This is a TQT (Theory of Quantum Technologies) Event.

Laser cooled trapped ions offer unprecedented control over both internal and external degrees of freedom at the single-particle level. They are considered among the foremost candidates for realizing quantum simulation and computation platforms that can outperform classical computers at specific tasks. In this talk I will show how linear arrays of trapped 171Yb+ ions can be used as a versatile platform for studying out-of-equilibrium strongly correlated many-body quantum systems. In particular I will present our observation of a new type of out-of-equilibrium dynamical phase transition in a spin system with over 50 spins [1]. Moreover, I will show our latest efforts towards scaling up the trapped-ion quantum simulator [2] using a cryo-pumped vacuum chamber where we can trap more than 100 ions indefinitely. The reliable production and lifetime of large linear ion chains enabled us to use up to 40 trapped-ion qubits to observe real-time domain wall confinement in an interacting spin chain [3, 4] and to implement a Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) to approximate the ground state energy of a transverse field Ising model [5].

References:
[1] J. Zhang, G. Pagano, et al., Nature, 551, 601 (2017)
[2] G. Pagano et al., Quantum Sci. Technol., 4, 014004 (2019)
[3] F. Liu, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 150601 (2018)
[4] W. L. Tan, P. Becker, et al. (in preparation)
[5] G. Pagano, et al., arXiv 1906.02700 (2019)