Controlling the potential landscape and normal modes of ion Coulomb crystals by a standing wave optical potential

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how intense optical standing wave fields can localize ions in Coulomb crystals and tailor their normal mode spectra, advancing control over quantum many-body systems.

Contribution

It introduces a method to control ion positions and vibrational modes in Coulomb crystals using optical standing waves, enabling new quantum simulation capabilities.

Findings

Subwavelength localization of ions achieved

Optical potentials can modify normal mode spectra

Potential applications in quantum simulation and heat transfer

Abstract

Light-induced control of ions within small Coulomb crystals is investigated. By intense intracavity optical standing wave fields, subwavelength localization of individual ions is achieved for one-, two-, and three-dimensional crystals. Based on these findings, we illustrate numerically how the application of such optical potentials can be used to tailor the normal mode spectra and patterns of multi-dimensional Coulomb crystals. The results represent, among others, important steps towards controlling the crystalline structure of Coulomb crystals, investigating heat transfer processes at the quantum limit and quantum simulations of many-body systems.