Rydberg Synthetic Dimensions: A New Simulator for Quantum Matter

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General audience abstract:“Quantum simulation” refers to the use of a controllable and well-understood system to recreate the essential elements of a more complex system that is challenging to probe experimentally and beyond the capabilities of traditional computational techniques to model. This approach is similar to the use of a wind-tunnel to optimize automobile or athletic performance. Quantum simulators promise to improve our understanding of the behavior of many, interacting particles in a regime dominated by the laws of quantum mechanics, which is an outstanding problem in many areas of science. In turn, this can unlock technological applications, such as the ability to design materials showing new and advantageous electrical, magnetic, or mechanical properties. Quantum simulation is a young field with many potential approaches under investigation. This project will develop a promising new type of quantum simulator based on the dynamics of an electron bound in an atom and manipulated by tailored electric fields. Graduate and undergraduate students will be trained in quantum science, an area of great national interest. Outreach programs will expose middle and high school teachers and students to the excitement of research with lasers and atoms.Technical audience abstract:This project will support construction of a large synthetic lattice space based on coupling of multiple highly excited atomic states (‘Rydberg states’) with millimeter waves. Atomic population moving between the internal states will simulate particles tunneling between sites of a physical lattice. This platform offers unprecedented control over all parameters of the Hamiltonian and powerful population diagnostics with single-site resolution to enable study of new classes of single-particle and many-body quantum systems, including realization of spatial geometries not possible in real, three-dimensional space. The specific goals of the work are to (1) develop the toolbox for Rydberg synthetic dimensions, (2) characterize single-particle band structure and dynamics in complex synthetic spaces such as the breathing Kagome lattice and quantum states and dynamics in a Mobius strip, and (3) observe signatures of interactions in few-body quantum systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.