Off-resonant optical coupling of an atomic ground state to a Rydberg state, so called "Rydberg-dressing", has been proposed as a versatile method to implement various long-range interacting spin models with ultracold atoms. In our experiment, we realize Rydberg-dressed Ising spin interactions in an atomic Mott insulator of Rubidium-87 by off-resonant optical coupling to a Rydberg p-state.

First interferometric experiments in a two-dimensional sample demonstrated versatile control of the induced interactions, however collective loss processes reduced the lifetime of the system. Here, we present recent experimental results for a Rydberg-dressed 1d spin chain with long-range Ising interactions. Contrary to the 2d case, the collective loss can be avoided and lifetimes increase significantly. We substantiate the improved lifetimes by showing purely interaction driven coherent collapse and revival dynamics of the magnetization in a 1d spin chain.