Quantum coherence of discrete kink solitons in ion traps

TL;DR

This paper proposes using cold trapped ions to realize and study quantum coherence in discrete kink solitons, demonstrating their potential for quantum information processing and testing quantum effects with solitons.

Contribution

It introduces a method to create and analyze quantized discrete kinks in ion traps, highlighting their coherence properties and potential for quantum manipulation.

Findings

Long-lived soliton configurations in ion traps.

High coherence times of internal modes at Doppler cooling limit.

Spectral properties suitable for quantum control.

Abstract

We propose to realize quantized discrete kinks with cold trapped ions. We show that long-lived solitonlike configurations are manifested as deformations of the zigzag structure in the linear Paul trap, and are topologically protected in a circular trap with an odd number of ions. We study the quantum-mechanical time evolution of a high-frequency, gap separated internal mode of a static kink and find long coherence times when the system is cooled to the Doppler limit. The spectral properties of the internal modes make them ideally suited for manipulation using current technology. This suggests that ion traps can be used to test quantum-mechanical effects with solitons and explore ideas for the utilization of the solitonic internal-modes as carriers of quantum information.