2011/04/30 by A. Bermudez, T. Schaetz, D. Porras · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.107.150501
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 150501 (2011) · replaced with published version
arxiv created 2011/11/12 · arxiv updated 2011/11/15
The vibrations of a collection of ions in a microtrap array can be described in terms of hopping phonons. We show theoretically that the vibrational couplings may be tailored by using a gradient of the microtrap frequencies, together with a periodic driving of the trapping potential. These ingredients allow us to induce effective gauge fields on the vibrational excitations, such that phonons mimic the behavior of charged particles in a magnetic field. In particular, microtrap arrays are ideally suited to realize the famous Aharonov-Bohm effect, and observe the paradigmatic edge states typical from quantum-Hall samples and topological insulators.