The new generation of planar Penning traps promises to be a flexible and versatile tool for quantum information studies. Here, we propose a fully controllable and reversible way to change the typical trapping harmonic potential into a double-well pot
ential, in the axial direction. In this configuration a trapped particle can perform coherent oscillations between the two wells. The tunneling rate, which depends on the barrier height and width, can be adjusted at will by varying the potential difference applied to the trap electrodes. Most notably, tunneling rates in the range of kHz are achievable even with a trap size of the order of 100 microns.
We propose a scheme to engineer an effective spin Hamiltonian starting from a system of electrons confined in micro-Penning traps. By means of appropriate sequences of electromagnetic pulses, alternated to periods of free evolution, we control the sh
ape and strength of the spin-spin interaction. Moreover, we can modify the effective magnetic field experienced by the particle spin. This procedure enables us to reproduce notable quantum spin systems, such as Ising and XY models. Thanks to its scalability, our scheme can be applied to a fairly large number of trapped particles within the reach of near future technology.
