Many-body dynamics of holes in a driven, dissipative spin chain of Rydberg superatoms

Letscher F, Petrosyan D, Fleischhauer M (2017)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2017

Journal

New Journal of Physics Institute of Physics: Open Access Journals / Institute of Physics (IoP) and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft

Book Volume: 19

Article Number: 113014

Journal Issue: 11

DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/aa91c6

Abstract

Strong, long-range interactions between atoms in high-lying Rydberg states can suppress multiple Rydberg excitations within a micron-sized trapping volume and yield sizable Rydberg level shifts at larger distances. Ensembles of atoms in optical microtraps then form Rydberg superatoms with collectively enhanced transition rates to the singly excited state. These superatoms can represent mesoscopic, strongly interacting spins. We study a regular array of such effective spins driven by a laser field tuned to compensate the interaction-induced level shifts between neighboring superatoms. During the initial transient, a few excited superatoms seed a cascade of resonantly facilitated excitation of large clusters of superatoms. Due to spontaneous decay, the system then relaxes to the steady state having nearly universal Rydberg excitation density ρR = 2/3. This state is characterized by highly non-trivial equilibrium dynamics of quasi-particles-excitation holes in the lattice of Rydberg excited superatoms. We derive an effective many-body model that accounts for hole mobility as well as continuous creation and annihilation of holes upon collisions with each other. We find that holes exhibit a nearly incompressible liquid phase with highly sub-Poissonian number statistics and finite-range density-density correlations.

Involved external institutions

Technische Universität Kaiserslautern

Germany (DE) Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH) / Ίδρυμα Τεχνολογίας και Έρευνας

Greece (GR)

How to cite

APA:

Letscher, F., Petrosyan, D., & Fleischhauer, M. (2017). Many-body dynamics of holes in a driven, dissipative spin chain of Rydberg superatoms. New Journal of Physics, 19(11). https://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aa91c6

MLA:

Letscher, Fabian, David Petrosyan, and Michael Fleischhauer. "Many-body dynamics of holes in a driven, dissipative spin chain of Rydberg superatoms." New Journal of Physics 19.11 (2017).

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