Mainz 2017 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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A: Fachverband Atomphysik
A 23: Trapped ions
A 23.9: Vortrag
Mittwoch, 8. März 2017, 16:45–17:00, N 3
Probing Nanofriction and Aubry-type signatures in a finite self-assembled system — •Jan Kiethe1, Ramil Nigmatullin2, Dimitri Kalincev1, Thorben Schmirander1, and Tanja Mehlstäubler1 — 1PTB, Braunschweig, Deutschland — 2University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Ion traps are a versatile tool for a broad range of applications, such as quantum information and precision measurements. They offer a well-controlled experimental environment in which ions can be stored and manipulated. If the ions are cooled to energies lower than the potential energy of the Coulomb system, they form crystals, which can be used as quantum simulators and emulators for non-equilibrium statistical physics. A great advantage of trapped ion crystals is the in situ access to the dynamics of the particles, which are often not accessible in the emulated system. We mimic the boundary of two atomically flat solids with a self-assembled ion Coulomb crystal in the zigzag phase and study nanofriction between these back-acting ion chains. With the help of phonon mode spectroscopy and high resolution imaging we show that a structural defect causes a sticking-to-sliding transition with Aubry-type signatures. We observe the soft vibrational mode in the motional spectrum and symmetry-breaking in the crystal configuration. The corresponding order parameter and the soft mode frequency exhibit critical scaling near the transition. This model system can be used to investigate the tribological behaviour of self-organized structures in the classical and in the quantum regime.