We use a density matrix formalism to study the equilibrium phases and nonequilibrium dynamics of a system of dissipative Rydberg atoms in an optical lattice within mean-field theory. We provide equations for the fixed points of the density matrix evolution for atoms with infinite on-site repulsion and analyze these equations to obtain their Mott-insulator–superfluid (MI-SF) phase boundary. A stability analysis around these fixed points provides us with the excitation spectrum of the atoms both in the MI and SF phases. We study the nature of the MI-SF critical point in the presence of finite dissipation of Rydberg excitations, discuss the fate of the superfluid order parameter of the atoms in the presence of such dissipation in the weak-coupling limit using a coherent state representation of the density matrix, and extend our analysis to Rydberg atoms with finite on-site interaction via numerical solution of the density matrix equations. Finally, we vary the boson (atom) hopping parameter $J$ and the dissipation parameter $\mathrm{\Gamma }$ according to a linear ramp protocol. We study the evolution of entropy of the system following such a ramp and show that the deviation of the entropy from its steady-state value for the latter protocol exhibits power-law behavior as a function of the ramp time. We discuss experiments that can test our theory.

• Received 26 November 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.93.033627