Rydberg-dressing of atoms in optical lattices

Abstract: We study atoms in optical lattices whose electronic ground state is off-resonantly coupled to a highly excited state with strong binary interactions. We present a time-dependent treatment of the resulting quantum dynamics, which -- contrary to recent predictions [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 213005 (2013)] -- proves that the strong repulsion between the weakly admixed Rydberg states does not lead to atomic trap-loss. This finding provides an important basis for creating and manipulating coherent long-range interactions in optical lattice experiments.