2010/07/31 by Hendrik Weimer, Hans Peter Büchler · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.quant-gas #physics.atom-ph #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.105.230403
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 230403 (2010) · 4 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2011/02/04 · arxiv updated 2011/02/07
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.