Liquid ground state, gap, and excited states of a strongly correlated spin chain

We present an exact solution of an experimentally realizable and strongly interacting one-dimensional spin system which is a limiting case of a quantum Ising model with long range interaction in a transverse and longitudinal field. Pronounced quantum fluctuations lead to a strongly correlated liquid ground state. For open boundary conditions the ground state manifold consists of four degenerate sectors whose quantum numbers are determined by the orientation of the edge spins. Explicit expressions for the entanglement properties, the exact excitation gap, as well as the exact wave functions for a couple of excited states are analytically derived and discussed. We outline how this system can be experimentally realized in a lattice gas of Rydberg atoms.     

微波调制的里德堡原子集体量子跳跃

对于一个三能级原子体系,原子的两个基态能级通过微波耦合起来,其中一个基态能级可被激发到里德堡态,从而可观察量子跳跃现象.本文采用量子轨线方法研究了微波调制的里德堡原子集体量子跳跃.研究结果表明,微波耦合基态能级可以提高光子关联,增强光子聚束效应,即使较少的原子中也可以观察到系统在高里德堡占据数态和低里德堡占据数态之间的切换.这一结果为将来进一步研究里德堡自旋晶格中的多体动力学提供了新思路.     

Two-stage melting in systems of strongly interacting Rydberg atoms

We analyze the ground state properties of a one-dimensional cold atomic system in a lattice, where Rydberg excitations are created by an external laser drive. In the classical limit, the ground state is characterized by a complete devil's staircase for the commensurate solid structures of Rydberg excitations. Using perturbation theory and a mapping onto an effective low-energy Hamiltonian, we find a transition of these commensurate solids into a floating solid with algebraic correlations. For stronger quantum fluctuations the floating solid eventually melts within a second quantum phase transition and the ground state becomes paramagnetic.     

Rydberg states in the condensed phase studied by fluorescence depletion spectroscopy

Higher Rydberg states of NO trapped in rare gas matrices have been studied by inducing Rydberg-Rydberg transitions from the lowest Rydberg state and detecting its fluorescence depletion. This technique unravels Rydberg states, which cannot be accessed by ground state absorption. However, no clear cut Rydberg series show up. The data show a compression of the n-(n + 1) splittings between Rydberg states, as well as of the splittings. The results are rationalised in terms of the quantum defect model and the lack of extended Rydberg series is due to the compression of high-n Rydberg states in a tiny energy region below the ionisation potential. Finally, fluorescence depletion data of NO trapped in amorphous sites (the so-called red sites) of solid Ar can be interpreted in terms of the gas phase NO-Ar van der Waals data. A general discussion on the fate of Rydberg states in van der Waals complexes, in liquids, and in solids is presented in an attempt to relate the data in these different media. Received 28 July 1999 and Received in final form 8 November 1999     

Coherent excitation of Rydberg atoms in an ultracold gas

We demonstrate two schemes for the coherent excitation of Rydberg atoms in an ultracold gas of rubidium atoms employing the three-level ladder system 5S_1/2-5P_3/2-n?_j. In the first approach rapid adiabatic passage with pulsed laser fields yields Rydberg excitation probabilities of 90% in the center of the laser focus. In a second experiment two-photon Rydberg excitation with continuous-wave fields is applied which results in Rabi oscillations between the ground and Rydberg state. The experiments represent a prerequisite for the control of interactions in ultracold Rydberg gases and the application of ultracold Rydberg gases for quantum information processing.     

Long-range quantum gates using dipolar crystals

We propose the use of dipolar spin chains to enable long-range quantum logic between distant qubits. In our approach, an effective interaction between remote qubits is achieved by adiabatically following the ground state of the dipolar chain across the paramagnet to crystal phase transition. We demonstrate that the proposed quantum gate is particularly robust against disorder and derive scaling relations, showing that high-fidelity qubit coupling is possible in the presence of realistic imperfections. Possible experimental implementations in systems ranging from ultracold Rydberg atoms to arrays of nitrogen vacancy defect centers in diamond are discussed.     

Many-body spin interactions and the ground state of a dense Rydberg lattice gas

We study a one-dimensional atomic lattice gas in which Rydberg atoms are excited by a laser and whose external dynamics is frozen. We identify a parameter regime in which the Hamiltonian is well approximated by a spin Hamiltonian with quasilocal many-body interactions which possesses an exact analytic ground state solution. This state is a superposition of all states of the system that are compatible with an interaction induced constraint weighted by a fugacity. We perform a detailed analysis of this state which exhibits a crossover between a paramagnetic phase with short-ranged correlations and a crystal. This study also leads us to a class of spin models with many-body interactions that permit an analytic ground state solution.     

Implementation of Controlled Geometric Phase Gate for Two Trapped Neutral Atoms

We propose a scheme for realizing a controlled geometric phase gate for twoneutral atoms. We apply the stimulated Raman adiabatic passage to transferatoms from their ground states into Rydberg excited states, and use theRydberg interaction induced energy shifts to generate geometric phase andconstruct quantum gates.     

稀薄里德伯原子气体中的两体纠缠

量子纠缠是量子信息处理和量子计算中不可或缺的物理资源,制备稳定可操控的量子纠缠是研究的热点之一.里德伯原子具有不同于普通中性原子的特点,长寿命和原子之间强烈的偶极相互作用,使得它成为量子信息处理和量子计算的最优候选者.本文在稀薄里德伯原子气体中,构建了空间四面体排布的里德伯原子模型(空间等距的四个原子模型),通过数值求解主方程来研究两体纠缠和里德伯激发的稳态和瞬态动力学性质,发现偶极阻塞机制下的量子纠缠最大,其他满足反偶极阻塞条件的高阶激发引起的纠缠较小,进而从理论上分析了这两种机制下量子纠缠的物理实质.     

调制激光场中Rydberg原子的电磁感应透明

本文主要研究了调制探测激光场中铯Rydberg 原子阶梯型三能级系统的电磁感应透明(EIT) 效应. 铯原子基态6S_1/2, 第一激发态6P_3/2 和Rydberg 态形成阶梯型三能级系统, 探测光作用于6S_1/2 (F = 4)→6P_3/2(F' = 5) 的跃迁, 耦合光在Rydberg 跃迁线6P_3/2→49S_1/2 附近扫描, 形成Rydberg 原子EIT. 当对探测光频率施加一个几kHz 的调制时, 调制解调后的EIT 信号分裂为两个峰, 双峰间距与调制频率无关,而与调制幅度导致的失谐量大小(频率调制幅度) 成正比, 双峰间隔的一半等于探测光频率调制幅度的λ_p/λ_c = 1.67 倍. 实验结果与理论计算相一致. 本文的研究结果可应用于激光线型和频率抖动的实时监测.     

Ground state phase diagram of a spin-2 antiferromagnet on the square lattice

We use the vertex state model approach to construct optimum ground states for a large class of quantum spin-2 antiferromagnets on the square lattice. Optimum ground states are exact ground states of the model which minimize all local interaction operators. The ground state contains two continuous parameters and exhibits a second order phase transition from a disordered phase with exponentially decaying correlation functions to a Néel ordered phase. The behaviour is very similar to that of the corresponding ground state of a quantum spin-3/2 model on the hexagonal lattice, which has been investigated in an earlier paper. Received 8 April 1999     

铯原子nP_(3/2)(n=70—94)里德伯态的紫外单光子激发及量子亏损测量

基于成熟的光纤激光器、光纤放大器及高效激光频率转换技术,我们在实验中研制了一套瓦级输出的窄线宽连续波单频可调谐318.6 nm紫外激光系统,并在室温铯原子气室中实现了6S_(1/2)—nP_(3/2)(n=70—94)单光子跃迁里德伯激发.借助由铯原子6S_(1/2)(F=4)基态、6P_(3/2)(F′=5)激发态和nP_(3/2)(n=70—94)里德伯态构成的V型三能级系统,通过频率锁定于铯原子6S_(1/2)(F=4)—6P_(3/2)(F′=5)超精细跃迁的852.3 nm探测光束的吸收减弱信号获得了里德伯态的信息,并利用高精度波长计测量了铯原子nP_(3/2)(n=70—94)里德伯态的量子亏损值.经过与理论计算值的变化趋势进行对比,我们认为由于原子气室的里德伯屏蔽效应并不能完全屏蔽外部直流电场,铯原子气室内存在残余的直流电场,影响了对里德伯态的量子亏损值的实验测量.利用残余直流电场的Stark效应理论模型及其与有效主量子数n*的依赖关系,对铯原子里德伯态的量子亏损实验测量值进行了修正.修正后的铯原子nP_(3/2)(n=70—94)态量子亏损测量值为3.5591±0.0007,与理论计算值相吻合.     

Quantum gates and multiparticle entanglement by Rydberg excitation blockade and adiabatic passage

We propose to apply stimulated adiabatic passage to transfer atoms from their ground state into Rydberg excited states. Atoms a few micrometers apart experience a dipole-dipole interaction among Rydberg states that is strong enough to shift the atomic resonance and inhibit excitation of more than a single atom. We show that the adiabatic passage in the presence of this interaction between two atoms leads to robust creation of maximally entangled states and to two-bit quantum gates. For many atoms, the excitation blockade leads to an effective implementation of collective-spin and Jaynes-Cummings-like Hamiltonians, and we show that the adiabatic passage can be used to generate collective J_{x}=0 eigenstates and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states of tens of atoms.     

LMG model: Markovian evolution of classical and quantum correlations under decoherence

We have investigated the quantum phase transition in the ground state of collective Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model (LMG model) subjected to decoherence due to its interaction, represented by a quantum channel, with an environment. We discuss the behavior of quantum and classical pair wise correlations in the system, with the quantumness of correlations measured by quantum discord (QD), entanglement of formation (EOF), measurement-induced disturbance (MID) and the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt-Bell function (CHSH-Bell function). The time evolution established by system-environment interactions is assumed to be Markovian in nature and the quantum channels studied include the amplitude damping (AD), phase damping (PD), bit-flip (BF), phase-flip (PF), and bit-phase-flip (BPF) channels. One can identify appropriate quantities associated with the dynamics of quantum correlations signifying quantum phase transition in the model. Surprisingly, the CHSH-Bell function is found to detect all the phase transitions, even when quantum and classical correlations are zero for the relevant ground state.     

Supersolids versus phase separation in two-dimensional lattice bosons

We study the nature of the ground state of the two-dimensional extended boson Hubbard model on a square lattice by quantum Monte Carlo methods. We demonstrate that strong but finite on-site interaction U along with a comparable nearest-neighbor repulsion V result in a thermodynamically stable supersolid ground state for densities larger than 1/2, in contrast to fillings less than 1/2 or for very large U, where the checkerboard supersolid is unstable towards phase separation. We discuss the relevance of our results to realizations of supersolids using cold bosonic atoms in optical lattices.     

里德伯电磁感应透明中的相位

本文在典型的里德伯电磁感应透明系统中研究弱探测场在相互作用原子系统中的传播特性,重点关注基于偶极阻塞效应的探测场相位的合作光学非线性行为.通过与探测场透射率和光子关联作对比,发现相位的光学响应具有新特性:共振和Autler-Townes劈裂条件下相位对入射场强和初始光子关联不敏感,而在两者之间的频率范围内相位响应具有非线性特征,尤其在经典光频率处最显著.此外,提高主量子数和原子密度都会促进相位的非线性效应.综上,与探测场透射率和光子关联一样,相位可以作为合作光学非线性的另一个标识来刻画非线性现象,对里德伯电磁感应透明研究是一个有力的补充.     

Potential Energies of the Orbitally Degenerate Atmospheric Rydberg Complexes

A method was developed for calculating the vibronic potential energy surfaces (PESs) of atmospheric complexes consisting of orbitally degenerate Rydberg nitrogen and oxygen molecules and the molecules of a neutral medium in the ground electronic state. The degenerate states are formed as a result of l-mixing in the D and E layers of the atmosphere during the periods of increased solar activity. The complexes are populated in the nonequilibrium two-temperature plasma and are responsible for the incoherent additional background radiation in the decimeter (microwave) and terahertz (IR) bands at an altitude of 80–110 km from the Earth’s surface. To describe the interaction of a weakly bound electron with a singly charged molecular ion and a neutral molecule of a gas medium, the formalism of the multichannel quantum defect (MCD) theory was used. Quantum-chemical calculations of the dependences of the scattering lengths, polarizabilities, and quadrupole moments of the main atmospheric molecules N₂ and O₂ on the interatomic distance were performed. The specific features of the behavior of vibronic PESs of Rydberg complexes for large values of the principal quantum number (n ? 1) were analyzed. The vibronic PESs of orbitally degenerate states were constructed. They are necessary for determining the positions and shape of the vibronic minima of the l-mixing cross sections of the N₂ and O₂ Rydberg molecules in the D and E layers of the Earth’s atmosphere, where the delay times of satellite positioning signals should be minimum. The possibility of “quantum chaos” appearing in the Rydberg complexes at sufficiently large n values and angular momenta of the weakly bound electron was noted.     

Collective many-body interaction in Rydberg dressed atoms

We present a method to control the shape and character of the interaction potential between cold atomic gases by weakly dressing the atomic ground state with a Rydberg level. For increasing particle densities, a crossover takes place from a two-particle interaction into a collective many-body interaction, where the dipole-dipole or van der Waals blockade phenomenon between the Rydberg levels plays a dominant role. We study the influence of these collective interaction potentials on a Bose-Einstein condensate and present the optimal parameters for its experimental detection.     

Rydberg quantum computation with nuclear spins in two-electron neutral atoms

Alkaline-earth-like (AEL) atoms with two valence electrons and a nonzero nuclear spin can be excited to Rydberg state for quantum computing. Typical AEL ground states possess no hyperfine splitting, but unfortunately a GHz-scale splitting seems necessary for Rydberg excitation. Though strong magnetic fields can induce a GHz-scale splitting, weak fields are desirable to avoid noise in experiments. Here, we provide two solutions to this outstanding challenge with realistic data of well-studied AEL isotopes. In the first theory, the two nuclear spin qubit states |0〉 and |1〉 are excited to Rydberg states |r〉 with detuning Δ and 0, respectively, where a MHz-scale detuning Δ arises from a weak magnetic field on the order of 1 G. With a proper ratio between Δ and Ω, the qubit state |1〉 can be fully excited to the Rydberg state while |0〉 remains there. In the second theory, we show that by choosing appropriate intermediate states a two-photon Rydberg excitation can proceed with only one nuclear spin qubit state. The second theory is applicable whatever the magnitude of the magnetic field is. These theories bring a versatile means for quantum computation by combining the broad applicability of Rydberg blockade and the incomparable advantages of nuclear-spin quantum memory in two-electron neutral atoms.     

49S里德堡态的射频双光子光谱

在室温铯原子蒸气池中, 由铯原子基态、激发态和里德堡态构建了阶梯型三能级系统, 研究了里德堡原子阶梯型三能级系统的电磁感应透明(EIT). 在实现电磁感应透明的基础上, 利用16.9 GHz的射频电场耦合相邻的原子里德堡态, 实现49S_1/2→47D_3/2的双光子跃迁, 测量了里德堡原子的射频双光子光谱, 观察到了电磁感应透明光谱的分裂, 进一步研究了电场强度对射频双光子光谱的影响. 利用里德堡原子的EIT效应可实现对射频电场幅值和极化的精密测量, 具有潜在的应用前景.