Test of Jarzynski and Crooks fluctuation relations in an electronic system

TL;DR

This study experimentally verifies Jarzynski and Crooks fluctuation relations in a nanoscale electronic system, demonstrating their validity in a classical two-state system with measurable energy fluctuations.

Contribution

The paper provides the first experimental confirmation of fluctuation relations in a single-electron box, supported by a comprehensive microscopic theory without fitting parameters.

Findings

Distributions obey fluctuation relations

High statistical accuracy in measurements

Theoretical predictions match experimental data

Abstract

Recent progress on micro- and nanometer scale manipulation has opened the possibility to probe systems small enough that thermal fluctuations of energy and coordinate variables can be significant compared with their mean behavior. We present an experimental study of nonequilibrium thermodynamics in a classical two-state system, namely a metallic single-electron box. We have measured with high statistical accuracy the distribution of dissipated energy as single electrons are transferred between the box electrodes. The obtained distributions obey Jarzynski and Crooks fluctuation relations. A comprehensive microscopic theory exists for the system, enabling the experimental distributions to be reproduced without fitting parameters.