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European Quantum Electronics Conference (EQEC)

Nonequilibrium Phase Transition in a Dilute Rydberg Ensemble

Christopher G. Wade, Nikola Šibalić, Kevin J. Weatherill, Charles S. Adams

Published Jun 21, 2015• 0 citations
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This work investigates nonequilibrium phase transitions in a Rydberg atomic system under collective dissipation. By combining mean-field theory and Liouvillian spectral analysis, we reveal novel nonequilibrium phases induced by collective dissipation and compare the results from both approaches. Our findings indicate that collective dissipation not only generates interatomic correlations but also sustains persistent periodic oscillations and a unique bistable form, in which the system may evolve to a steady state or sustain self-consistent oscillatory dynamics. This study highlights the rich nonequilibrium phenomena present in quantum many-body systems and provides an extensible spectral framework for exploring dissipative phases in Rydberg and related systems. Recent experiments have reported persistent oscillations in thermal Rydberg atomic ensembles, yet the theoretical consensus on their origin remains elusive. Motivated by these observations, we introduce a collective dissipation mechanism and employ both mean-field approximations and the Liouvillian spectrum method to systematically explore nonequilibrium phase transitions. Our results show that the collective dissipation effectively induces interatomic correlations and sustains persistent periodic oscillations, in which under the same parameters, independent dissipation leads the system to relax to a stationary state. Furthermore, the nonlinear effects arising from collective dissipation give rise to a novel type of bistability, in which the system can converge to a fixed point or maintain self-consistent periodic oscillations. This mechanism is clearly different from the traditional bistability induced by Rydberg interactions, which involves two steady states. Moreover, the Liouvillian spectral method, based on the quantum master equation, successfully captures the features of nonequilibrium phase transitions even in finite-dimensional systems, and the results accord well with those obtained from mean-field approximation in the thermodynamic limit. Our work not only provides a theoretical explanation for recently observed oscillatory phenomena but also predicts novel bistable states and rich nonequilibrium phase structures. It further verifies the effectiveness of the Liouvillian spectroscopic method in studying quantum many-body systems, making significant contributions to understanding the microscopic mechanisms underlying nonequilibrium phase transitions.

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Far-from-equilibrium dynamics that lead to self-organization are highly relevant to complex dynamical systems not only in physics but also in life, earth, and social sciences.However, it is challenging to find systems with sufficiently controllable parameters that allow quantitatively modeling of emergent properties.Here, we study a nonequilibrium phase transition and observe signatures of self-organized criticality in a dilute thermal vapor of atoms optically excited to strongly interacting Rydberg states.Electromagnetically induced transparency provides excellent control over the population dynamics and enables highresolution probing of the driven-dissipative dynamics, which also exhibits phase bistability.Increased sensitivity compared to previous work allows us to reconstruct the complete phase diagram, including in the vicinity of the critical point.We observe that interaction-induced energy shifts and enhanced decay only occur in one of the phases above a critical Rydberg population.This case limits the application of generic mean-field models; however, a modified, threshold-dependent approach is in qualitative agreement with experimental data.Near threshold, we observe self-organized dynamics in the form of population jumps that return the density to a critical value.

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Bulletin of the American Physical Society•May 19, 2005•0 citations
We demonstrate a nonequilibrium phase transition in a dilute thermal atomic gas. The phase transition, between states of low and high Rydberg occupancy, is induced by resonant dipole-dipole interactions between Rydberg atoms. The gas can be considered as dilute as the atoms are separated by distances much greater than the wavelength of the optical transitions used to excite them. In the frequency domain, we observe a mean-field shift of the Rydberg state which results in intrinsic optical bistability above a critical Rydberg number density. In the time domain, we observe critical slowing down where the recovery time to system perturbations diverges with critical exponent α=-0.53±0.10. The atomic emission spectrum of the phase with high Rydberg occupancy provides evidence for a superradiant cascade.
This work investigates nonequilibrium phase transitions in a Rydberg atomic system under collective dissipation. By combining mean-field theory and Liouvillian spectral analysis, we reveal novel nonequilibrium phases induced by collective dissipation and compare the results from both approaches. Our findings indicate that collective dissipation not only generates interatomic correlations but also sustains persistent periodic oscillations and a unique bistable form, in which the system may evolve to a steady state or sustain self-consistent oscillatory dynamics. This study highlights the rich nonequilibrium phenomena present in quantum many-body systems and provides an extensible spectral framework for exploring dissipative phases in Rydberg and related systems. Recent experiments have reported persistent oscillations in thermal Rydberg atomic ensembles, yet the theoretical consensus on their origin remains elusive. Motivated by these observations, we introduce a collective dissipation mechanism and employ both mean-field approximations and the Liouvillian spectrum method to systematically explore nonequilibrium phase transitions. Our results show that the collective dissipation effectively induces interatomic correlations and sustains persistent periodic oscillations, in which under the same parameters, independent dissipation leads the system to relax to a stationary state. Furthermore, the nonlinear effects arising from collective dissipation give rise to a novel type of bistability, in which the system can converge to a fixed point or maintain self-consistent periodic oscillations. This mechanism is clearly different from the traditional bistability induced by Rydberg interactions, which involves two steady states. Moreover, the Liouvillian spectral method, based on the quantum master equation, successfully captures the features of nonequilibrium phase transitions even in finite-dimensional systems, and the results accord well with those obtained from mean-field approximation in the thermodynamic limit. Our work not only provides a theoretical explanation for recently observed oscillatory phenomena but also predicts novel bistable states and rich nonequilibrium phase structures. It further verifies the effectiveness of the Liouvillian spectroscopic method in studying quantum many-body systems, making significant contributions to understanding the microscopic mechanisms underlying nonequilibrium phase transitions.
Far-from-equilibrium dynamics that lead to self-organization are highly relevant to complex dynamical systems not only in physics but also in life, earth, and social sciences.However, it is challenging to find systems with sufficiently controllable parameters that allow quantitatively modeling of emergent properties.Here, we study a nonequilibrium phase transition and observe signatures of self-organized criticality in a dilute thermal vapor of atoms optically excited to strongly interacting Rydberg states.Electromagnetically induced transparency provides excellent control over the population dynamics and enables highresolution probing of the driven-dissipative dynamics, which also exhibits phase bistability.Increased sensitivity compared to previous work allows us to reconstruct the complete phase diagram, including in the vicinity of the critical point.We observe that interaction-induced energy shifts and enhanced decay only occur in one of the phases above a critical Rydberg population.This case limits the application of generic mean-field models; however, a modified, threshold-dependent approach is in qualitative agreement with experimental data.Near threshold, we observe self-organized dynamics in the form of population jumps that return the density to a critical value.