Emergence of Spatial Order in Highly Interacting Rydberg Gases

TL;DR

This paper investigates how strong dipole-dipole interactions in low-dimensional cold Rydberg gases lead to liquid-like and crystalline spatial correlations, providing a theoretical framework and discussing experimental prospects for observing ordered phases.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical approach for strongly coupled Rydberg gases and explores the emergence of spatial order and correlations in these systems.

Findings

Identification of liquid-like and crystalline correlations in Rydberg gases

Development of a theoretical method for strongly interacting systems

Discussion of experimental conditions for observing ordered phases

Abstract

We describe the emergence of strong spatial correlations, akin to liquid-like behavior and crystallization effects, in low (one and two) dimensional gases of cold Rydberg atoms. The presence of an external electric field permanently polarizes the atoms, which became highly correlated due to the long-range dipole-dipole interaction. We describe a theoretical approach particularly suited for strongly coupled systems and numerically obtain both the two-particle distribution function and the static structure factor. The experimental implementation of such highly interacting systems is discussed, including detailed calculations of the interaction strength for different Rydberg states. The results provide new insights into many-body effects associated with strongly interacting Rydberg atoms, including the possibility of observing novel highly ordered phases.