Quench dynamics of a dissipative Rydberg gas in the classical and quantum regimes

Gribben, Dominic; Lesanovsky, Igor; Gutierrez, Ricardo

Abstract

Understanding the non-equilibrium behavior of quantum systems is a major goal of contemporary physics. Much research is currently focused on the dynamics of many-body systems in lowdimensional lattices following a quench, i.e., a sudden change of parameters. Already such a simple setting poses substantial theoretical challenges for the investigation of the real-time post-quench quantum dynamics. In classical many-body systems the Kolmogorov-Mehl-Johnson-Avrami model describes the phase transformation kinetics of a system that is quenched across a first order phase transition. Here we show that a similar approach can be applied for shedding light on the quench dynamics of an interacting gas of Rydberg atoms, which has become an important experimental platform for the investigation of quantum non-equilibrium effects. We are able to gain an analytic understanding of the time-evolution following a sudden quench from an initial state devoid of Rydberg atoms and identify strikingly different behaviors of the excitation growth in the classical and quantum regimes. Our approach allows us to describe quenches near a non-equilibrium phase transition and provides an approximate analytic solution deep in the quantum domain.

Citation

Gribben, D., Lesanovsky, I., & Gutierrez, R. (in press). Quench dynamics of a dissipative Rydberg gas in the classical and quantum regimes. Physical Review A, 97(1), https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.97.011603

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 16, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Jan 25, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jan 17, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 25, 2018
• Journal: Physical Review A
• Print ISSN: 2469-9926
• Electronic ISSN: 2469-9934
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 97
• Issue: 1
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.97.011603
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/906576
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.97.011603
• Contract Date: Jan 17, 2018