Entropic enhancement of spatial correlations in a laser-driven Rydberg gas

In a laser-driven Rydberg gas the strong interaction between atoms excited to Rydberg states results in the formation of collective excitations. Atoms within a so-called blockade volume share a single Rydberg excitation, which is dynamically created and annihilated. For sufficiently long times this driven system approaches a steady state, which lends its properties from a maximum entropy state of a Tonks gas. Using this connection we show that spatial correlations between Rydberg atoms are controlled by the number of atoms contained within a blockade volume. For a small number the system favors a disordered arrangement of Rydberg atoms, whereas in the opposite limit Rydberg atoms tend to arrange in an increasingly ordered configuration. We argue that this is an entropic effect which is observable in current experiments

Electromagnetically Induced Transparency in strongly interacting Rydberg Gases

We develop an efficient Monte-Carlo approach to describe the optical response of cold three-level atoms in the presence of EIT and strong atomic interactions. In particular, we consider a "Rydberg-EIT medium" where one involved level is subject to large shifts due to strong van der Waals interactions with surrounding Rydberg atoms. We find excellent agreement with much more involved quantum calculations and demonstrate its applicability over a wide range of densities and interaction strengths. The calculations show that the nonlinear absorption due to Rydberg-Rydberg atom interactions exhibits universal behavior

Dissipative Binding of Lattice Bosons through Distance-Selective Pair Loss

We show that in a gas of ultra cold atoms distance selective two-body loss can be engineered via the resonant laser excitation of atom pairs to interacting electronic states. In an optical lattice this leads to a dissipative Master equation dynamics with Lindblad jump operators that annihilate atom pairs with a specific interparticle distance. In conjunction with coherent hopping between lattice sites this unusual dissipation mechanism leads to the formation of coherent long-lived complexes that can even exhibit an internal level structure which is strongly coupled to their external motion. We analyze this counterintuitive phenomenon in detail in a system of hard-core bosons. While current research has established that dissipation in general can lead to the emergence of coherent features in many-body systems our work shows that strong non-local dissipation can effectuate a binding mechanism for particles

Excitation transport through Rydberg dressing

We show how to create long range interactions between alkali-atoms in different hyper-fine ground states, allowing coherent electronic quantum state migration. The scheme uses off resonant dressing with atomic Rydberg states, exploiting the dipole-dipole excitation transfer that is possible between those. Actual population in the Rydberg state is kept small. Dressing offers large advantages over the direct use of Rydberg levels: It reduces ionisation probabilities and provides an additional tuning parameter for life-times and interaction-strengths. We present an effective Hamiltonian for the ground-state manifold and show that it correctly describes the full multi-state dynamics for up to 5 atoms.Comment: 22 pages + 6 pages appendices, 8 figures, replaced with revised version, added journal referenc

Two-dimensional Rydberg gases and the quantum hard squares model

We study a two-dimensional lattice gas of atoms that are photo-excited to high-lying Rydberg states in which they interact via the van-der-Waals interaction. We explore the regime of dominant nearest neighbor interaction where this system is intimately connected to a quantum version of Baxter's hard squares model. We show that the strongly correlated ground state of the Rydberg gas can be analytically described by a projected entangled pair state that constitutes the ground state of the quantum hard squares model. This correspondence allows us to identify a first order phase boundary where the Rydberg gas undergoes a transition from a disordered (liquid) phase to an ordered (solid) phase

Thermalization of a strongly interacting closed spin system: From coherent many-body dynamics to a Fokker-Planck equation

Thermalization has been shown to occur in a number of closed quantum many-body systems, but the description of the actual thermalization dynamics is prohibitively complex. Here, we present a model - in one and two dimensions - for which we can analytically show that the evolution into thermal equilibrium is governed by a Fokker-Planck equation derived from the underlying quantum dynamics. Our approach does not rely on a formal distinction of weakly coupled bath and system degrees of freedom. The results show that transitions within narrow energy shells lead to a dynamics which is dominated by entropy and establishes detailed balance conditions that determine both the eventual equilibrium state and the non-equilibrium relaxation to it.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Newton's cradle and entanglement transport in a flexible Rydberg chain

In a regular, flexible chain of Rydberg atoms, a single electronic excitation localizes on two atoms that are in closer mutual proximity than all others. We show how the interplay between excitonic and atomic motion causes electronic excitation and diatomic proximity to propagate through the Rydberg chain as a combined pulse. In this manner entanglement is transferred adiabatically along the chain, reminiscent of momentum transfer in Newton's cradle.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Revised versio