Flexible Rydberg aggregates |
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| Sebastian Wüster | |
| mpipks Dresden | |
| We present quantum aggregates, engineered from long-range interacting Rydberg atoms. Our focus is on flexible aggregates with atomic motion. In these, motion is typically entangled with the state of the electronic excitation. We consider linear and circular arrangements of Rydberg atoms, in the single exciton regime.
Linear Rydberg chain: In these, a single electronic excitation localizes on two atoms that are in closer mutual proximity than all others. We show how the interplay between excitonic and atomic motion causes energy, momentum, coherence and entanglement to propagate through the chain, reminiscent of momentum transfer in Newton’s cradle [PRL 105 (2010) 195392]. Circular Rydberg aggregate: Here we find a conical intersection between two energy surfaces, which has a dominating effect on the quantum dynamics. Non-adiabatic effects near the intersection create entanglement between the atomic centre-of-mass motion and the chain’s electronic state, thereby de-cohering the reduced electronic density matrix [PRL 106 (2011) 153002]. A welcome addition to these aggregates are laser dressing techniques, which allow the mapping of properties of Rydberg atoms onto ground-state atoms [NJP 13 (2011) 073044]. Using these is seems possible to engineer Schroedinger cat states of mesoscopic atomic clouds, using state dependent interactions. |