Speaker: David Petrosyan, Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, FORTH, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Abstract: Atoms in highly excited Rydberg states posses unique properties, including long lifetimes and large dipole moments. Laser excitation of atoms to the Rydberg states then provides a well controlled mechanism for switchable interatomic interactions, which has been widely used to realize quantum gates and quantum simulations with cold atoms in arrays of microtraps. I will discuss some of our recent research on these topics. In particular, I will describe the energy spectrum and microscopic dynamics of transitions to spatially-ordered states in finite-size chains of atoms realizing the quantum Ising model. I will then show how these results can be used to implement quantum gates between distant atoms in a lattice mediated by a Rydberg excitation antiferromagnet.