The neutral atoms coupled to a highly excited Rydberg state on a two-dimensional triangular lattice are investigated by employing the density matrix renormalization group technique in the matrix product state form. The full ground-state phase diagram as a function of blockade radius and the detuning of the exciting laser is determined by the behavior of entanglement entropy. We find several quantum phases including stripe-ordered and symmetry-breaking density-wave-ordered phases featured with regular excitation patterns of different excitation densities ρ = 1/3, 1/4, and 1/7. In addition, a ρ = 2/3 ordered phase and an interesting "order-by-disorder" phase, which has been prepared experimentally, are also observed in this work. Our work provides an exploration of the possible quantum phases that can occur in a triangularly arrayed Rydberg system, and thus could be a faithful theoretical guide for further experimental research.
Rydberg atom arrays have recently emerged to be a promising platform for the exploration of exotic quantum phases of matter and quantum phenomena. In this work, we map out the ground-state phase diagram of Rydberg atoms on a honeycomb lattice as a function of the Rydberg blockade radius and the laser detuning by performing large-scale finite-size density matrix renormalization group simulations. Apart from a featureless disordered phase, we find five other intricate long-range density-wave-ordered phases within a relatively wide parameter space. The properties of these quantum phases are analyzed by calculating their Rydberg excitation profiles and static structure factors. In addition, a continuous quantum phase transition belonging to the (2+1)-dimensional Ising universality class is explored by a standard finite-size scaling analysis. Our work implies some different physics, such as the possible nontrivial quantum phase transitions and a highly degenerate string ordered phase, that a honeycomb geometry could bring to the Rydberg system and serves as a numerical guide for possible real experiments.
We study the ground-state phase diagram of Rydberg atoms in a triangular-prism optical tweezer array using the density matrix renormalization group. By tuning the detuning-to-Rabi-frequency ratio and the Rydberg blockade radius, the system realizes several density-wave phases with spontaneous breaking of translational and leg-exchange symmetries. Unlike two-leg Rydberg ladders with
Z2 leg-exchange symmetry, the triangular prism has
D3 symmetry, leading to a richer set of ordered phases and transitions. For blockade radius moderately larger than the lattice spacing, a phase with alternating double and single Rydberg occupancy appears at large detuning. It breaks
Z2 translational and
Z3 rotational symmetry while preserving a rung reflection symmetry. Upon decreasing detuning, it melts through two Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions with an intermediate critical phase described by a
Z6 clock model. At larger blockade radius, a phase with one Rydberg excitation per triangle and broken
D3 symmetry appears through a first-order transition. When double occupation of neighboring triangles is suppressed, rung-trimerized density waves develop as detuning increases from the disordered phase. Their melting follows the same structure as in Rydberg chains and two-leg ladders: the
Z2 case has Ising critical lines, while the
Z3 and
Z4 cases have chiral critical lines, with Potts and Ashkin-Teller points only on the corresponding commensurate lines. Inside the
Z2 rung-trimerized phase, an entanglement-entropy peak signals a crossover regime with enhanced period-2 density modulation before a first-order transition into a
Z2×D3 phase. Floating phases with incommensurate quasi-long-range order appear between trimerized states of different periods.
We analyze the zero-temperature phases of an array of neutral atoms on the kagome lattice, interacting via laser excitation to atomic Rydberg states. Density-matrix renormalization group calculations reveal the presence of a wide variety of complex solid phases with broken lattice symmetries. In addition, we identify a regime with dense Rydberg excitations that has a large entanglement entropy and no local order parameter associated with lattice symmetries. From a mapping to the triangular lattice quantum dimer model, and theories of quantum phase transitions out of the proximate solid phases, we argue that this regime could contain one or more phases with topological order. Our results provide the foundation for theoretical and experimental explorations of crystalline and liquid states using programmable quantum simulators based on Rydberg atom arrays.
We describe the zero-temperature phase diagram of a model of a two-dimensional square-lattice array of neutral atoms, excited into Rydberg states and interacting via strong van der Waals interactions. Using the density-matrix renormalization group algorithm, we map out the phase diagram and obtain a rich variety of phases featuring complex density wave orderings, upon varying lattice spacing and laser detuning. While some of these phases result from the classical optimization of the van der Waals energy, we also find intrinsically quantum-ordered phases stabilized by quantum fluctuations. These phases are surrounded by novel quantum phase transitions, which we analyze by finite-size scaling numerics and Landau theories. Our work highlights Rydberg quantum simulators in higher dimensions as promising platforms to realize exotic many-body phenomena.
Using the density matrix renormalization group algorithm, we map the ground-state phase diagram of a two-leg Rydberg ladder array with lattice spacings
ax=2ay. We identify various density wave phases that spontaneously break the translational symmetry or the top-bottom reflection symmetry within the ladder. By increasing the laser detuning from zero, where the system is in a disordered phase that preserves all symmetries, we observe density wave orders with spontaneous breaking of the translational
Zp symmetries at intermediate detuning values, while the reflection symmetry is preserved. These orders exhibit nonzero bond orders with positive expectation values on every
pth rung, thus labeled as
Zp+ phases. At larger detuning values, another spontaneous breaking of the reflection symmetry, which disrupted the bond orders on the rungs, occurs via an Ising phase transition. In these phases, either the top or the bottom site is occupied in a staggered way on every
pth rung, breaking the translational
Z2p symmetry, thus labeled by
Z2p phases. We locate and characterize the 3-state Potts point and Ashkin-Teller point along the commensurate lines, as well as the direct chiral phase transitions between the disordered phase and the
Zp+ (p=3,4) phases. Critical exponents $\ensuremath{\nu}$ and
z are calculated for both conformal and chiral phase transition points. We finally identify two types of floating phases in the phase diagram: one characterized by a quasi-long-range incommensurate bond-order wave, and the other by a quasi-long-range incommensurate wave of density differences in the rungs. Our work motivates further applications of Rydberg atom arrays in quantum simulation.
Recent experimental advances have stimulated interest in the use of large, two-dimensional arrays of Rydberg atoms as a platform for quantum information processing and to study exotic many-body quantum states. However, the native long-range interactions between the atoms complicate experimental analysis and precise theoretical understanding of these systems. Here we use new tensor network algorithms capable of including all long-range interactions to study the ground state phase diagram of Rydberg atoms in a geometrically unfrustrated square lattice array. We find a greatly altered phase diagram from earlier numerical and experimental studies, revealed by studying the phases on the bulk lattice and their analogs in experiment-sized finite arrays. We further describe a previously unknown region with a nematic phase stabilized by short-range entanglement and an order from disorder mechanism. Broadly our results yield a conceptual guide for future experiments, while our techniques provide a blueprint for converging numerical studies in other lattices.