Quantum Simulation with Rydberg Synthetic Dimensions

Objects whose behavior is dominated by quantum mechanics, such as individual atoms, ions, or photons, can be harnessed for new approaches to computation, communication, and environmental sensing that have the potential to greatly advance applications in all of these areas. These new approaches take advantage of uniquely quantum phenomena known as ‘superposition’ and ‘entanglement’ to calculate the answers to certain types of problems much faster than a classical computer or perform amazingly precise measurements.

In this project, the research team will develop new techniques to use the internal motions of the electrons in atoms, atom-atom interactions, and microwave electric fields to create a physical system that is dominated by quantum mechanics and highly controllable, which can be used for a form of quantum computing known as quantum simulation. This system can be tuned to simulate real materials or phenomenological models thought to display new phenomena that can stretch our understanding of how complex properties of materials emerge from simple building blocks of atoms and molecules.

This will teach us about the behavior of systems that are far too complex for classical computers to describe. The ultimate goals of this work are to develop this new platform for quantum simulation and apply it to important problems related to the emergence of complex phenomena in many-body quantum systems, such as advanced material properties. The work will also provide research experiences for undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds, improving retention in STEM fields, and train graduate students to produce the quantum workforce needed for these emerging applications.

The specific platform that will be used for quantum simulation is a manifold of highly excited (Rydberg) atomic states coupled with resonant microwave fields. This creates a synthetic dimension that can mimic the Hamiltonian of particles moving through sites of a real-space lattice potential. The specific goals are to complete construction of an optical tweezer assembly that can be used to create interacting, multi-particle systems in synthetic space for the study of bound states, correlated tunneling, and scattering in few-body systems.

Larger systems of ten or more tweezers each containing an individual atom will be used to study thermalization processes in synthetic space and search for phase transitions to correlated string and membrane states that are predicted to occur with increasing interactions. Phenomena arising from dipole-dipole interactions in a system constructed from ns and n’p states and van der Waals interactions in a synthetic space constructed solely of ns states will be studied.

Both forms of interaction are localized in synthetic space, which is an important advance. The creation of two-dimensional configurations in synthetic space will give access to phenomena such as artificial gauge fields and higher-order topological systems.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.