Quantum Simulation of Many-body physics with Rydberg systems: from supersolids to spin liquids

Rydberg tweezer arrays provide a versatile platform to explore quantum magnets. Different types of interactions, such as dipolar XY,  van-der-Waals Ising  ZZ, and spin-flip terms, can simultaneously exist. Furthermore, the Rydberg blockade mechanism can be used to prevent the excitation of another, nearby-situated Rydberg atom akin to the Gauss law in lattice gauge theory. In the talk I give an overview of the current state of the art and report on two different types of physics that can be realized with such platforms.

First, I comment on a recent experiment which exploited the blockade mechanism in order to observe the onset of a dynamically prepared, gapped Z2 quantum spin liquid on the ruby lattice (Semgehini et al, Science 374, 1242 (2021)). The thermodynamic properties of such models remain inadequately addressed, yet knowledge thereof is indispensable if one wants to prepare large, robust, and long-lived quantum spin liquids. Using large scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations we find a renormalized classical spin liquid which better explains part of the experimental observations than a quantum spin liquid. I comment on the adiabatic approximation to the dynamical ramps for the electric degrees of freedom, and the magnitude of the observed string parity order parameters. Second, through combining the dipolar XY and Ising ZZ interactions, we predict the existence of a robust supersolid phase on the triangular lattice for 100s of particles based on explicitly calculated pair interactions for 87Rb and with a critical entropy in reach of current technology. Such a lattice supersolid is long-lived, found over a wide parameter range in an isotropic and flat two-dimensional geometry. It has true long-range order, even at finite temperature, thanks to the dipolar interactions, and would constitute a rare example of the defect-induced paradigm of supersolidity.

 

Refs:

Phys.Rev. B 109, 144411 (2024)

Phys. Rev. A 111, L011305 (2025)

Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 086601 (2025)