Experimental Realization of the Rabi-Hubbard Model with Trapped Ions

Oct 7, 2021
6 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.Lett. 128 (2022) 16, 160504
  • Published: Apr 22, 2022
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Abstract: (APS)
Quantum simulation provides important tools in studying strongly correlated many-body systems with controllable parameters. As a hybrid of two fundamental models in quantum optics and in condensed matter physics, the Rabi-Hubbard model demonstrates rich physics through the competition between local spin-boson interactions and long-range boson hopping. Here, we report an experimental realization of the Rabi-Hubbard model using up to 16 trapped ions and present a controlled study of its equilibrium properties and quantum dynamics. We observe the ground-state quantum phase transition by slowly quenching the coupling strength, and measure the quantum dynamical evolution in various parameter regimes. With the magnetization and the spin-spin correlation as probes, we verify the prediction of the model Hamiltonian by comparing theoretical results in small system sizes with experimental observations. For larger-size systems of 16 ions and 16 phonon modes, the effective Hilbert space dimension exceeds 257, whose dynamics is intractable for classical supercomputers.
Note:
  • 6 pages, 3 figures + 13 pages, 10 figures