Verification of a Many-Ion Simulator of the Dicke Model Through Slow Quenches across a Phase Transition

Published

July 27, 2018

Author(s)

Arghavan Safavi-Naini, R. J. Lewis-Swan, Justin G. Bohnet, M. Garttner, Kevin Gilmore, Elena Jordan, J. Cohn, James K. Freericks, Ana Maria Rey, John Bollinger

Abstract

We use a self-assembled two-dimensional Coulomb crystal of ∼70 ions in the presence of an external transverse field to engineer a simulator of the Dicke Hamiltonian, an iconic model in quantum optics which features a quantum phase transition between a superradiant (ferromagnetic) and a normal (paramagnetic) phase. We experimentally implement slow quenches across the quantum critical point and benchmark the dynamics and the performance of the simulator through extensive theory-experiment comparisons which show excellent agreement. The implementation of the Dicke model in fully controllable trapped ion arrays can open a path for the generation of highly entangled states useful for enhanced metrology and the observation of scrambling and quantum chaos in a many-body system.

Citation

Physical Review Letters

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Dicke model, Penning trap, quantum quench, quantum simulation, scrambling, trapped ions

Citation

Safavi-Naini, A. , Lewis-Swan, R. , Bohnet, J. , Garttner, M. , Gilmore, K. , Jordan, E. , Cohn, J. , Freericks, J. , Rey, A. and Bollinger, J. (2018), Verification of a Many-Ion Simulator of the Dicke Model Through Slow Quenches across a Phase Transition, Physical Review Letters, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=926993 (Accessed December 3, 2024)