Enhanced Photonic Maxwell's Demon with Correlated Baths

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a photonic Maxwell's Demon that leverages correlations between thermal baths to significantly enhance work extraction, showcasing the potential of photonic systems in quantum thermodynamics research.

Contribution

The authors experimentally implement a photonic Maxwell's Demon with active feed-forward, revealing how correlations between baths amplify temperature differences and work extraction.

Findings

Correlated baths increase temperature difference by over an order of magnitude.

Photonic system control enables access to new quantum thermodynamics regimes.

Experimental demonstration of enhanced work extraction with correlations.

Abstract

Maxwell's Demon is at the heart of the interrelation between quantum information processing and thermodynamics. In this thought experiment, a demon generates a temperature gradient between two thermal baths initially at equilibrium by gaining information at the single-particle level and applying classical feed-forward operations, allowing for the extraction of work. Here we implement a photonic version of Maxwell's Demon with active feed-forward in a fibre-based system using ultrafast optical switches. We experimentally show that, if correlations exist between the two thermal baths, the Demon can generate a temperature difference over an order of magnitude larger than without correlations, and so extract more work. Our work demonstrates the great potential of photonic experiments -- which provide a unique degree of control on the system -- to access new regimes in quantum thermodynamics.