Collective quantum jumps of Rydberg atoms undergoing two-channel spontaneous emission

An analysis is performed on a open quantum system of driven and damped Rydberg atoms. The interactions between Rydberg states are characterized by dipole-dipole energy shifts that give rise to a Rydberg blockade with on-resonant driving, and collective quantum jumps while driving with an off-resonant nonzero detuning. Under fully independent emission the system admits a bistable steady state exhibiting collective quantum jumps, in which quantum fluctuations drive transitions between two bistable values predicted by a quasiclassical mean-field model. When competition between fully independent and fully collective emission is considered in a two-channel emission model, a collective emission enhancement impacts the presence of the quantum jumps by shifting the predicted region of bistability for the system to different values of detuning. It is shown that jumps can be recovered to an extent, but that the bistability is ultimately destroyed under fully collective emission.