Phil Richerme

Simulating quantum many-body dynamics with trapped atomic ions    

University of Maryland/Joint Quantum Institute   

In trapped ion quantum simulators, effective magnetic spins are encoded within long-coherence-time electronic states of the ions, which are measured with nearly perfect efficiency. Tunable, long-range interactions are generated across the entire chain using state-dependent optical dipole forces and benchmarked using a coherent imaging spectroscopic technique [1]. In this talk, I will first describe an experiment that studies the dynamics of a far-from equilibrium many-body system coherently evolving under several different long-range-interacting spin models [2]. We measure the spatial and time-dependent quantum correlations, determine their propagation velocity, and extract the "light-cone" boundary outside of which correlations are exponentially suppressed. Next, I will show how a spin-1 XY model can be   implemented and probed using trapped ion systems [3], providing a platform for controlling and studying symmetry-protected topological phases such as the Haldane phase [4]. Finally, I will briefly explain how trapped ion systems can be used to study prethermal or many-body localized states, which   result when an out-of-equilibrium quantum system fails to thermalize.

References:
[1] C. Senko et al., Science 345, 430 (2014)
[2] P. Richerme et al., Nature 511, 198 (2014)
[3] C. Senko et al., arXiv: 1410.0937
[4] I. Cohen et al., arXiv: 1505.04695