Two-Stage Melting in Systems of Strongly Interacting Rydberg Atoms

Journal Article · Fri Dec 03 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.105.230403· OSTI ID:21554430

Weimer, Hendrik; Buechler, Hans Peter ^[1]

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1. Institute of Theoretical Physics III, Universitaet Stuttgart, 70550 Stuttgart (Germany)

We analyze the ground state properties of a one-dimensional cold atomic system in a lattice, where Rydberg excitations are created by an external laser drive. In the classical limit, the ground state is characterized by a complete devil's staircase for the commensurate solid structures of Rydberg excitations. Using perturbation theory and a mapping onto an effective low-energy Hamiltonian, we find a transition of these commensurate solids into a floating solid with algebraic correlations. For stronger quantum fluctuations the floating solid eventually melts within a second quantum phase transition and the ground state becomes paramagnetic.

• OSTI ID: 21554430
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 23; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.230403; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ATOMS
CORRELATIONS
EXCITATION
FLUCTUATIONS
GROUND STATES
HAMILTONIANS
LASERS
MELTING
ONE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
PARAMAGNETISM
PERTURBATION THEORY
SOLIDS
ENERGY LEVELS
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
MAGNETISM
MATHEMATICAL OPERATORS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
QUANTUM OPERATORS
VARIATIONS