Expanding the set of native ion-ion interaction graphs for quantum simulation with global drives*

Trapped-ion quantum simulators generate pair-wise interactions by using spin-dependent optical dipole forces to couple to the motional modes of the ion crystal. While it is common for trapped-ion quantum simulations to host fully-connected interactions which decay algebraically with distance, such interactions are not a fundamental limitation of trapped-ion simulations. Here, I present a new trapped ion machine that has been proposed to host a new suite of achievable interaction graphs in both 1D and 2D which may be generated either by selective coupling to specific vibrational modes or by arranging the ions to be equally-spaced along the trap axis. This extension of interaction graphs is intended to be beneficial for exploring quantum materials, molecular dynamics, and studies on entanglement.