Controlled flow of excitations in a ring-shaped network of Rydberg atoms

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to control and observe chiral currents of Rydberg excitations in a ring-shaped atomic network, revealing their behavior under various interactions and potential for quantum information transport.

Contribution

It introduces a novel atomic ring network setup with phase-controlled Rydberg excitations to study chiral currents and their robustness against dephasing, advancing quantum simulation techniques.

Findings

Chiral currents can be controlled via phase imprinting.

Currents persist despite dephasing effects.

Excitation propagation shows a characteristic velocity peak.

Abstract

Highly excited Rydberg atoms are a powerful platform for quantum simulation and information processing. Here, we propose atomic ring networks to study chiral currents of Rydberg excitations. The currents are controlled by a phase pattern imprinted via a Raman scheme and can persist even in the presence of dephasing. Depending on the interplay between the Rabi coupling of Rydberg states and the dipole-dipole atom interaction, the current shows markedly different features. The excitations propagate with a velocity displaying a characteristic peak in time, reflecting the chiral nature of the current. We find that the time-averaged current in a quench behaves similarly to the ground-state current. This analysis paves the way for the development of new methods to transport information in atomic networks.