Temperature driven structural phase transition for trapped ions and its experimental detection

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that quantum and thermal fluctuations can induce a temperature-driven structural phase transition in trapped ion systems, with a phase diagram and an experimental detection scheme proposed.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of temperature-driven phase transitions in trapped ions considering quantum and thermal effects, extending classical understanding.

Findings

Finite-temperature phase diagram for trapped ions.

Proposed experimental detection method.

Quantum and thermal fluctuations induce phase transition.

Abstract

A Wigner crystal formed with trapped ion can undergo structural phase transition, which is determined only by the mechanical conditions on a classical level. Instead of this classical result, we show that through consideration of quantum and thermal fluctuation, a structural phase transition can be solely driven by change of the system's temperature. We determine a finite-temperature phase diagram for trapped ions using the renormalization group method and the path integral formalism, and propose an experimental scheme to observe the predicted temperature-driven structural phase transition, which is well within the reach of the current ion trap technology.