Appears in collection : 2024 - T1 - WS1 - Quantum simulators

This talk will present our recent work on the use of arrays of Rydberg atoms to study equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium quantum magnetism and to generate entangled states useful for quantum metrology. We rely on laser-cooled ensembles of up to one hundred individual atoms trapped in microscopic optical tweezer arrays. By exciting the atoms into Rydberg states, we make them interact by the resonant dipole interaction. The system thus implements the XY spin ½ model, which exhibits various magnetic orders depending on the ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic nature of the interaction.

In particular, we adiabatically prepare long-range ferromagnetic order. When the system is placed out of equilibrium, the interactions generate spin squeezing. We characterize the degree of squeezing and observe that it scales with the number of atoms. Finally, the analysis of the spread of correlations across the system leads to the measurement of the dispersion relation, and we observe the predicted anomalous behavior in the ferromagnetic case, consequence of the dipolar interactions.