Effective dynamics of strongly dissipative Rydberg gases

Marcuzzi, Matteo; Schick, Jan; Olmos, Beatriz; Lesanovsky, Igor

Abstract

We investigate the evolution of interacting Rydberg gases in the limit of strong noise and dissipation. Starting from a description in terms of a Markovian quantum master equation we derive effective equations of motion that govern the dynamics on a "coarse-grained" timescale where fast dissipative degrees of freedom have been adiabatically eliminated. Specifically, we consider two scenarios which are of relevance for current theoretical and experimental studies --- Rydberg atoms in a two-level (spin) approximation subject to strong dephasing noise as well as Rydberg atoms under so-called electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) conditions and fast radiative decay. In the former case we find that the effective dynamics is described by classical rate equations up to second order in an appropriate perturbative expansion. This drastically reduces the computational complexity of numerical simulations in comparison to the full quantum master equation. When accounting for the fourth order correction in this expansion, however, we find that the resulting equation breaks the preservation of positivity and thus cannot be interpreted as a proper classical master rate equation. In the EIT system we find that the expansion up to second order retains information not only on the "classical" observables, but also on some quantum coherences. Nevertheless, this perturbative treatment still achieves a non-trivial reduction of complexity with respect to the original problem.

Citation

Marcuzzi, M., Schick, J., Olmos, B., & Lesanovsky, I. (2014). Effective dynamics of strongly dissipative Rydberg gases. Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 47(48), Article 482001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8113/47/48/482001

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 21, 2014
• Publication Date: Nov 11, 2014
• Deposit Date: Apr 21, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 21, 2017
• Journal: Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical
• Print ISSN: 1751-8113
• Electronic ISSN: 1751-8121
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 47
• Issue: 48
• Article Number: 482001
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8113/47/48/482001
• Keywords: Open quantum systems, Rydberg atoms, Non-equilibrium dynamics
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/739774
• Publisher URL: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1751-8113/47/48/482001/meta
• Additional Information: This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical. The publisher is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is available online at http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1751-8113/47/48/482001/meta