Power generator driven by Maxwell’s demon

Abstract

Maxwell's demon is an imaginary entity that reduces the entropy of a system and generates free energy in the system. About 150 years after its proposal, theoretical studies explained the physical validity of Maxwell's demon in the context of information thermodynamics, and there have been successful experimental demonstrations of energy generation by the demon. The demon's next task is to convert the generated free energy to work that acts on the surroundings. Here, we demonstrate that Maxwell's demon can generate and output electric current and power with individual randomly moving electrons in small transistors. Real-time monitoring of electron motion shows that two transistors functioning as gates that control an electron's trajectory so that an electron moves directionally. A numerical calculation reveals that power generation is increased by miniaturizing the room in which the electrons are partitioned. These results suggest that evolving transistor-miniaturization technology can increase the demon's power output.

Maxwell’s demon in the quantum-Zeno regime and beyond

“…To this end, we consider the change of entropy conditioned on the measurement outcome at time = t t n within the subsequent feedback period Î + + -( ) t t t , n n 1 . For both measurement outcomes the second law in equation (38) together with equation (40) is fulfilled separately, so that we find for the measurement-averaged entropy change [7]. For this reason, one can interpret equation (41) in the following way: the amount of entropy reduced by the measurement is not completely transferred to the reservoirs [57].…”

“…We implement the Maxwell demon using a piecewise-constant feedback scheme, where the system state is observed after time periods τ and the system parameters are adjusted accordingly. This feedback scheme has been already successfully implemented in experiment [7]. For other experimental and theoretical feedback-related approaches in mesoscopic devices to extract work or to achieve similar objectives we refer to [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27].…”

Maxwell's demon in a double quantum dot with continuous charge detection

“…Due to experimental advances, it is nowadays possible to control systems down to the nano-scale, making it pos- * bjorn.annby-andersson@teorfys.lu.se sible to realize Maxwell's demon in the lab. Several experimental studies have been conducted, using Brownian particles [21], molecular machines [22], photonic systems [23], electronic systems [24][25][26][27], ultracold atoms [28], and DNA molecules [29]. In addition, several experiments on Maxwell's demon in the quantum regime have recently been presented [30][31][32].…”

“…Experimental implementations of Maxwell's demon based on charge sensing in single electron boxes are given in Refs. [24][25][26].…”

“…Furthermore, in contrast to Refs. [24][25][26]39], our implementation is based on quantum dots, offering the possibility of tuning electron tunneling rates. Furthermore, the well defined energy levels of quantum dots allow for accessing heat fluctuations.…”