  We propose to experimentally explore the Haldane phase in spin-one XXZ
antiferromagnetic chains using trapped ions. We show how to adiabatically
prepare the ground states of the Haldane phase, demonstrate their robustness
against sources of experimental noise, and propose ways to detect the Haldane
ground states based on their excitation gap and exponentially decaying
correlations, nonvanishing nonlocal string order, and doubly-degenerate
entanglement spectrum.
