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 in 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 dynamics of both closed and open many-body quantum systems. First, I will discuss the recent observation of non-equilibrium critical scaling of spin dynamics after multiple quenches. We observed that the spin fluctuations dynamics exhibits different dynamical and amplitude scaling exponents, depending on the different initial states and on the number of quenches [2, 3]. Secondly, I will discuss our progress towards simulating dissipative Floquet dynamics [4] with interleaving unitary evolution and local reset operations implemented with Raman processes and individual optical pumping beams, respectively. Finally, I will show preliminary results on the trapped-ion simulation of resonant electron molecular transfer [5] combining a coherent spin-phonon drive with sympathetic cooling using the 2S1/2 – 2D3/2 optical qubit.
[1] G. Pagano, et al., Quantum Sci. Technol., 4, 014004 (2019)
[2] M. Maghrebi, P. Titum, Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 040602 (2020)
[3] A. De, et al., arXiv:2309.10856 (2023)
[4] P. Sierant, et al., Quantum 6, 638 (2022)
[5] F. Schlwain et al., PRXQ, 2, 010314 (2021)