Mainz 2017 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 53: Poster: Quantum Optics and Photonics III

Q 53.22: Poster

Thursday, March 9, 2017, 17:00–19:00, P OG2

Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of percolation in driven-dissipative Rydberg gases — •Stephan Helmrich, Philipp Fabritius, Graham Lochead, and Shannon Whitlock — Physikalisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 226, 69120 Heidelberg

Directed percolation is perhaps the most prominent example of a unique class of phenomena which exhibit genuine non-equilibrium phase transitions and non-trivial critical behaviour. We explore whether highly tunable gases of ultracold atoms excited to long-range interacting Rydberg states can serve as a clean experimental realisation of percolation phenomena in two and three dimensions. The mechanism investigated is the cooperative excitation of Rydberg atoms triggered when the excitation laser is resonant for atoms within a characteristic distance of another Rydberg atom (facilitated excitation). To simulate the dynamics of this system we use a kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm which is able to reproduce many of the experimental features of laser excited Rydberg gases. We investigate the scaling behavior for the fraction of Rydberg excitations (active sites) and their spatial correlations, both at steady-state and following a sudden quench from the inactive to the active phase. Based on these observations we can address whether percolation can realistically be studied in driven-dissipative systems of ultracold Rydberg atoms.