Êtes-vous un étudiant de l'EPFL à la recherche d'un projet de semestre?
Travaillez avec nous sur des projets en science des données et en visualisation, et déployez votre projet sous forme d'application sur Graph Search.
Chains of Rydberg atoms have emerged as an amazing playground to study quantum physics in 1D. Playing with inter-atomic distances and laser detuning, one can in particular explore the commensurate-incommensurate transition out of density waves through the Kibble-Zurek mechanism, and the possible presence of a chiral transition with dynamical exponent z>1. Here, we address this problem theoretically with effective blockade models where the short-distance repulsions are replaced by a constraint of no double occupancy. For the period-4 phase, we show that there is an Ashkin-Teller transition point with exponent nu=0.78 surrounded by a direct chiral transition with a dynamical exponent z=1.11 and a Kibble-Zurek exponent mu=0.41. For Rydberg atoms with a van der Waals potential, we suggest that the experimental value mu=0.25 is due to a chiral transition with z similar or equal to 1.9 and nu similar or equal to 0.47 surrounding an Ashkin-Teller transition close to the 4-state Potts universality. Phase transition occurring in quantum material is an intriguing phenomenon. Here, the authors discuss the commensurate-incommensurate phase transition out of the period-4 phase on a chain of Rydberg atoms and emphasize the emergence of a chiral transition.
Frédéric Mila, Natalia Chepiga