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arXiv:1504.01886 · Physical Review Letters

Quantum Simulation of Energy Transport with Embedded Rydberg Aggregates

David W. Schönleber, Alexander Eisfeld, Michael Genkin, S. Whitlock, Sebastian Wüster

Published Mar 27, 2015• 69 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We show that an array of ultracold Rydberg atoms embedded in a laser driven background gas can serve as an aggregate for simulating exciton dynamics and energy transport with a controlled environment. Energetic disorder and decoherence introduced by the interaction with the background gas atoms can be controlled by the laser parameters. This allows for an almost ideal realization of a Haken-Reineker-Strobl-type model for energy transport. The transport can be monitored using the same mechanism that provides control over the environment. The degree of decoherence is traced back to information gained on the excitation location through the monitoring, turning the setup into an experimentally accessible model system for studying the effects of quantum measurements on the dynamics of a many-body quantum system.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.114.123005

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We show that an array of ultracold Rydberg atoms embedded in a laser driven background gas can serve as an aggregate for simulating exciton dynamics and energy transport with a controlled environment. Energetic disorder and decoherence introduced by the interaction with the background gas atoms can be controlled by the laser parameters. This allows for an almost ideal realization of a Haken-Reineker-Strobl-type model for energy transport. The transport can be monitored using the same mechanism that provides control over the environment. The degree of decoherence is traced back to information gained on the excitation location through the monitoring, turning the setup into an experimentally accessible model system for studying the effects of quantum measurements on the dynamics of a many-body quantum system.
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Abstract We review Rydberg aggregates, assemblies of a few Rydberg atoms exhibiting energy transport through collective eigenstates, considering isolated atoms or assemblies embedded within clouds of cold ground-state atoms. We classify Rydberg aggregates, and provide an overview of their possible applications as quantum simulators for phenomena from chemical or biological physics. Our main focus is on flexible Rydberg aggregates, in which atomic motion is an essential feature. In these, simultaneous control over Rydberg–Rydberg interactions, external trapping and electronic energies, allows Born–Oppenheimer surfaces for the motion of the entire aggregate to be tailored as desired. This is illustrated with theory proposals towards the demonstration of joint motion and excitation transport, conical intersections and non-adiabatic effects. Additional flexibility for quantum simulations is enabled by the use of dressed dipole–dipole interactions or the embedding of the aggregate in a cold gas or Bose–Einstein condensate environment. Finally we provide some guidance regarding the parameter regimes that are most suitable for the realization of either static or flexible Rydberg aggregates based on Li or Rb atoms. The current status of experimental progress towards enabling Rydberg aggregates is also reviewed.
This thesis investigates different aspects of strongly interacting ultracold Rydberg gases coupled by light, including the excitation of correlated structures called Rydberg aggregates and dipolar energy transport. For this purpose an experimental apparatus has been constructed. We study coherent population trapping (CPT) and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) involving Rydberg states. To study the formation of Rydberg aggregates we use full counting statistics (FCS) which makes it possible to infer the size of Rydberg aggregates. Dephasing during the excitation is found to have a dramatic effect on the formation process, leading to sequential growth around an initial grain. Rydberg state EIT is used to realize a new direct optical imaging scheme for Rydberg atoms which combines highly sensitive detection with high spatial and temporal resolution. Applying this technique we observe dipole-mediated energy transport processes between Rydberg atoms. We study classical transport in the presence of strong measurement induced decoherence. The strong interactions are seen to mediate long-range hopping significantly beyond nearest neighbors. We present first indications for coherent transport in this system. These experiments shed light on the role of correlations in the excitation and evolution of strongly interacting quantum systems and e.g. could possibly be used to model energy transport in biological systems. \n
Electronically highly excited (Rydberg) atoms experience quantum state-changing interactions similar to Förster processes found in complex molecules, offering a model system to study the nature of dipole-mediated energy transport under the influence of a controlled environment. We demonstrate a nondestructive imaging method to monitor the migration of electronic excitations with high time and spatial resolution, using electromagnetically induced transparency on a background gas acting as an amplifier. The continuous spatial projection of the electronic quantum state under observation determines the many-body dynamics of the energy transport.
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Abstract Two-dimensional (2D) spectroscopy uses multiple electromagnetic pulses to infer the properties of a complex system. A paradigmatic class of target systems are molecular aggregates, for which one can obtain information on the eigenstates, various types of static and dynamic disorder and on relaxation processes. However, two-dimensional spectra can be difficult to interpret without precise knowledge of how the signal components relate to microscopic Hamiltonian parameters and system-bath interactions. Here we show that two-dimensional spectroscopy can be mapped in the microwave domain to highly controllable Rydberg quantum simulators. By porting 2D spectroscopy to Rydberg atoms, we firstly open the possibility of its experimental quantum simulation, in a case where parameters and interactions are very well known. Secondly, the technique may provide additional handles for experimental access to coherences between system states and the ability to discriminate different types of decoherence mechanisms in Rydberg gases. We investigate the requirements for a specific implementation utilizing multiple phase coherent microwave pulses and a phase cycling technique to isolate signal components.