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In an ion trap quantum simulator with 51 particles, the scientists have imitated a real material by recreating it particle by particle and studying it in a controlled laboratory environment.

Such an “ion trap” is a standard technique used by physicists to manipulate ions.

Schmidt-Kaler is an expert on a type of ion trap in which electric fields are used to confine a single calcium ion.

The detector outside the ion trap will likely be a sheet of laser light, and the team will have to measure the ion’s interaction with the light sheet to nanosecond precision.

Potential future improvements could emerge from including more highly charged isotopes, additional elements, short-lived isotopes and even the quantum entanglement of two isotopes within an ion trap.