Dissipative Preparation of Spatial Order in Rydberg-Dressed Bose-Einstein Condensates

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to induce spatial order in Bose-Einstein condensates through momentum-dependent dissipation, enabling the formation of ordered phases without external symmetry-breaking potentials.

Contribution

The authors propose a novel dissipative scheme utilizing momentum-dependent dark states to engineer spatial order in Rydberg-dressed Bose-Einstein condensates, avoiding the need for optical lattices.

Findings

System driven into finite-momentum phonon mode

Ordered structures with non-local correlations formed

Applicable to current cold atom experiments

Abstract

We propose a technique for engineering momentum-dependent dissipation in Bose-Einstein condensates with non-local interactions. The scheme relies on the use of momentum-dependent dark-states in close analogy to velocity-selective coherent population trapping. During the short-time dissipative dynamics, the system is driven into a particular finite-momentum phonon mode, which in real space corresponds to an ordered structure with non-local density-density correlations. Dissipation-induced ordering can be observed and studied in present-day experiments using cold atoms with dipole-dipole or off-resonant Rydberg interactions. Due to its dissipative nature, the ordering does not require artificial breaking of translational symmetry by an opticallattice or harmonic trap. This opens up a perspective of direct cooling of quantum gases into strongly-interacting phases.