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Infinite Randomness Criticality and Localization of the Floating Phase in Arrays of Rydberg Atoms Trapped with Nonperfect Tweezers

Jose Soto-Garcia and Natalia Chepiga

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 056502 – Published 2 February, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/tmyk-b1yv

Abstract

Chains of Rydberg atoms have emerged as a powerful platform for exploring low-dimensional quantum physics. This success originates from the precise control of lattice geometries provided by optical tweezers, which allows access to a wide range of synthetic quantum phases. Experiments on one-dimensional arrays have stimulated tremendous progress in understanding quantum phase transitions into crystalline phases. However, the finite width of tweezers introduces small variations in interatomic distances, leading to quenched disorder in the interactions. In this Letter, we numerically study how such disorder alters the nature of two critical regimes observed in experiments. First, following experimental protocols, we analyze Kibble-Zurek dynamics and find a crossover from the clean Ising transition to the infinite-randomness fixed point as system size and disorder strength increase. Second, we show that the floating phase—an incommensurate Luttinger liquid phase emerging at stronger interactions—is localized by the disorder, yet preserves short-range incommensurate correlations with the same leading wave vector. Our results clearly reveal an additional conceptual challenge in understanding critical phenomena using Rydberg-based quantum simulators.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 056502– Published 2 February, 2026
  • Received 28 September 2025
  • Accepted 5 January 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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