Bastin, S. R.Lee, Tony E.2017-10-052017-10-052017-01Bastin, S. R., & Lee, T. E. (2017). Ion crystals in anharmonic traps. Journal of Applied Physics, 121(1), 014312. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4973365https://hdl.handle.net/1805/14235There is currently intensive research into creating a large-scale quantum computer with trapped ions. It is well known that for a linear ion crystal in a harmonic potential, the ions near the center are more closely spaced compared to the ions near the ends. This is problematic as the number of ions increases. Here, we consider a linear ion crystal in an anharmonic potential that is purely quartic in position. We find that the ions are more evenly spaced compared to the harmonic case. We develop a variational approach to calculate the properties of the ground state. We also characterize the zigzag transition in an anharmonic potential.enPublisher Policyion crystalsanharmonic trapstrapped ionsArticle