Crystalline structures and frustration in a two-component Rydberg gas. (14th December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Levi, Emanuele; Minář, Jiří; Garrahan, Juan P; Lesanovsky, Igor
• Is Part Of: New journal of physics. Volume 17:Number 12(2015:Dec.)
• Publication Date: 2015-12-14
• Subjects: Rydberg -- frustration -- two-component -- crystal -- crystalline; Physics -- Periodicals; Physics; Periodicals; 530.05
• DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/17/12/123017
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1367-2630

Abstract

Abstract: We study the static behavior of a gas of atoms held in a one-dimensional lattice where two distinct electronically high-lying Rydberg states are simultaneously excited by laser light. We focus on a situation where interactions of van-der-Waals type take place only among atoms that are in the same Rydberg state. We analytically investigate at first the so-called classical limit of vanishing laser driving strength. We show that the system exhibits a surprisingly complex ground state structure with a sequence of compatible to incompatible transitions. The incompatibility between the species leads to mutual frustration, a feature which pertains also in the quantum regime. We perform an analytical and numerical investigation of these features and present an approximative description of the system in terms of a Rokhsar–Kivelson Hamiltonian which permits the analytical understanding of the frustration effects even beyond the classical limit.