Pattern Formation with Trapped Ions

Ion traps are a versatile tool to study nonequilibrium statistical physics, due to the tunability of dissipation and nonlinearity. We propose an experiment with a chain of ions, where dissipation is provided by laser heating and cooling, while nonlinearity is provided by trap anharmonicity and beam shaping. The dynamics are governed by an equation similar to the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation, except that the reactive nature of the coupling leads to qualitatively different behavior. The system has the unusual feature of being both oscillatory and excitable at the same time. The patterns are observable for realistic experimental parameters despite noise from spontaneous emission. Our scheme also allows controllable experiments with noise and quenched disorder.