Adiabatic entanglement transport in Rydberg aggregates

TL;DR

This paper explores how excitonic and atomic motions interact in a flexible Rydberg atom chain, demonstrating adiabatic entanglement transport and validating quantum-classical methods for complex many-body dynamics.

Contribution

It extends previous work by analyzing adiabatic entanglement transfer in flexible Rydberg chains and introduces quantum-classical approaches for simplifying complex dynamics.

Findings

Entanglement can be transported adiabatically along the chain.

Quantum-classical methods accurately describe the many-body dynamics.

Excitation transport is strongly coupled to atomic motion.

Abstract

We consider the interplay between excitonic and atomic motion in a regular, flexible chain of Rydberg atoms, extending our recent results on entanglement transport in Rydberg chains [W\"uster et al., Phys.Rev.Lett 105 053004 (2010)]. In such a Rydberg chain, similar to molecular aggregates, an electronic excitation is delocalised due to long range dipole-dipole interactions among the atoms. The transport of an exciton that is initially trapped by a chain dislocation is strongly coupled to nuclear dynamics, forming a localised pulse of combined excitation and displacement. This pulse transfers entanglement between dislocated atoms adiabatically along the chain. Details about the interaction and the preparation of the initial state are discussed. We also present evidence that the quantum dynamics of this complex many-body problem can be accurately described by selected quantum-classical methods, which greatly simplify investigations of excitation transport in flexible chains.