We have experimentally observed the dynamics of a single polariton and two polaritons in a two-ion chain. By driving two trapped ions at a motional blue-sideband (BSB) transition, we realize the anti-Jaynes–Cummings–Hubbard (JCH) model. When a single polariton exists in a trapped-ion chain, the polariton hops between the ion sites. On the other hand, when there are single polaritons at each ion site, the hopping of the polaritons is suppressed because of the polariton–polariton interaction induced by the nonlinearity of the anti-Jaynes–Cummings (JC) interaction, thereby realizing the blockade of polariton hopping in the anti-JCH model with trapped ions. Our work is a step towards the development of a trapped-ion based quantum simulator for strongly interacting polaritonic systems.

我们通过实验观察了两个离子链中单个极化子和两个极化子的动力学。通过在动态蓝边带 (BSB) 跃迁处驱动两个俘获离子，我们实现了反杰恩斯-卡明斯-哈伯德 (JCH) 模型。当捕获离子链中存在单个极化子时，极化子会在离子位点之间跳跃。另一方面，当每个离子位置有单个极化子时，由于反Jaynes-Cummings（JC）相互作用的非线性引起的极化子-极化子相互作用抑制了极化子的跳跃，从而实现了对带有俘获离子的反 JCH 模型中的极化子跳跃。我们的工作是朝着开发用于强相互作用极化系统的基于俘获离子的量子模拟器迈出的一步。