%0 Journal Article
%A Bermúdez, A.
%A Porras Torres, Diego
%A Martin-Delgado Alcántara, Miguel Ángel
%T Competing many-body interactions in systems of trapped ions
%D 2009
%@ 1050-2947
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/42805
%X We propose and theoretically analyze an experimental configuration in which lasers induce three-spin interactions between trapped ions. By properly choosing the intensities and frequencies of the lasers, three-spin couplings may be dominant or comparable to two-spin terms and magnetic fields. In this way, trapped ions can be used to study exotic quantum phases which do not have a counterpart in nature. We study the conditions for the validity of the effective three-spin Hamiltonian and predict qualitatively the quantum phase diagram of the system.
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