Recent work by researchers in the Richerme lab at Indiana University demonstrates a new platform for quantum simulation-- two-dimensional (2D) ion crystals in a radio-frequency (rf) trap.
Over the last decade, one-dimensional (1D) ion chains in rf traps have found great success investigating the behavior of 1D quantum systems. Progress in simulating complex 2D materials, however, is complicated by geometry-dependent properties of the system. Native interactions of a 2D ion crystal could provide an inherent advantage in this effort.
The Richerme lab’s study, led by graduate students Marissa D’Onofrio, Yuanheng Xie, and AJ Rasmusson, undergraduate Evangeline Wolanski, and postdoc Jiafeng Cui, addresses long-standing questions on whether radial-2D ion crystals are a viable system for such experiments. This crystal geometry is the basis of several theoretical proposals in quantum information but, until now, remained largely unexplored in rf traps.
Their work, published in Physical Review Letters, establishes the system as a realistic platform for implementing quantum simulation experiments of exotic many-body systems.