Robust Rydberg facilitation via rapid adiabatic passage

Abstract

We propose and analyze a robust implementation of Rydberg antiblockade based on rapid adiabatic passage. Although Rydberg antiblockade offers key opportunities in quantum information processing and sensing, its sensitivity to position disorder and parameter imperfections has posed a central roadblock. By adiabatically sweeping across the interaction-shifted resonance, our approach is unaffected by realistic levels of disorder and parameter variations. As a straightforward application case, we show that it naturally gives rise to avalanche excitation growth in both one- and two-dimensional arrays. This avalanche process yields high gain with exceptionally low background, making it promising for rare-event detection. These results establish a practical route to robust Rydberg antiblockade dynamics, paving the way for future experimental and technological applications.

Figures (11)

• Figure 1: Robust Rydberg facilitation in a two-site array. (a) Sketch of energy diagrams as a function laser detuning $\Delta$ for driving atom 2. (b) Same for driving atom 1. The dashed lines indicate bare states (red $\ket{11}$, grey $\ket{10}$, orange $\ket{01}$ and black $\ket{00}$). (c) Evolution of the Rydberg excitation under the periodic driving. ① $\ket{10}\rightarrow\ket{11}$, ② $\ket{11}\rightarrow\ket{01}$, ③ stays in $\ket{01}$, ④ $\ket{01}\rightarrow\ket{11}$, ⑤ $\ket{11}\rightarrow\ket{10}$ and ⑥ stays in $\ket{10}$.
• Figure 2: Comparison of sensitivity to imperfections between RAP and Rabi schemes. (a) Rydberg population evolution under the pulse sequences of Fig. \ref{['fig:energy level']} and Eqs. (\ref{['eq:1']})(\ref{['eq:2']}), without position disorder or decay. Evolution subject (b) to position disorder, (c) to Rydberg-state decay $\Gamma$, and (d) to both effects. Parameters are $\Omega_0/(2\pi)=\{10.7,0.34\}$ MHz, $\sigma_r=\{76,34\}$ nm, $\overline{\delta V_{r}}/(2\pi)=\{1.37,0.02\}$ MHz, $V_r/(2\pi)=\{20,1.1\}$ MHz and $r=\{6.4,10.4\}~\mu$m for the RAP and Rabi schemes, respectively. (e) Final Rydberg population of atom 2 at $t=4T_0$, extracted from panels (b-d). (f) Rydberg population of atom 2 at $t=4T_0$ for the Rabi scheme as a function of detuning error $\delta\Delta_0$ and Rabi-frequency error $\delta\Omega_0$, without disorder or decay.
• Figure 3: Mechanism of avalanche excitation growth. After one driving period ($t=T_0$), all atoms are transferred to the Rydberg state. The detuning $\Delta$ is swept between $\Delta_{max,min}=\Delta_0\pm\beta^2T_0/(8\pi)$. The bottom panel of (b) shows the Rydberg population for each site: site 3 (green), sites 2 and 4 (red), and sites 1 and 5 (purple).
• Figure 4: Avalanche gain. (a) Rydberg population evolution. (b) Gain vs time: at $t=2T_0$, the no-decay value (blue) is short of the ideal value 9 by 0.003, while with decay (brow) it is 8.54.
• Figure 5: Comparison of different simulation methods: full master equation (Full ME, blue), mean field with QMCWF (MF-QMC, sky blue) and mean-field master equation (MF-ME, orange). The blue bars in (a) and (b) show the same result as $t=2T_0$ in Fig. \ref{['fig:avalanche']}. Panel (b) shows the Rydberg population pattern after $S=3$ steps (top) and after $S=4$ steps (bottom), illustrating two representative examples of the spatially oscillatory profile.