Observation of the liquid-gas transition in trapped ions

Abstract

Precision metrology, quantum information, and quantum-controlled chemistry studies all have many implementations in trapped ion systems that require a precise understanding of the motional dynamics of ions. Between the well-studied Coulomb-crystal and gaseous regimes lies the intermediate liquid-like regime whose properties and boundaries have largely eluded experimental investigation. Here, we track the entire liquid-to-gas transition process by leveraging direct velocity measurements using our newly developed ion-trap with integrated velocity map imaging. We demonstrate that the colder the ensemble, the more viscous the ion motion becomes until radial localization emerges, which marks the onset of the liquid regime at a temperature warmer than commonly assigned. At even hotter temperatures, we observe an abrupt change in the heating rate power-law, which indicates the maximum density threshold. The enhanced sensitivity of direct velocity measurements reveals the full transition process from a fluid with short-range order to a weakly-interacting gas.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{wallach2026observation,
  title = {{Observation of the liquid-gas transition in trapped ions}},
  author = {Eliana Ruth Wallach and Yohay Halfon and Yosef Alkoby and Yair Rajmiel and Nevo Werner-Reiss and Ilan Kleinman and Yuval Shagam},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.06776},
  eprint = {2609.06776},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.06776},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Observation of the liquid-gas transition in trapped ions
AU  - Eliana Ruth Wallach
AU  - Yohay Halfon
AU  - Yosef Alkoby
AU  - Yair Rajmiel
AU  - Nevo Werner-Reiss
AU  - Ilan Kleinman
AU  - Yuval Shagam
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/06
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.06776
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.06776
AB  - Precision metrology, quantum information, and quantum-controlled chemistry studies all have many implementations in trapped ion systems that require a precise understanding of the motional dynamics of ions. Between the well-studied Coulomb-crystal and gaseous regimes lies the intermediate liquid-like regime whose properties and boundaries have largely eluded experimental investigation. Here, we track the entire liquid-to-gas transition process by leveraging direct velocity measurements using our newly developed ion-trap with integrated velocity map imaging. We demonstrate that the colder the ensemble, the more viscous the ion motion becomes until radial localization emerges, which marks the onset of the liquid regime at a temperature warmer than commonly assigned. At even hotter temperatures, we observe an abrupt change in the heating rate power-law, which indicates the maximum density threshold. The enhanced sensitivity of direct velocity measurements reveals the full transition process from a fluid with short-range order to a weakly-interacting gas.
ER  -

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