Dual Rydberg Quantum Simulator – DuRyQS

Quantum simulators using Rydberg atoms to emulate interacting-spin physics have been particularly successful in the last decade. They rely on the strong dipole-dipole interaction between Rydberg levels. However, their scope of application is limited by the lifetime of the laser-accessible low-orbital-momentum Rydberg levels used: Quantum dynamics beyond a few interaction cycles have so far been elusive. Circular Rydberg atoms, with maximum orbital momentum, present as strong dipole-dipole interactions as laser-accessible levels but have a 100-time longer lifetime in a cryogenic environment. However, this comes at the cost of the absence of optical transitions, key to local manipulation and detection of the atoms in an array.

The DuRyQS project proposes to build and operate a dual-Rydberg quantum simulator, where circular Rydberg atoms, laser trapped in a cryostat, emulate interacting spin-1/2s, and where atoms excited to laser-accessible Rydberg levels perform local manipulation of the circular Rydberg state, the quantum non-destructive (QND) measurement of their state, and can mediate interactions between distant circular Rydberg atoms. While local manipulation and mediated distant interactions can be used to prepare complex phases of the spin system, the QND detection of the spin states can be made at multiple and arbitrary times, giving access to local or non-local multiple-time quantum correlations. Together with the long lifetimes of circular Rydberg states, they will make the DuRyQS platform ideal to the quantum simulation of complex and slow quantum dynamics over hundreds of interaction cycles.