Related papers: Dynamics of topological defects in ion Coulomb cry…
We use laser-cooled ion Coulomb crystals in the well-controlled environment of a harmonic radiofrequency ion trap to investigate phase transitions and defect formation. Topological defects in ion Coulomb crystals (kinks) have been recently…
We study experimentally and theoretically structural defects which are formed during the transition from a laser cooled cloud to a Coulomb crystal, consisting of tens of ions in a linear radio frequency trap. We demonstrate the creation of…
We study discrete solitons (kinks) accessible in state-of-the-art trapped ion experiments, considering zigzag crystals and quasi-3D configurations, both theoretically and experimentally. We first extend the theoretical understanding of…
We study the non-equilibrium dynamics of two dimensional planar ion Coulomb crystals undergoing a structural buckling transition to a three plane configuration, driven by a reduction of the transverse confining frequency. This phase…
The spin-Peierls instability describes a structural transition of a crystal due to strong magnetic interactions. Here we demonstrate that cold Coulomb crystals of trapped ions provide an experimental testbed in which to study this complex…
We study nanofriction in an ion Coulomb crystal under the presence of topological defects. We observe signatures of the pinning to sliding transition, namely the transverse vibrational soft mode signaling the transition and the symmetry…
The spontaneous nucleation and dynamics of topological kink defects have been studied in trapped arrays of 41-43 Yb ions. The number of kinks formed as a function of quench rate across the linear-zigzag transition is measured in the…
We propose to realize quantized discrete kinks with cold trapped ions. We show that long-lived solitonlike configurations are manifested as deformations of the zigzag structure in the linear Paul trap, and are topologically protected in a…
Trapped ion systems constitute a well controllable scenario for the study and emulation of nanofriction, and in particular of Frenkel-Kontorova-like models. This is in particular the case when a topological defect is created in a zigzag ion…
Symmetry breaking phase transitions play an important role in nature. When a system traverses such a transition at a finite rate, its causally disconnected regions choose the new broken symmetry state independently. Where such local choices…
Topological defects are discontinuities of a system protected by global properties, with wide applications in mathematics and physics. While previous experimental studies mostly focused on their classical properties, it has been predicted…
Structural defects in ion crystals can be formed during a linear quench of the transverse trapping frequency across the mechanical instability from a linear chain to the zigzag structure. The density of defects after the sweep can be…
Topological defects are distinctive signatures of liquid crystals. They profoundly affect the viscoelastic behavior of the fluid by constraining the orientational structure in a way that inevitably requires global changes not achievable…
Ion Coulomb crystals are ordered structures formed by laser-cooled ions in traps that are characterized by interparticle distances of several micrometers and energy scales on the order of $\mu$eV. Their crystalline structure emerges from…
Ion Coulomb crystals (ICC), formed by atomic ions at low temperatures in radiofrequency and Penning ion traps, are structures that have remarkable properties and many applications. Images of Coulomb crystals are striking and reveal the…
Laser cooled and trapped ions can crystallize and feature discrete solitons, that are nonlinear, topologically-protected configurations of the Coulomb crystal. Such solitons, as their continuum counterparts, can move within the crystal,…
We comprehend the role of imperfections in materials consisting of interacting particles, arising from different origins on their universal features. Specifically, we report the static and dynamic responses in a cluster of Coulomb…
Topological defects are one of the most conspicuous features of liquid crystals. In two dimensional nematics, they have been shown to behave effectively as particles with both, charge and orientation, which dictate their interactions. Here,…
We theoretically analyse the equation of topological solitons in a chain of particles interacting via a repulsive power-law potential and confined by a periodic lattice. Starting from the discrete model, we perform a gradient expansion and…
Topological solitons are knots in continuous physical fields classified by non-zero Hopf index values. Despite arising in theories that span many branches of physics, from elementary particles to condensed matter and cosmology, they remain…