Related papers: Quantum nanofriction in trapped ion chains with a …
The Aubry transition between sliding and pinned phases, driven by the competition between two incommensurate length scales, represents a paradigm that is applicable to a large variety of microscopically distinct systems. Despite previous…
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 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 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 highly nonlinear many-body physics of a chain of mutually interacting atoms in contact with a periodic substrate gives rise to complex static and dynamical phenomena, such as structural phase transitions and friction. In the limit of an…
Friction in ordered atomistic layers plays a central role in various nanoscale systems ranging from nanomachines to biological systems. It governs transport properties, wear and dissipation. Defects and incommensurate lattice constants…
Sliding friction between crystal lattices and the physics of cold ion traps are so far non-overlapping fields. Two sliding lattices may either stick and show static friction or slip with dynamic friction; cold ions are known to form static…
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 experimentally and theoretically the properties of structural defects (kink solitons) in two-dimensional ion Coulomb crystals. We show how different types of kink solitons with different physical properties can be realized, and…
A string of trapped ions at zero temperature exhibits a structural phase transition to a zigzag structure, tuned by reducing the transverse trap potential or the interparticle distance. The transition is driven by transverse, short…
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…
A quasi one--dimensional system of trapped, repulsively interacting atoms (e.g., an ion chain) exhibits a structural phase transition from a linear chain to a zigzag structure, tuned by reducing the transverse trap potential or increasing…
We study the tunneling transport through a nanojunction in the far-from-equilibrium regime at relatively low temperatures. We show that the current-voltage characteristics is significantly modified as compared to the usual quasi-equilibrium…
Friction between ordered, atomically smooth surfaces at the nanoscale (nanofriction) is often governed by stick-slip processes. To test long-standing atomistic models of such processes, we implement a synthetic nanofriction interface…
In this chapter, we illustrate how a trapped ion system can be used for the experimental study of quantum thermodynamics, in particular, quantum fluctuation of work. As technology of nano/micro scale develops, it becomes critical to…
It is proposed to modify the Cirac-Zoller proposal of quantum computer with cold ions in a global oscillator trap potential by adding a periodic potential with an incommensurate average ratio of number of ions to number of periods being…
Topological phase transitions in condensed matters accompany emerging singularities of the electronic wave function, often manifested by gap-closing points in the momentum space. In conventional topological insulators in three dimensions…
Stick-slip -- the sequence of mechanical instabilities through which a slider advances on a solid substrate -- is pervasive throughout sliding friction, from nano to geological scales. Here we suggest that trapped cold ions in an optical…
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…
We examine the magnetic correlations in quantum spin models that were derived recently as effective low-energy theories for electronic correlation effects on the edge states of graphene nanoribbons. For this purpose, we employ quantum Monte…