We discuss techniques to generate long-range interactions in a gas of groundstate alkali atoms, by weakly admixing excited Rydberg states with laser light. This provides a tool to engineer strongly correlated phases with reduced decoherence from inelastic collisions and spontaneous emission. As an illustration, we discuss the quantum phases of dressed atoms with dipole-dipole interactions confined in a harmonic potential, as relevant to experiments. We show that residual spontaneous emission from the Rydberg state acts as a heating mechanism, leading to a quantum-classical crossover.
We consider a system consisting of Rydberg dressed atoms interacting with BEC condensate of diatomic molecules. Using random phase approximation (RPA) we calculate the effective interactions between Rydberg atoms accounting for their Wan der Waals repulsion and exchange of virtual excitations of the condensate and demonstrate that total interaction can become attractive and BCS state of Rydberg dressed atoms can be formed. Using the example of 6Li atoms we demonstrate that the strength of the interactions can be controlled optically, and BCS regime is achievable at realistic experimental condi…
In this paper, we study Bose-Einstein condensation of Rydberg-dressed atoms considering finite range interactions. We use Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approximation based on Mean-Field approach. Moreover, within this approximation modified by the finite-range character of the two-body interaction we shall obtain analytical expressions for thermodynamic quantities of Rydberg-dressed Bose gas. The imaginary part of the quasiparticle spectrum of a BEC signals the instability of the roton mode with respect to the formation of supersolid state. Our theory predicts a second-order quantum phase transition…
We investigate the ground-state properties and the collective modes of a two-dimensional two-component Rydberg-dressed Fermi liquid in the dipole-blockade regime. We find instability of the homogeneous system toward phase separated and density ordered phases, using the Hartree-Fock and random-phase approximations, respectively. The spectral weight of collective density oscillations in the homogenous phase also signals the emergence of density-wave instability. We examine the effect of exchange-hole on the density-wave instability and on the collective mode dispersion using the Hubbard local-fi…
We study nonlinear dynamics of Rydberg-dressed Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) trapped in a triple-well potential in the semiclassical limit. The Rydberg-dressed BECs experience a long-range soft-core interaction, giving rise to strong nearest and next-nearest neighbor interactions in the triple-well system. Using mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equations, we show that lower branches of the eigenspectra exhibit loops and level-crossings when the soft-core interaction is strong. The direct level-crossings eliminate the possibility of adiabatic Landau-Zener transitions when tilting of the trip…
We show that the five possible ordered states in a quantum spin-1/2 system with long-range exchange interactions: Neel, ladder, Peierls, coincidence, and domain states, can be realized in a binary Rydberg-dressed BEC system in the supersolid phase. In such a system, blockade phenomenon is shown to also occur for pairs of different excited-state atoms, which results in similar intra- and inter-species long-range interactions between ground-state atoms. It suggests that a pseudo spin-1/2 system can be possibly formed in the ground state of ultracold rudibium.
Spontaneously crystalline ground states, called quantum crystals, of a trapped Rydberg-dressed Bose-Einstein condensate are numerically investigated. As a result described by a mean-field order parameter, such states simultaneously possess crystalline and superfluid properties. A hexagonal droplet lattice is observed in a quasi-two-dimensional system when dressing interaction is sufficiently strong. Onset of these states is characterized by a drastic drop of the non-classical rotational inertia proposed by Leggett [Phys. Rev. Lett. 25, 1543 (1970)]. In addition, an AB stacking bilayer lattice …
Engineering quantum phases with spontaneously broken symmetries is a major goal of research in different fields. Trapped ultracold Rydberg-excited atoms in optical lattices are a promising platform for realizing quantum phases with broken lattice translational symmetry since they are interacting over distances larger than the lattice constant. Although numerous theoretical works on trapped Rydberg-excited gases have predicted such phases, in particular density wave or supersolid phases, their experimental observation proves to be difficult due to challenges such as scattering processes and the…
A comprehensive analysis of the dynamics of two Rydberg-dressed particles (bosons or fermions) tunneling from a potential well into open space is provided. We show that the dominant decay mechanism switches from sequential tunneling to pair tunneling when the interaction strength is tuned below a certain critical value. These critical values can be modified by tuning the effective range of the interaction potential. By comparing the dynamics for bosons and fermions, we show that there are significant differences between the two cases. In particular, increasing the interaction range modifies th…
We numerically investigate the quantum crystallographic phases of a Rydberg-dressed Bose gas loaded on a square lattice by using the mean-field Gross--Pitaevskii model. For a relatively weak lattice confinement, the phases of ground state undergo amorphism, polycrystal, and polymorphism following the increase of the blockade radius, and if the confinement is stronger, a single crystal with a specific filling factor will be formed. In order to distinctively characterize these phases, the structure function is also studied. In such an anisotropic system, we report that the first diagonal element…
We investigate the effects of many-body correlations on the ground-state properties of a single component ultra-cold Rydberg-dressed Fermi liquid with purely repulsive inter-particle interactions, in both three and two spatial dimensions. We have employed the Fermi-hypernetted-chain Euler-Lagrange approximation and observed that the contribution of the correlation energy on the ground-state energy becomes significant at intermediate values of the soft-core radius and large coupling strengths. For small and large soft-core radii, the correlation energy is negligible and the ground-state energy …
We study chaos and hyperchaos of Rydberg-dressed Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) in a one-dimensional optical lattice. Due to the long-range soft-core interaction between the dressed atoms, the dynamics of the BECs are described by the extended Bose-Hubbard model. In the mean-field regime, we analyze the dynamical stability of the BEC by focusing on the groundstate and localized state configuration. Lyapunov exponents of the two configurations are calculated by varying the soft-core interaction strength, potential bias and length of the lattice. Both configurations can have multiple positive …
We examine possible low-temperature phases of a repulsively Rydberg-dressed Fermi gas in a three-dimensional free space. It is shown that the collective density excitations develop a roton minimum, which is softened at a wavevector smaller than the Fermi wavevector when the particle density is above a critical value. The mean field calculation shows that unlike the insulating charge density waves states often observed in conventional condensed matters, a self-assembled metallic density wave state emerges at low temperatures. In particular, the density wave state supports a Fermi surface and a …
We investigate the ground-state properties and excitations of Rydberg-dressed bosons in both three and two dimensions, using the hypernetted-chain Euler-Lagrange approximation, which accounts for correlations and thus goes beyond the mean field approximation. The short-range behavior of the pair distribution function signals the instability of the homogeneous system towards the formation of droplet crystals at strong couplings and large soft-core radius. This tendency to spatial density modulation coexists with off-diagonal long-range order. The contribution of the correlation energy to the gr…
Despite the striking progress in the field of quantum gases, one of their much anticipated application -- the simulation of quantum Hall states -- remains elusive: all experimental approaches so far failed in reaching a sufficiently small ratio between atom and vortex densities. In this paper we consider rotating Rydberg--dressed atoms in magnetic traps: these gases offer strong and tunable non-local repulsive interactions and very low densities; hence they provide an exceptional platform to reach the quantum Hall regime. Based on the Lindemann criterion and the analysis of the interplay of th…
We investigate the dynamics of a three-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate of ultracold atomic gases with a soft-core shape long-range interaction, which is induced by laser dressing the atoms to a highly excited Rydberg state. For a homogeneous condensate, the long-range interaction drastically alters the dispersion relation of the excitation, supporting both roton and maxon modes. Rotons are typically responsible for the creation of supersolids, while maxons are normally dynamically unstable in BECs with dipolar interactions. We show that maxon modes in the Rydberg-dressed condensate, on th…
Rotons can exist in ultracold atomic gases either with long-range interactions or with spin-orbitcoupled dispersions. We find that two different kinds of rotons coexist in a joint system combining long-range interactions and spin-orbit coupling. One roton originates from spin-orbit coupling and two others come from long-range interactions. Their softening can be controlled separately. The interesting new phenomenon which we find is that spin-orbit-coupled roton can push down the energy of one long-range-interaction roton. The spin-orbit coupling accelerates the softening of this roton. The pos…
We theoretically analyze the interactions and decay rates for atoms dressed by multiple laser fields to strongly interacting Rydberg states using a quantum master equation approach. In this framework a comparison of two-level and three-level Rydberg-dressing schemes is presented. We identify a resonant enhancement of the three-level dressed interaction strength which originates from cooperative multiphoton couplings as well as small distance dependent decay rates. In this regime the soft-core shape of the potential is independent of the sign of the bare Rydberg-Rydberg interaction, while its s…
We develop the research achievement of recent work [M. Gärttner, et.al., Phys. Rev. Letts. 113, 233002 (2014)], in which an anomalous excitation enhancement is observed in a three-level Rydberg-atom ensemble with many-body coherence. In our novel theoretical analysis, this effect is ascribed to the existence of a quasi-dark state as well as its avoided crossings to nearby Rydberg-dressed states. Moreover, we show that with an appropriate control of the optical detuning to the intermediate state, the enhancement can evoke a direct facilitation to atom-light coupling that even breaks through the…
We study rotating quasi-two-dimensional Bose-Einstein-condensates, in which atoms are dressed to a highly excited Rydberg state. This leads to weak effective interactions that induce a transition to a mesoscopic supersolid state. Considering slow rotation, we determine its superfluidity using Quantum Monte-Carlo simulations as well as mean field calculations. For rapid rotation, the latter reveal an interesting competition between the supersolid crystal structure and the rotation-induced vortex lattice that gives rise to new phases, including arrays of mesoscopic vortex crystals.
We propose a method to realize the Frenkel-Kontorova model using an array of Rydberg dressed atoms. Our platform can be used to study this model with a range of realistic interatomic potentials. In particular, we concentrate on two types of interaction potentials: a springlike potential and a repulsive long-range potential. We numerically calculate the phase diagram for such systems and characterize the Aubry-like and commensurate-incommensurate phase transitions. Experimental realizations of this system that are possible to achieve using current technology are discussed.
Exactly solvable model of two Rydberg-dressed atoms moving in a quasi-two-dimensional harmonic trap is introduced and its properties are investigated. Depending on the strength of inter-particle interactions and the critical range of the potential, the two-particle eigenstates are classified with respect to the excitations of the center-of-mass motion, relative angular momentum, and relative distance variable. Having these solutions in hand, we discuss inter-particle correlations as functions of interaction parameters. We also present a straightforward prescription of how to generalize obtaine…
The emergent phases of strongly correlated spin-1/2 Fermi gases of Rydberg dressed atoms in a one dimensional optical lattice are theoretically investigated. At weak coupling a bosonization description is used to demonstrate the ability to drive alternating quantum phase transitions between distinct Luttinger liquids. At strong coupling the ground state develops non-trivial phase separation exhibiting Luttinger liquid ''puddles'' separated by magnetic domain walls due to the interplay of the incommensurate filling and the Rydberg core length scale. These phases can be detected in ultracold gas…
Topological nontrivial bands can be realized via Rydberg-dressed neutral atoms. We propose a two-dimensional hard-core boson model with a topological ground enrgy at band on a honeycomb lattice, where the particle hopping is realized via van der Waals interaction that exchanges the Rydberg states of two interacting atoms, while nonzero phases associated with hopping is created by transferring the optical phase of laser fields to the atomic pair wave function. Using exactly diagonalization and infinite density matrix renormalization group simulation, we find in the system a fractional Chern ins…
We demonstrate that Ramsey spectroscopy can be used to observe Rydberg-dressed interactions. In contrast to many prior proposals, our scheme operates comfortably within experimentally measured lifetimes, and accesses a regime where quantum superpositions are crucial. The key idea is to build a spin-1/2 from one level that is Rydberg-dressed and another that is not. These levels may be hyperfine or long-lived electronic states. An Ising spin model governs the Ramsey dynamics, for which we derive an exact solution. Due to the structure of Rydberg interactions, the dynamics differs significantly …
We present a method to control the shape and character of the interaction potential between cold atomic gases by weakly dressing the atomic ground state with a Rydberg level. For increasing particle densities, a crossover takes place from a two-particle interaction into a collective many-body interaction, where the dipole-dipole/van der Waals Blockade phenomenon between the Rydberg levels plays a dominant role. We study the influence of these collective interaction potential on a Bose-Einstein condensate, and present the optimal parameters for its experimental detection.
We obtain ab initio the Hubbard parameters for Rydberg-dressed atoms in an one-dimensional sinusoidal optical lattice in the basis of maximally localized wannier states. Finite range, soft-core inter-atomic interactions become the trait of Rydberg admixed atoms, which can be extended over many neighbouring lattice sites. On contrary to dipolar gases, where the interactions follow an inverse cubic law, the key feature of Rydberg-dressed interactions being the possibility of making neighbouring couplings to the same magnitude as that of the onsite ones. The maximally localized Wannier functions …
We study the dynamics of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice in which the electronic groundstate of each atom is weakly coupled to a highly excited Rydberg state by a far off-resonant laser. This dressing induces a switchable effective soft-core interaction between groundstate atoms which, in the lattice, gives rise to on-site as well as long-range interaction terms. Upon switching on the dressing laser the Bose-Einstein condensate undergoes a nontrivial collapse and revival dynamics which can be observed in the interference pattern that is created after a release of the a…
We investigate the zero-temperature phases of bosonic and fermionic gases confined to one dimension and interacting via a class of finite-range soft-shoulder potentials (i.e. soft-core potentials with an additional hard-core onsite interaction). Using a combination of analytical and numerical methods, we demonstrate the stabilization of critical quantum liquids with qualitatively new features with respect to the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid paradigm. These features result from frustration and cluster formation in the corresponding classical ground-state. Characteristic signatures of these liquids…
We study theoretically the deformation of the Fermi surface (FS) of a three-dimensional gas of Rydberg-dressed $^6$Li atoms. The laser dressing to high-lying Rydberg $D$ states results in angle-dependent soft-core-shaped interactions whose anisotropy is described by multiple spherical harmonics. We show that this can drastically modify the shape of the FS and that its deformation depends on the interplay between the Fermi momentum $k_F$ and the reciprocal momentum $\bar{k}$ corresponding to the characteristic soft-core radius of the dressing-induced potential. When $k_F< \bar{k}$, the dressed …
We discuss the many-body physics of an ensemble of Rydberg dressed atoms with van der Waals dipole-dipole interactions in a one-dimensional lattice. Using a strong coupling expansion and numerical density-matrix renormalisation group simulations, we calculate the many-body phase diagram. A devil's staircase structure emerges with Mott-insulating phases at any rational filling fraction. Closed analytic expressions are given for the phase boundaries in second order of the tunnelling amplitude and shown to agree very well with the numerical results. The transition point where the incompressible p…
We report on the realization of long-range Ising interactions in a cold gas of cesium atoms by Rydberg dressing. The interactions are enhanced by coupling to Rydberg states in the vicinity of a Förster resonance. We characterize the interactions by measuring the mean-field shift of the clock transition via Ramsey spectroscopy, observing one-axis twisting dynamics. We furthermore emulate a transverse-field Ising model by periodic application of a microwave field and detect dynamical signatures of the paramagnetic-ferromagnetic phase transition. Our results highlight the power of optical address…
We systematically investigate the p-wave superfluidity of a Rydberg-dressed Fermi gas, where the soft-core effective interaction is of finite radius $R_{c}$ due to blockade effects. After solving the BCS gap equation and comparing the free energy, we obtain the quantum phase diagram, which is composed of three different phases: polar ($p_{z}$), axial ($p_{x}+ip_{y}$), and axi-planar ($p_{x}+iβ_{p}p_{y}$) phases. The tri-critical point locates around $R_{c}k_{F}\sim1$, where $k_{F}$ is the Fermi wave vector. We further derive the Ginzburg-Landau theory to explain the phase diagram, and estimate…
Measurement-based quantum computing relies on the rapid creation of large-scale entanglement in a register of stable qubits. Atomic arrays are well suited to store quantum information, and entanglement can be created using highly-excited Rydberg states. Typically, isolating pairs during gate operation is difficult because Rydberg interactions feature long tails at large distances. Here, we engineer distance-selective interactions that are strongly peaked in distance through off-resonant laser coupling of molecular potentials between Rydberg atom pairs. Employing quantum gas microscopy, we veri…
Charge dynamics in an ultra-cold setup involving a laser dressed atom and an ion is studied here. This transfer of charge is enabled through molecular Rydberg states that are accessed via a laser. The character of the charge exchange crucially depends on the coupling between the electronic dynamics and the vibrational motion of the atoms and ion. The molecular Rydberg states are characterized and a criterion for distinguishing coherent and incoherent regimes is formulated. Furthermore the concept is generalized to the many-body setup as the ion effectively propagates through a chain of atoms. …
We investigate the possibility of realizing supersolid quantum phases in bosonic Rydberg-excited quantum lattice gases in the presence of non-unitary processes, by simulating the dynamical evolution starting from initial preparation in non-dissipative equilibrium states. Within Gutzwiller theory, we first analyze the many-body ground-state of a bosonic Rydberg-excited quantum gas in a two dimensional optical lattice for variable atomic hopping rates and Rabi detunings. Furthermore, we perform time evolution of different supersolid phases using the Lindblad-master equation. With the inclusion o…
We show how a broad class of lattice spin-1/2 models with angular- and distance-dependent couplings can be realized with cold alkali atoms stored in optical or magnetic trap arrays. The effective spin-1/2 is represented by a pair of atomic ground states, and spin-spin interactions are obtained by admixing van der Waals interactions between fine-structure split Rydberg states with laser light. The strengths of the diagonal spin interactions as well as the "flip-flop", and "flip-flip" and "flop-flop" interactions can be tuned by exploiting quantum interference, thus realizing different spin symm…
We study ultracold Rydberg-dressed Bose gases subject to artificial gauge fields in the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) regime. The characteristics of the Rydberg interaction gives rise to interesting many-body ground states different from standard FQH physics in the lowest Landau level (LLL). The non-local but rapidly decreasing interaction potential favors crystalline ground states for very dilute systems. While a simple Wigner crystal becomes energetically favorable compared to the Laughlin liquid for filling fractions $ν<1/12$, a correlated crystal of composite particles emerges already for …
We investigate the transport of excitations through a chain of atoms with non-local dissipation introduced through coupling to additional short-lived states. The system is described by an effective spin-1/2 model where the ratio of the exchange interaction strength to the reservoir coupling strength determines the type of transport, including coherent exciton motion, incoherent hopping and a regime in which an emergent length scale leads to a preferred hopping distance far beyond nearest neighbors. For multiple impurities, the dissipation gives rise to strong nearest-neighbor correlations and …
We propose a technique for engineering momentum-dependent dissipation in Bose-Einstein condensates with non-local interactions. The scheme relies on the use of momentum-dependent dark-states in close analogy to velocity-selective coherent population trapping. During the short-time dissipative dynamics, the system is driven into a particular finite-momentum phonon mode, which in real space corresponds to an ordered structure with non-local density-density correlations. Dissipation-induced ordering can be observed and studied in present-day experiments using cold atoms with dipole-dipole or off-…
The interplay between antiferromagnetic interaction and hole motion is capable of inducing intriguing conducting topological Haldane phases described by a finite non-local string order parameter. Here we show that these states of matter are captured by the one dimensional $t-J_z$ model which can be experimentally realized with dressed Rydberg atoms trapped onto a one dimensional optical lattice. In the sector with vanishing total magnetization exact Bethe ansatz calculations associated to bosonization technique allow to predict that both metallic and superconducting topological Haldane states …
Dynamic control of atomic dressing to the highly-excited Rydberg state in multi-level systems has special appeals owing to the development of flexible and precise measurement. In this study we develop an experimentally-accessible proposal to robustly control the dressing probability via a three-step cascaded excitation with double electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) technique. The system can function as an optical switch where the third addressing laser serving as the control knob can switchably engineer the dressing probability with time. Differing from a conventional two-photon EI…
One of the major challenges in realizing a strongly interacting lattice gas using Rydberg states is the occurrence of avalanche loss processes. As these are directly proportional to the total Rydberg fraction, the commonly suggested solution is using far off-resonantly excited Rydberg states. We instead propose the realization of a correlated bosonic lattice gas at near-resonant excitation, where the total Rydberg fraction in the bulk is low due to the strong, interaction-driven effective detuning. Using real-space dynamical mean-field theory we show that its reduced effect at the boundary of …
Recent experiments have illustrated that long range two-body interactions can be induced by laser coupling atoms to highly excited Rydberg states. Stimulated by this achievement, we study supersolidity of lattice bosons in an experimentally relevant situation. In our setup, we consider two-component atoms on a square lattice, where one species is weakly dressed to an electronically high-lying (Rydberg) state, generating a tunable, soft-core shape long-range interaction. Interactions between atoms of the second species and between the two species are characterized by local inter- and intra-spec…
Ultrafast many-body dynamics of dense Rydberg gases and ultracold plasma
Center for Optical Quantum Technologies, University of Hamburg（汉堡大学光学量子技术中心）；Institute for Quantum Physics, University of Hamburg（汉堡大学量子物理研究所）；The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, University of Hamburg（汉堡超快成像中心）；Institute of Experimental Physics, University of Hamburg（汉堡大学实验物理研究所）
Interacting Fermi gas provides an ideal model system to understand unconventional pairing and intertwined orders relevant to a large class of quantum materials. Rydberg-dressed Fermi gas is a recent experimental system where the sign, strength, and range of the interaction can be controlled. The interaction in momentum space has a negative minimum at $q_c$ inversely proportional to the characteristic length-scale in real space, the soft-core radius $r_c$. We show theoretically that single-component (spinless) Rydberg-dressed Fermi gas in two dimensions has a rich phase diagram with novel super…
We study the dynamics of bosonic atoms on a two-dimensional square lattice, where atomic interactions are long-ranged with either a box or soft-core shape. The latter can be realized through laser dressing ground-state atoms to electronically excited Rydberg states. When the range of interactions is equal or larger than the lattice constant, the system is governed by an extended Bose-Hubbard model. We propose a quench process by varying the atomic hopping linearly across phase boundaries of the Mott insulator-supersolid and supersolid-superfluid phases. Starting from a Mott insulating state, t…
We investigate the phase diagram of hard-core bosons in two-leg ladders in the presence of soft-shoulder potentials. We show how the competition between local and non-local terms gives rise to a phase diagram with liquid phases with dominant cluster, spin-, and density-wave quasi-long-range ordering. These phases are separated by Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless, Gaussian, and supersymmetric (SUSY) quantum critical transitions. For the latter, we provide a phenomenological description of coupled SUSY conformal field theories, whose predictions are confirmed by matrix-product state simulations. …
