Quantum simulations and force sensing experiments with 2D arrays of 100’s of ions*

We perform quantum simulations and quantum sensing with two-dimensional arrays of >100 trapped ions in a Penning trap [1, 2]. In our quantum sensing experiments, we measure small displacements of the ion crystal. Electric fields excite center-of-mass (COM) motion of the crystal. By measuring the motion-induced spin precession we can determine the amplitude of the COM motion and the strength of the exciting field [2]. Improvements in the phase stability of our coupling lasers enabled phase coherent detection protocols, resulting in a single measurement sensitivity of 50 pm for the COM motion that was far off-resonant with the trap axial frequency. 50 pm is about a factor 40 below the size of the ground state wavefunction.Further, we show results of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) cooling for the drumhead motion of the single-plane arrays [3, 4]. We present results that show simultaneous cooling of all the drumhead modes to close to the ground state of motion.

[1] A. Safavi-Naini et al., PRL 121, 040503 (2018)
[2] K.A. Gilmore et al., PRL 118, 263602 (2017)
[3] E. Jordan et al., PRL 122, 053603 (2019)
[4] A. Shankar et al., PRA 99, 023409 (2019)