Landau-Zener transitions and adiabatic impulse approximation in an array of two Rydberg atoms with time-dependent detuning

Abstract

We study the Landau-Zener (LZ) dynamics in a setup of two Rydberg atoms with time-dependent detuning, both linear and periodic, using both the exact numerical calculations as well as the method of adiabatic impulse approximation (AIA). By varying the Rydberg-Rydberg interaction strengths, the system can emulate different three-level LZ models, for instance, bow-tie and triangular LZ models. The LZ dynamics exhibits nontrivial dependence on the initial state, the quench rate, and the interaction strengths. For large interaction strengths, the dynamics is well captured by AIA. In the end, we analyze the periodically driven case, and AIA reveals a rich phase structure involved in the dynamics. The latter may find applications in quantum state preparation, quantum phase gates, and atom interferometry.