Adiabatic entanglement transport in Rydberg aggregates

We consider the interplay between excitonic and atomic motion in a regular, flexible chain of Rydberg atoms, extending our recent results on entanglement transport in Rydberg chains (Wuster et al 2010 Phys. Rev. Lett. 105 053004). In such a Rydberg chain, similar to molecular aggregates, an electronic excitation is delocalized due to long-range dipole–dipole interactions among the atoms. The transport of an exciton that is initially trapped by a chain dislocation is strongly coupled to nuclear dynamics, forming a localized pulse of combined excitation and displacement. This pulse transfers entanglement between dislocated atoms adiabatically along the chain. Details about the interaction and the preparation of the initial state are discussed. We also present evidence that the quantum dynamics of this complex many-body problem can be accurately described by selected quantum–classical methods, which greatly simplify investigations of excitation transport in flexible chains.