String order in dipole-blockaded quantum liquids

TL;DR

This paper investigates how dipole-blockaded quantum liquids in one dimension melt from crystalline to liquid phases, revealing two distinct liquid states characterized by different non-local string order, with potential experimental realizations using ultracold atoms.

Contribution

It introduces an effective low-energy theory showing the existence of two distinct melting pathways with unique string order signatures in dipole-blockaded quantum liquids.

Findings

Two distinct liquid phases with same density correlations but different string order.

Proposed experimental realizations using ultracold atoms and Rydberg atoms.

Enhanced implementation benefits with resonantly driven Rydberg atoms.

Abstract

We study the quantum melting of quasi-one-dimensional lattice models in which the dominant energy scale is given by a repulsive dipolar interaction. By constructing an effective low-energy theory, we show that the melting of crystalline phases can occur into two distinct liquid phases, having the same algebraic decay of density-density correlations, but showing a different non-local correlation function expressing string order. We present possible experimental realizations using ultracold atoms and molecules, introducing an implementation based on resonantly driven Rydberg atoms that offers additional benefits compared to a weak admixture of the Rydberg state.