According to Pagano, until now, the simulator could be placed in only two basic environments: one that cooled the ions to their vibrational ground state<\/a>, as well as another that continuously heated the system. The new approach introduces two independent knobs that overcome this limitation.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe vibrations of the ion relate to the temperature,\u201d Pagano emphasized. \u201cMore vibrations means a higher temperature, while fewer vibrations means a cooler temperature.\u201d The system uses vibrations to precisely set the ions\u2019 temperature and control how quickly it changes. <\/p>\n One control heats the ions by applying random electric-field signals that add vibrational energy. \u201cYou can think of it as random kicks to the crystal,\u201d Visal So, PhD, the study\u2019s first author, said. \u201cEach kick provides vibrational energy, which essentially creates a heating effect<\/a> on the ions in the study.\u201d <\/p>\n By controlling these kicks, the team can tune the system\u2019s heating rate. In turn, the second control relies on a cooling laser that slows the ions\u2019 vibrations, which reduces their temperature. The researchers can finely adjust the final temperature by balancing the two effects.<\/p>\n Better quantum simulations<\/p>\n Mingjian Zhu, a graduate student in physics and astronomy at Rice, revealed the system enables independent control over a thermal environment\u2019s temperature<\/a> and dissipation rate. \u201cIf we want to have a controlled temperature, we need a cooling and a heating process and this should be controlled independently,\u201d Zhu explained. <\/p>\n The new controls allow the simulator to reproduce thermal environments that are much closer to those found in real molecular systems. With the upgraded setup, the team examined how the temperature influences electron transfer<\/a>. <\/p>\n They revealed that increasing the temperature changed the efficiency of electron transfer. It, moreover, activated processes that were not observed when the ions remained in their lowest-energy ground state. <\/p>\n The trapped-ion simulator allowed the team to directly observe how the electrons move from a donor site through a barrier to an acceptor site. The added thermal controls revealed how the temperature altered this behavior. <\/p>\n \u201cThese new controls give us precise control over an ion\u2019s thermal state, allowing us to place an ion into a specific state or interrogate an ion in an unknown state,\u201d Pagano concluded in a press release<\/a>. \u201cWith these, we can greatly increase the number and type of questions we can ask using the trapped-ions quantum simulator.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Z22.jpg\" "\\"US")
<\/a>Random electric field kicks, left, control the heating rate of the trapped ion, center. A cooling laser, left, controls the cooling rate.
Credit: Rice University \/ Mario Norton<\/p>\n