations to solve the analogous problem for the Baumslag-Solitar group $BS(1,3)$., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1303.3053 by other authors

Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interferometry has emerged as a valuable tool for quantum sensing applications, particularly in measuring physical parameters that influence the relative optical delay between pair photons. Unlike classical techniques, HOM-based quantum sensors offer higher resolution due to their intrinsic dispersion cancellation property. Despite this advantage, achieving precise measurements of optical delay crucial for practical applications often involves time-consuming integration and post-processing with traditional statistical methods. To address this challenge, our recent work focused on optimizing optical delay measurements in a time-efficient manner. By carefully selecting the length of a 1 mm periodically-poled KTP (PPKTP) crystal for pair photon generation, we achieved a remarkable group index measurement precision of $\sim 6.75\times 10^{-6}$ per centimeter of sample length, surpassing the previous maximum precision by over 400$\%$. These current measurements maintain fast detection and high photon counts, which are essential for practical quantum sensing applications. The HOM-based method, while limiting the measurement range, can be extended by compensating for photon delay using an optical delay stage. As a proof-of-principle, we measured the group index variation of PPKTP over a temperature range up to 200$^{\circ}$C with a precision in the range of one part per million ($\sim$10$^{-6}$). This advancement not only contributes to quantum sensing but also holds promising implications for high-precision and long-range measurements in quantum optical coherence tomography.