Rydberg synthetic dimensions with singlet Rydberg states in strontium*

Rydberg states provide a flexible platform for the construction of synthetic dimensions for quantum simulation of particle motion through lattice potentials. We report results of synthetic dimensions experiments using mm-wave coupled strontium singlet Rydberg states, which correspond to individual sites in the synthetic lattice. We have characterized the resonant frequencies and AC stark shifts of nS-(n+1)S, nS-nP and nS-nD transitions in the range of n=56-70 in ⁸⁴Sr. Coherence times of up to ~40us were observed for these mm-wave transitions with Rabi coupling frequencies on the order of a few 100kHz, which is an improvement over previous work with triplet Rydberg series [1]. In a simulation of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) Hamiltonian with its topologically protected edge states, we will report progress towards expanding the size of the synthetic space and probing the time evolution of populations in the Rydberg states.  

[1] Nat Commun 13, 972 (2022)