Experimental Determination of Irreversible Entropy Production in out-of-Equilibrium Mesoscopic Quantum Systems
Journal article, 2018

By making use of a recently proposed framework for the inference of thermodynamic irreversibility in bosonic quantum systems, we experimentally measure and characterize the entropy production rates in the nonequilibrium steady state of two different physical systems a micromechanical resonator and a Bose-Einstein condensate each coupled to a high finesse cavity and hence also subject to optical loss. Key features of our setups, such as the cooling of the mechanical resonator and signatures of a structural quantum phase transition in the condensate, are reflected in the entropy production rates. Our work demonstrates the possibility to explore irreversibility in driven mesoscopic quantum systems and paves the way to a systematic experimental assessment of entropy production beyond the microscopic limit.

Micromechanical resonators

Superconducting materials

Bose-Einstein condensation

Phase transitions

Statistical mechanics

Quantum optics

Author

M. Brunelli

University of Cambridge

L. Fusco

Queen's University Belfast

R. Landig

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)

Harvard University

Witlef Wieczorek

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Quantum Technology

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2)

J. Hoelscher-Obermaier

University of Vienna

University of Hanover

C. Landi

University of Sao Paulo (USP)

F. L. Semiao

Universidade Federal do ABC

A. Ferraro

Queen's University Belfast

N. Kiesel

University of Vienna

T. Donner

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)

G. De Chiara

Queen's University Belfast

M. Paternostro

Queen's University Belfast

Physical Review Letters

0031-9007 (ISSN) 1079-7114 (eISSN)

Vol. 121 16 160604

Areas of Advance

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (SO 2010-2017, EI 2018-)

Subject Categories

Other Physics Topics

Condensed Matter Physics

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.160604

PubMed

30387649

More information

Latest update

12/9/2020