arXiv · 1104.4734
Synthetic Gauge Fields for Vibrational Excitations of Trapped ions
Abstract
The vibrations of a collection of ions in a microtrap array can be described in terms of hopping phonons. We show theoretically that the vibrational couplings may be tailored by using a gradient of the microtrap frequencies, together with a periodic driving of the trapping potential. These ingredients allow us to induce effective gauge fields on the vibrational excitations, such that phonons mimic the behavior of charged particles in a magnetic field. In particular, microtrap arrays are ideally suited to realize the famous Aharonov-Bohm effect, and observe the paradigmatic edge states typical from quantum-Hall samples and topological insulators.
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A. Bermudez, T. Schaetz, D. Porras. 2011-11-12. Synthetic Gauge Fields for Vibrational Excitations of Trapped ions. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.107.150501
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