Laser-cooled trapped ions are a versatile platform for studying out-of-equilibrium dynamics of open quantum systems as they provide highly tunable unitary and non-unitary operations on both internal and external degrees of freedom. After an introduction to the trapped-ion platform, I will discuss our recent results [1] on the simulation of electron transfer in a multi-species trapped-ion crystal. We use the hyperfine qubit of a 171Yb+ ion to simulate the electron degree of freedom and the optical qubit of a 172Yb+ ion to perform reservoir engineering on a collective mode encoding a molecular vibration. This setting allows us to realize a paradigmatic model of molecular electron transfer [2] where we can precisely control the donor-acceptor gap, the electronic and the spin-phonon bath couplings, and the bath properties. We study the electron transfer dynamics in the nonperturbative regime where there is no clear hierarchy among the energy scales in the model, as it often occurs in biochemical systems [3,4]. Secondly, I will discuss our ongoing theoretical investigation of the role of entanglement and excitation delocalization in electron transfer in the case of a multi-ion spin chain with engineered dissipation [5]. Finally, I will also show our progress in the construction of a new trapped-ion system based on a monolithic 3D linear trap. Thanks to a combination of laser writing and etching, this trap combines the repeatability and modularity of microfabricated chip traps with the typical advantages of 3D traps, such as eV-deep trapping potentials, robustness to stray fields, larger ion-electrode distance, as well as wider and multi-directional optical access.
[1] V. So, M. D. Suganthi et al., arXiv:2405.10368, (2024)
[2] P. Wolynes, The Journal of Chemical Physics 86, 1957 (1987)
[3] D. J. Gorman et al., PRX 8, 011038 (2018)
[4] F. Schlawin, M. Gessner, et al., PRXQ, 2, 010314 (2021)
[5] D. Fallas-Padilla, et al., in preparation (2024)