Engineering tunable anharmonic potentials with light-atom interaction for chemical dynamics simulations
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Relevant papers
Anharmonicity theory preprint - coming soon!
Quantum simulation of chemical dynamics in an ion trap (experimental details)
Abstract
Trapped-ion platforms have emerged as a powerful architecture for simulating quantum dynamics in chemical systems. They have enabled studies of time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy [1], geometric phase effects at conical intersections [2, 3], and classically intractable open-system dynamics [4]. However, existing implementations have been limited to harmonic oscillator models, failing to encapsulate the anharmonicity present in molecular potentials.
Here, we investigate implementing anharmonic dynamics in a trapped-ion system using all-optical quantum control. Specifically, we develop a flexible control scheme that leverages state-dependent forces and qubit rotations to engineer tunable anharmonic dynamics. As an example, we engineer a tunable double-well potential of the form 𝑉(𝑥) = δ𝑥ଶ + ϵ cos(η𝑥). This allows access to rich, nonlinear motional dynamics, most notably quantum tunneling between the two wells. These results establish a new pathway for simulating chemically relevant potentials in a controllable quantum platform.
[1] MacDonnell et al., Chem. Sci., 14, 9439 (2023)
[2] Valahu et al. Nature Chemistry 15, 1503–1508 (2023)
[3] Whitlow et al. Nature Chemistry 15, 1509–1514 (2023)
[4] Navickas et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2025)
Poster description
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