Information-to-energy conversion in an electron pump

TL;DR

This paper proposes a single-electron pump implementation of Maxwell's demon, where charge measurements and feedback control convert thermal fluctuations into free energy without external work, highlighting the role of information in energy conversion.

Contribution

It introduces a novel electron pump setup that uses measurement and feedback to convert thermal fluctuations into energy, demonstrating a new way to harness information for energy gain.

Findings

Net electron flow against bias without work input

Conditions on detector back-action and measurement time identified

Thermal fluctuations converted into free energy via information

Abstract

We propose and analyze a possible implementation of Maxwell's demon based on a single-electron pump. We show that measurements of the charge states of the pump and feedback control of the gate voltages lead to a net flow of electrons against the bias voltage ideally with no work done on the system by the gate control. The information obtained in the measurements converts thermal fluctuations into free energy. We derive the conditions on the detector back-action and measurement time necessary for implementing this conversion.