Ion chains in high-finesse cavities

CECILIA CORMICK; GIOVANNA MORIGI

Bad Honnef

Seminario; Heraeus Seminar "Hybrid Quantum Systems"; 2012

We analyze the dynamics of a chain of singly-charged ions confined in a linear Paul trap and which couple with the mode of a high-finesse optical resonator. In this setting the ions interact via the Coulomb repulsion and are subject to the mechanical forces due to scattering of cavity photons. For a linear chain close to the zigzag instability [1], the interplay of these interactions can give rise to bistable equilibrium configurations [2]. We characterize the stationary state in the semiclassical limit for both cavity field and crystal motion. The mean occupation of the vibrational modes at steady state is evaluated, showing that the vibrational modes coupled to the cavity can be simultaneously cooled to low occupation numbers. It is also found that at steady state the vibrations are entangled with the cavity field fluctuations, and features signaling quantum correlations are identified in the spectrum of the light at the cavity output.[1] S. Fishman, G. de Chiara, T. Calarco and G. Morigi, Phys.064111(2008).[2] C. Cormick and G. Morigi, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 053003 (2012).