Strongly Correlated Gases of Rydberg-Dressed Atoms: Quantum and Classical Dynamics

G. Pupillo, A. Micheli, M. Boninsegni, I. Lesanovsky, and P. Zoller

Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 223002 – Published 1 June 2010

Abstract

We discuss techniques to generate long-range interactions in a gas of ground state 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.

Received 4 January 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.223002

Authors & Affiliations

G. Pupillo¹, A. Micheli¹, M. Boninsegni^2,1, I. Lesanovsky³, and P. Zoller¹

¹Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Innsbruck, and Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Innsbruck, Austria
²Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2J1
³School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom

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Vol. 104, Iss. 22 — 4 June 2010

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