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

A. Safavi-Naini, R. J. Lewis-Swan, J. G. Bohnet, M. Gärttner, K. A. Gilmore, J. E. Jordan, J. Cohn, J. K. Freericks, A. M. Rey, and J. J. Bollinger

Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 040503 – Published 27 July 2018

Abstract

We use a self-assembled two-dimensional Coulomb crystal of $\sim 70$ 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.

Received 8 February 2018
Revised 26 June 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.040503

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Quantum benchmarking Quantum simulation

Trapped ions

General PhysicsAtomic, Molecular & OpticalQuantum Information, Science & Technology

Authors & Affiliations

A. Safavi-Naini^1,2, R. J. Lewis-Swan^1,2, J. G. Bohnet³, M. Gärttner^1,2,4, K. A. Gilmore³, J. E. Jordan³, J. Cohn⁵, J. K. Freericks⁵, A. M. Rey^1,2, and J. J. Bollinger³

¹JILA, NIST and University of Colorado, 440 UCB, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
²Center for Theory of Quantum Matter, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
³NIST, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA
⁴Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 227, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
⁵Department of Physics, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USA