Mean-field approach to Rydberg facilitation in a gas of atoms at high and low temperatures

TL;DR

This paper develops a mean-field model for Rydberg facilitation in atomic gases at different temperatures, accurately capturing the entire excitation dynamics including epidemic growth, saturation, and relaxation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mean-field approach that accounts for Rydberg blockade and network effects, improving predictions over previous models.

Findings

Accurately predicts all stages of facilitation dynamics

Incorporates effects of Rydberg blockade and network structure

Validates model against experimental or simulated data

Abstract

The excitation spread caused by Rydberg facilitation in a gas of laser driven atoms is an interesting model system for studying epidemic dynamics. We derive a mean-field approach to describe this facilitation process in the limits of high and low temperatures, which takes into account Rydberg blockade and the network character of excitation spreading in a low-temperature gas. As opposed to previous mean-field models, our approach accurately predicts all stages of the facilitation dynamics from the initial fast epidemic growth, an extended saturation period, to the final relaxation phase.