Recent advances in Rydberg physics using alkaline-earth atoms

Dunning, F. B.; Killian, T. C.; Yoshida, Shuhei; Burgdörfer, Joachim

doi:10.1088/0953-4075/49/11/112003

Cited by 49 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…Arrays of single Strontium [102][103][104] and Ytterbium [105] atoms have been reported recently. Although so far no quantum simulation has been performed with these novel systems, the richer internal structure of these species might allow new ways to manipulate, control and probe them [106,107].…”

Section: Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Many-body physics with individually controlled Rydberg atoms

2020

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Over the last decade, systems of individually-controlled neutral atoms, interacting with each other when excited to Rydberg states, have emerged as a promising platform for quantum simulation of many-body problems, in particular spin systems. Here, we review the techniques underlying quantum gas microscopes and arrays of optical tweezers used in these experiments, explain how the different types of interactions between Rydberg atoms allow a natural mapping onto various quantum spin models, and describe recent results that were obtained with this platform to study quantum many-body physics. I. MANY-BODY PHYSICS WITH SYNTHETIC MATTERMany-body physics is the field that studies the behavior of ensembles of interacting quantum particles. This is a broad area encompassing almost all condensed matter physics, but also nuclear and high-energy physics. Despite the immense successes obtained over the last decades, many phenomena observed experimentally still do not have a fully satisfactory explanation. At the origin of the difficulty lies the exponential scaling of the size of the Hilbert space with the number of interacting particles. In practice, the best known ab-initio methods allow calculating the evolution of less than 50 particles. To investigate relevant questions involving a much larger number of particles (after all even 1 mg of usual matter contains already 10 18 atoms!), one must rely on approximations, and the art of solving the many-body problem largely relies on mastering them. However, using approximations is not always possible and it may be hard to assess their range of validity. One approach to move forward was suggested by Richard Feynman [1] and consists in building a synthetic quantum system in the lab, implementing a model of interest for which no other way to solve it is known. The model may be an approximate description of a real material, but it can also be a purely abstract one. In this case, its implementation leads to the construction of an artificial many-body system, which becomes an object of study in its own. One appealing feature of this approach is the ability to vary the parameters of the model in ranges inaccessible otherwise, thus providing a way to better understand their respective influence. For example, if one is interested in the influence of interatomic interactions on the phase of a given system, synthetic systems become interesting as they allow varying their strength in a way which is usually impossible in real materials. The approach introduced by Feynman is usually referred to as quantum simulation [2, 3], but it can be viewed more generally as exploring many-body physics with synthetic systems: in the same way chemists design new materials exhibiting interesting properties (such as magnetism, superconductivity. . . ), physicists assemble artificial systems and study their properties, with the hope to observe new phenomena.For a long time, this idea remained theoretical as the experimental control over quantum objects was not advanced enough. The situation changed radically...

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Section: Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Many-body physics with individually controlled Rydberg atoms

2020

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“…The equation is intended for the modelling of dipolar systems in which static dipole-dipole interactions are strong compared with the coupling to transverse radiation. This situation can arise in systems of Rydberg atoms and other molecular systems [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][41][42][43][44].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An important class of systems strongly coupled by dipole-dipole interactions are Rydberg atoms, which have been of interest for some time [10]. In recent years dipole-dipole interactions of Ryberg atoms have been the subject of numerous experimental and theoretical works [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Recently the first experimental confirmation of Förster resonant energy transfer was demonstrated using two Rydberg atoms separated by 15 μm [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A master equation for strongly interacting dipoles

Stokes

Nazir

2018

New J. Phys.

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We consider a pair of dipoles such as Rydberg atoms for which direct electrostatic dipole-dipole interactions may be significantly larger than the coupling to transverse radiation. We derive a master equation using the Coulomb gauge, which naturally enables us to include the inter-dipole Coulomb energy within the system Hamiltonian rather than the interaction. In contrast, the standard master equation for a two-dipole system, which depends entirely on well-known gauge-invariant S-matrix elements, is usually derived using the multipolar gauge, wherein there is no explicit inter-dipole Coulomb interaction. We show using a generalised arbitrary-gauge light-matter Hamiltonian that this master equation is obtained in other gauges only if the inter-dipole Coulomb interaction is kept within the interaction Hamiltonian rather than the unperturbed part as in our derivation. Thus, our master equation depends on different S-matrix elements, which give separation-dependent corrections to the standard matrix elements describing resonant energy transfer and collective decay. The two master equations coincide in the large separation limit where static couplings are negligible. We provide an application of our master equation by finding separation-dependent corrections to the natural emission spectrum of the two-dipole system.

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“…Detailed spectroscopic studies have revealed the formation of molecules comprising one Rydberg atom and up to four bound ground-state atoms [13]. Measurements of molecule formation in rubidium have also been extended to BECs whose peak densities can approach ∼ 10 15 cm −3 [14,15]. For such densities, even for moderate values of n, n > ∼ 50, the electron orbit can enclose tens to hundreds of groundstate atoms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lifetimes of ultralong-range strontium Rydberg molecules in a dense Bose-Einstein condensate

Whalen¹,

Camargo²,

Ding³

et al. 2017

Phys. Rev. A

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The lifetimes and decay channels of ultralong-range Rydberg molecules created in a dense BEC are examined by monitoring the time evolution of the Rydberg population using field ionization. Studies of molecules with values of principal quantum number, n, in the range n = 49 to n = 72 that contain tens to hundreds of ground state atoms within the Rydberg electron orbit show that their presence leads to marked changes in the field ionization characteristics. The Rydberg molecules have lifetimes of ∼ 1 − 5 µs, their destruction being attributed to two main processes: formation of Sr + 2 ions through associative ionization, and dissociation induced through L-changing collisions. The observed loss rates are consistent with a reaction model that emphasizes the interaction between the Rydberg core ion and its nearest neighbor ground-state atom. The measured lifetimes place strict limits on the time scales over which studies involving Rydberg species in cold, dense atomic gases can be undertaken and limit the coherence times for such measurements.

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Recent advances in Rydberg physics using alkaline-earth atoms

Cited by 49 publications

References 85 publications

Many-body physics with individually controlled Rydberg atoms

Many-body physics with individually controlled Rydberg atoms

A master equation for strongly interacting dipoles

Lifetimes of ultralong-range strontium Rydberg molecules in a dense Bose-Einstein condensate

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