Ab initio calculation of Hubbard parameters for Rydberg-dressed atoms in a one-dimensional optical lattice

Abstract

We obtain ab initio the Hubbard parameters for Rydberg-dressed atoms in a one-dimensional (1D) sinusoidal optical lattice on the basis of maximally-localized Wannier states. Finite range, soft-core interatomic interactions become the trait of Rydberg admixed atoms, which can be extended over many neighboring lattice sites. In contrast to dipolar gases, where the interactions follow an inverse cubic law, the key feature of Rydberg-dressed interactions is the possibility of making neighboring couplings to the same magnitude as that of the onsite ones. The maximally-localized Wannier functions (MLWFs) are typically calculated via a spread-minimization procedure (Marzari N and Vanderbilt D 1997 Phys. Rev. B 56 12847) and are always found to be real functions apart from a trivial global phase when an isolated set of Bloch bands are considered. For an isolated single Bloch band, the above procedure reduces to a simple quasi-momentum-dependent unitary phase transformation. Here, instead of minimizing the spread, we employ a diagonal phase transformation which eliminates the imaginary part of the Wannier functions. The resulting Wannier states are found to be maximally localized and in exact agreement with those obtained via a spread-minimization procedure. Using these findings, we calculate the Hubbard couplings from the Rydberg admixed interactions, including dominant density-assisted tunneling (DAT) coefficients. Finally, we provide realistic lattice parameters for the state-of-the-art experimental Rydberg-dressed rubidium setup.