An omniscient Maxwell's demon

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a real-time sorting algorithm that rearranges neutral atoms in a 3D optical lattice, significantly increasing filling fraction and reducing system entropy, akin to a Maxwell's demon.

Contribution

The authors develop and implement a high-fidelity sorting method for 3D atomic arrays, achieving near-perfect filling and entropy reduction in a complex quantum system.

Findings

Achieved ~97% filling fraction in 3D atomic arrays.

Reduced system entropy by a factor of 2.44 through sorting.

Reached 89% of atoms in the vibrational ground state.

Abstract

We demonstrate highly filled 3D arrays of neutral atoms by moving individual atoms in a 3D optical lattice. Starting from a randomly half-filled 5x5x5 optical lattice of Cesium atoms, a sorting algorithm calculates and implements a sequence of high fidelity targeted state flips and state dependent motion steps to fill a sub-lattice in real time. We achieve a filling fraction of ~97% and a perfect filling rate of 30%. With 89% of the atoms cooled to the 3D vibrational ground state, the sorting procedure reduces the configurational entropy by a factor of 8 and the total system entropy by a factor of 2.44. The sorting process is analogous to a Maxwell's demon.