Phonon superfluids in sets of trapped ions (Q2431816)

Experiments with trapped ions offer us fascinating possibilities for the study of quantum mechanics due to the variety of accurate techniques developed in the field of quantum optics. In this work it is shown that phonons in trapped ions provide us with a system of ultracold bosons where hopping of phonons between ions, and phonon-phonon interactions can be adjusted by means of the choice of trapping conditions, and the use of lasers, respectively. If the radial trapping frequency is large enough, the system is described by a Bose-Hubbard model, in which hopping of the phonons between different ions is provided by the Coulomb interaction. On the other hand, the nonlinear terms in the interaction of the ions with a standing wave provide the phonon-phonon interaction. It is pointed out that using this way, a variety of fascinating phenomena including Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC), and the superfluid-Mott insulator (SI) quantum phase transition in the Bose-Hubbard model (BHM), could be studied in the vibrational degrees of freedom of trapped ions.