Cluster Luttinger liquids of Rydberg-dressed atoms in optical lattices

We investigate the zero-temperature phases of bosonic and fermionic gases confined to one dimension and interacting via a class of finite-range soft-shoulder potentials (i.e., soft-core potentials with an additional hard-core onsite interaction). Using a combination of analytical and numerical methods, we demonstrate the stabilization of critical quantum liquids with qualitatively new features with respect to the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid paradigm. These features result from frustration and cluster formation in the corresponding classical ground state. Characteristic signatures of these liquids are accessible in state-of-the-art experimental setups with Rydberg-dressed ground-state atoms trapped in optical lattices.