title: Synthetic gauge fields for vibrational excitations of trapped ions.
abstract: The vibrations of a collection of ions in a microtrap array can be described in terms of tunneling phonons. We show that the vibrational couplings may be tailored by using a gradient of the trap frequencies together with a periodic driving of the trapping potentials. 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 well suited to realize a quantum simulator of the famous Aharonov-Bohm effect and observe the paradigmatic edge states typical from quantum-Hall samples and topological insulators.
authors: Institut für Theoretische Physik, Albert-Einstein Allee 11, Universität Ulm, 89069 Ulm, Germany.
authors: Alejandro
authors: A
authors: Bermudez
authors: Tobias
authors: T
authors: Schaetz
authors: Diego
authors: D
authors: Porras