Local and single atom resolved study of non-linear excitation dynamics and dissipation in off-resonantly driven Rydberg gases

光学晶格中的里德堡原子为量子多体物理的研究提供了独特的平台。与其他系统不同的是，强烈的长程相互作用支配着这种里德堡晶格气体的物理性质。在迄今实现的大多数实验中，相互作用效应源于里德堡原子之间的长距离范德华或偶极-偶极相互作用。然而，它们的两体相互作用势在短距离内非常丰富，为多体物理提供了很少的探索资源。我们计划在激光耦合里德堡多体系统中研究这种短程物理，并对里德堡原子进行局域探测。特别地，我们致力于研究由非线性激发和耗散相互作用而产生的促进系统。我们将探索这些系统中的非平衡动力学，并旨在将它们与软物质系统中的现象联系起来，特别是玻璃。在原子系统中，不仅可以通过选择Rydberg态和激光失谐来控制非线性激发，而且可以通过控制添加激光相位噪声或附加激光耦合到低能级来调节耗散。我们计划不仅在经典系统中，而且在量子系统中研究这种耗散系统。我们的研究将有助于揭示非共振耦合里德堡气体中的短程耗散过程。对于这些过程的理解是在连续统中实现里德堡穿戴系统所必需的。与其他现有的实验平台不同，我们将从光学晶格中原子的完美有序Mott绝缘态开始研究Rydberg物理。最多200个粒子的小系统尺寸允许对正在兴起的多体物理进行自下而上的研究，包括通过从一维系统改变为二维系统来研究维度相关性。我们将使用建立在我们的Rb-87量子气体显微镜上的局域探测技术，以单格点分辨率原位观察里德堡原子。这个项目显然属于GiRyd计划的多体物理部分。在制备和检测能力方面，我们实验中可用的技术组合在GiRyd中是独一无二的，使得能够对耗散多体系统进行独特的研究，这在任何其他现有的装置中都是不可能的。

Rydberg atoms in optical lattices provide a unique platform for the study of quantum many-body physics. Distinct to other systems, strong long-range interactions govern the physics of such Rydberg lattice gases. In most experiments realized so far interaction effects stemmed from the long-distance van-der-Waals or dipole-dipole interaction between the Rydberg atoms. However, their two-body interaction potentials are extremely rich at short distances and provide a little explored resource for many-body physics.We plan to study this short-range physics in laser coupled Rydberg many-body systems with local detection of the Rydberg atoms. In particular we aim at the study of facilitated systems arising from the interplay of nonlinear excitation and dissipation. We will explore non-equilibrium dynamics in these systems and aim to link them to phenomena found in soft-matter systems, especially glasses. In the atomic system, not only the nonlinear excitation can be controlled by the choice of the Rydberg states and laser detuning, but also the dissipation can be tuned via controlled addition of laser phase noise or additional laser coupling to low lying states. We plan to study such dissipative systems not only in the classical, but also in the quantum regime.Our study will shed light on short-range dissipative processes in off resonantly coupled Rydberg gases. The understanding of these processes is required to realize Rydberg dressed systems in the continuum. These promise the implementation of long-range interacting quantum systems of mobile atoms, with the prospect of realizing and studying fascinating novel quantum states such as supersolids.Distinct to other available experimental platforms, we will study Rydberg physics starting with the perfectly ordered Mott insulating state of atoms in a single plane of an optical lattice. The small system sizes of up to 200 particles allow for a bottom up study of the arising many-body physics including the dimensional dependence by changing from one- to two-dimensional systems. We will use a local detection technique build on top of our rubidium-87 quantum gas microscope to observe the Rydberg atoms in situ with single lattice site resolution.This project clearly belongs to the many-body physics part of the GiRyd program. The combination of available technology in our experiment is unique within GiRyd in terms of preparation and detection capabilities enabling unique studies of dissipative many-body systems not possible in any other existing setup.