Trapped ions in optical tweezers

We present progress on our experimental setup where we will engineer spin spin interactions between trapped ions, for such system the effective spin-spin interactions between the ions are mediated by the crystal phonons.

We aim to use novel optical tweezers, derived from spatial light modulators, to manipulate the phonon spectrum of a two-dimensional ion crystal in a Paul trap [1].

This allows us to control the effective spin-spin interactions between the ions and, in turn, realize and study various Hamiltonians of interest.

In 2D crystals, this can be used to quantum simulate spin Hamiltonians on a kagome lattice [2].

Furthermore, in one dimensional ion chains optical tweezers can be combined with oscillating electric fields in order to realize two-qubit geometrical phase gates [3].

This novel approach, combined with other well-established techniques, can be used to realize a novel architecture for quantum computing using trapped ions.