Accurate Modeling of Rydberg Atoms and Their Interactions: Theory and Implementation in PairInteraction

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Mögerle, Johannes, Hummel, Frederic, Keil, Alicia, Legrand, Tangi, Braun, Eduard J., Menke, Henri, King, Jonathan, Olmos, Beatriz, Hofferberth, Sebastian, Büchler, Hans Peter, Weber, Sebastian
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Mögerle, Johannes
Hummel, Frederic
Keil, Alicia
Legrand, Tangi
Braun, Eduard J.
Menke, Henri
King, Jonathan
Olmos, Beatriz
Hofferberth, Sebastian
Büchler, Hans Peter
Weber, Sebastian
author_facet Mögerle, Johannes
Hummel, Frederic
Keil, Alicia
Legrand, Tangi
Braun, Eduard J.
Menke, Henri
King, Jonathan
Olmos, Beatriz
Hofferberth, Sebastian
Büchler, Hans Peter
Weber, Sebastian
contents Rydberg atoms provide a powerful platform for exploring strongly interacting quantum systems, both in free space and in structured electromagnetic environments, with growing applications in quantum technology. Accurately modeling their single-atom properties and mutual interactions is essential for interpreting experiments and designing new architectures. We present a unified theoretical framework for Rydberg atoms and their interactions based on multi-channel quantum defect theory (MQDT) and static electromagnetic Green's tensors. MQDT provides a precise description of Rydberg states of divalent atoms such as strontium and ytterbium, while the Green's tensor formalism provides a general and flexible approach for calculating interactions between two Rydberg atoms in arbitrary geometries, including modifications induced by nearby surfaces. We implement this framework in an updated version of the open-source PairInteraction software [Weber et al., J.~Phys.~B~50 (2017)]. The implementation leverages high-performance libraries and achieves speedups of one order of magnitude for pair-potential calculations compared to prior software. We demonstrate the capabilities of the framework through example applications to divalent atoms and show excellent agreement with experimental data for an exemplary Stark map of $^{174}$Yb. The modular software architecture enables the community to extend it further.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_14993
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Accurate Modeling of Rydberg Atoms and Their Interactions: Theory and Implementation in PairInteraction
Mögerle, Johannes
Hummel, Frederic
Keil, Alicia
Legrand, Tangi
Braun, Eduard J.
Menke, Henri
King, Jonathan
Olmos, Beatriz
Hofferberth, Sebastian
Büchler, Hans Peter
Weber, Sebastian
Atomic Physics
Quantum Physics
Rydberg atoms provide a powerful platform for exploring strongly interacting quantum systems, both in free space and in structured electromagnetic environments, with growing applications in quantum technology. Accurately modeling their single-atom properties and mutual interactions is essential for interpreting experiments and designing new architectures. We present a unified theoretical framework for Rydberg atoms and their interactions based on multi-channel quantum defect theory (MQDT) and static electromagnetic Green's tensors. MQDT provides a precise description of Rydberg states of divalent atoms such as strontium and ytterbium, while the Green's tensor formalism provides a general and flexible approach for calculating interactions between two Rydberg atoms in arbitrary geometries, including modifications induced by nearby surfaces. We implement this framework in an updated version of the open-source PairInteraction software [Weber et al., J.~Phys.~B~50 (2017)]. The implementation leverages high-performance libraries and achieves speedups of one order of magnitude for pair-potential calculations compared to prior software. We demonstrate the capabilities of the framework through example applications to divalent atoms and show excellent agreement with experimental data for an exemplary Stark map of $^{174}$Yb. The modular software architecture enables the community to extend it further.
title Accurate Modeling of Rydberg Atoms and Their Interactions: Theory and Implementation in PairInteraction
topic Atomic Physics
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.14993