Tuning Excitation Transport in a Dissipative Rydberg Ring

Abstract

We demonstrate the flexible tunability of excitation transport in Rydberg atoms, under the interplay of controlled dissipation and interaction-induced synthetic flux. Considering a minimum four-site setup, i.e., a triangular configuration with an additional output site, we study the transport of a single excitation, injected into a vertex of the triangle, through the structure. While the long-range dipole-dipole interactions between the Rydberg atoms lead to geometry-dependent Peierls phases in the hopping amplitudes of excitations, we further introduce on-site dissipation to a vertex of the triangle. As a result, both the chirality and destination of the transport can be manipulated through the flux and dissipation. In particular, we illustrate a parameter regime where our Rydberg-ring structure may serve as a switch for transporting the injected excitation through to the output site. The underlying mechanism is then analyzed by studying the chiral trajectory of the excitation and the time-dependent dissipation. The switchable excitation transport reported here offers a flexible tool for quantum control in Rydberg atoms, and holds interesting potentials for applications in quantum simulation and quantum information.