Description

2009/12/10, Rene Gerritsma (Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Innsbruck, Austria)

Place: Sala de Seminarios del Departamento de Física Teórica e Historia de la Ciencia
Time: 12h.
Title: Quantum simulation of the Dirac equation with a single trapped ion

Abstract
Crystals of trapped ions form an ideal system for studying fundamental questions in quantum information science. Over recent years special interest has grown in using trapped ions to simulate other quantum mechanical systems that are not readily accessible in experiments. In a recent experiment we simulated the 1+1 dimensional Dirac equation using a single trapped ion (Lamata et al., PRL 98, 253005 (2007)). Straight-forward adjustment of experimental parameters makes it possible to simulate both mass-less and massive free particles in the relativistic and classical limits. We observe Zitterbewegung in the simulated particle motion and investigate various parameter regimes. The high level of control of experimental parameters and in initial state preparation makes it possible to simulate elegant textbook examples of relativistic quantum physics. To study the dynamics, we use new methods to extract observables such as the
particles position and its spatial probability distribution.