2D Ion Qubit Arrays for Quantum Information Processing

The computational difficulty of solving fully quantum many-body spin problems is a significant obstacle to understanding central questions in quantum condensed-matter physics. This talk will introduce how arrays of trapped ions can be engineered and reprogrammed to emulate the behavior of interesting quantum materials. First, I will review some of the groundbreaking experiments exploring the physics of interacting spin systems using 1D chains of ions. Then, I will describe our creation of 2D trapped-ion arrays using up to 29 ions, which significantly expands the classes of quantum matter that can be emulated. We characterize the lattice site positions, structural phase boundaries, and vibrational mode frequencies of ions in this geometry, as well as heating effects arising from the rf trapping voltage. We conclude that these 2D crystals will serve as a robust platform for quantum simulations of strongly-correlated matter, and offer several examples of future experiments enabled by this ion geometry.