Some quantum systems are so complex that even the most powerful supercomputers struggle to simulate their behavior. One solution is quantum simulation: building a controllable quantum system in the lab and tuning it to mimic the one researchers want to understand.

In a trapped-ion simulator, a row of individual charged atoms, or ions, is held in place by electric fields inside a device called an ion trap. Lasers are used to make the ions interact in a manner that simulates the quantum system, and then researchers measure the information encoded in the ions to reveal the system’s properties.

Rice University’s Guido Pagano, along with collaborators at Duke University and Translume Inc., has developed a new kind of trapped-ion simulator, called a monolithic segmented 3D ion trap. This trap allowed the team to study these complex systems using heavy ions like ytterbium.