How do isolated quantum systems approach an equilibrium state? We experimentally and theoretically address this question for a prototypical spin system formed by ultracold atoms prepared in two Rydberg states with different orbital angular momenta. By coupling these states with a resonant microwave driving we realize a dipolar XY spin-1/2 model in an external field. Starting from a spin-polarized state we suddenly switch on the external field and monitor the subsequent many-body dynamics. Our key observation is density dependent relaxation of the total magnetization much faster than typical decoherence rates. To determine the processes governing this relaxation we employ different theoretical approaches which treat quantum effects on initial conditions and dynamical laws separately. This allows us to identify an intrinsically quantum component to the relaxation attributed to primordial quantum fluctuations.
Finite-range interacting spin models are the simplest models to study the effect of beyond nearest-neighbour interactions and access new effects caused by the range of the interactions. Recent experiments have reached the regime of dominant interactions in Ising quantum magnets via optical coupling of trapped neutral atoms to Rydberg states. This approach allows for the tunability of all relevant terms in an Ising Hamiltonian with $1/r^6$ interactions in a transverse and longitudinal field. This review summarizes the recent progress of these implementations in Rydberg lattices with site-resolved detection. The strong correlations in this quantum Ising model have been observed in several experiments up to the point of crystallization. In systems with a diameter small compared to the Rydberg blockade radius, the number of excitations is maximally one in the so-called superatom regime.
A microscopic understanding of molecules is essential for many fields of natural sciences but their tiny size hinders direct optical access to their constituents. Rydberg macrodimers - bound states of two highly-excited Rydberg atoms - feature bond lengths easily exceeding optical wavelengths. Here we report on the direct microscopic observation and detailed characterization of such macrodimers in a gas of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. The size of about 0.7 micrometers, comparable to the size of small bacteria, matches the diagonal distance of the lattice. By exciting pairs in the initial two-dimensional atom array, we resolve more than 50 vibrational resonances. Using our spatially resolved detection, we observe the macrodimers by correlated atom loss and demonstrate control of the molecular alignment by the choice of the vibrational state. Our results allow for precision testing of Rydberg interaction potentials and establish quantum gas microscopy as a powerful new tool for quantum chemistry.
We show that the dynamics of a laser driven Rydberg gas in the limit of strong dephasing is described by a master equation with manifest kinetic constraints. The equilibrium state of the system is uncorrelated but the constraints in the dynamics lead to spatially correlated collective relaxation reminiscent of glasses. We study and quantify the evolution towards equilibrium in one and two dimensions, and analyze how the degree of glassiness and the relaxation time are controlled by the interaction strength between Rydberg atoms. We also find that spontaneous decay of Rydberg excitations leads to an interruption of glassy relaxation that takes the system to a highly correlated non-equilibrium stationary state. The results presented here, which are in principle also applicable other systems such as polar molecules and atoms with large magnetic dipole moments, show that the collective behavior of cold atomic and molecular ensembles can be similar to that found in soft condensed-matter systems.
We experimentally study the spin dynamics of mesoscopic ensembles of ultracold magnetic spin-3 atoms located in two separated wells of an optical dipole trap. We use a radio-frequency sweep to selectively flip the spin of the atoms in one of the wells, which produces two separated spin domains of opposite polarization. We observe that these engineered spin domains are metastable with respect to the long-range magnetic dipolar interactions between the two ensembles. The absence of inter-cloud dipolar spin-exchange processes reveals a classical behavior, in contrast to previous results with atoms loaded in an optical lattice. When we merge the two subsystems, we observe spin-exchange dynamics due to contact interactions which enable the first determination of the s-wave scattering length of 52Cr atoms in the S=0 molecular channel a_0=13.5^{+11}_{-10.5}a_B (where a_B is the Bohr radius).
We present a quantum many-body description of the excitation spectrum of Rydberg polarons in a Bose gas. The many-body Hamiltonian is solved with functional determinant theory, and we extend this technique to describe Rydberg polarons of finite mass. Mean-field and classical descriptions of the spectrum are derived as approximations of the many-body theory. The various approaches are applied to experimental observations of polarons created by excitation of Rydberg atoms in a strontium Bose-Einstein condensate.