Probing the Dynamics of Superradiant Quantum Phase Transition in a Single Trapped-Ion

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how a single trapped ion can be used to probe the quantum phase transition and critical dynamics of the Rabi model, revealing universal functions and analyzing noise effects.

Contribution

It introduces a scheme to realize the Rabi model in a trapped-ion setup and shows how to observe universal functions associated with the quantum phase transition.

Findings

Universal functions of the Rabi model can be observed in trapped-ion experiments.

The scheme effectively realizes the Rabi model in the large frequency ratio limit.

Noise effects on the universal functions are quantitatively analyzed.

Abstract

We demonstrate that the quantum phase transition (QPT) of the Rabi model and critical dynamics near the QPT can be probed in the setup of a single trapped ion. We first show that there exists equilibrium and non-equilibrium universal functions of the Rabi model by finding a proper rescaling of the system parameters and observables. We then propose a scheme that can faithfully realize the Rabi model in the limit of a large ratio of the effective atomic transition frequency to the oscillator frequency using a single trapped-ion and therefore the QPT. It is demonstrated that the predicted universal functions can indeed be observed based on our scheme. Finally, the effects of realistic noise sources on probing the universal functions in experiments are examined.