CMT Theory Seminar: Equilibrium positions, phonon modes and effective spin-spin interactions for ions and defects trapped in a Penning trap

Wednesday, August 14, 2013 – 1:30pm – 3:00pm
Regents 351
Mike McAnneny
Department of Physics, Georgetown University

Trapped ion quantum simulators are emerging as the largest analog quantum computers. Current work is focused on benchmarking the machines by simulating the transverse field Ising model. There are two competing platforms. One is to trap ions in a linear chain in a Paul trap and one is to trap them in a two-dimensional rotating crystal in a Penning trap. In this talk, I will discuss how to determine the locations of the ions, their phonon modes, and the effective spin-spin interactions generated by a spin-dependent optical force for the Penning trap. In addition, I will discuss how the solutions are changed when defects are introduced into the crystal. These commonly occur when the Beryllium ion interacts with Hydrogen and forms a BeH+ molecule. In particular, we will show how the effective spin-spin couplings are modified as defects are added to the system.

Host: Jim Freericks