Experimental test of the quantum Jarzynski equality with a trapped-ion system

Abstract

The Jarzynski equality relates the free-energy di erence between two equilibrium states to the work done on a system through far-from-equilibrium processes-a milestone that builds on the pioneering work of Clausius and Kelvin. Although experimental tests of the equality have been performed in the classical regime, the quantum Jarzynski equality has not yet been fully verified owing to experimental challenges in measuring work and work distributions in a quantum system. Here, we report an experimental test of the quantum Jarzynski equality with a single 171 Yb + ion trapped in a harmonic potential. We perform projective measurements to obtain phonon distributions of the initial thermal state. We then apply a laser-induced force to the projected energy eigenstate and find transition probabilities to final energy eigenstates after the work is done. By varying the speed with which we apply the force from the equilibrium to the far-from-equilibrium regime, we verify the quantum Jarzynski equality in an isolated system. T here is increasing interest in non-equilibrium dynamics at the microscopic scale, crossing over quantum physics, thermodynamics and information theory as the experimental control and technology at such a scale have been developing rapidly. Most of the principles in non-equilibrium processes are represented in the form of inequalities, as seen in the example of the maximum work principle, W − F ≥ 0, where the average work W is equal to the free-energy difference F only in the case of the equilibrium process. In close-to-equilibrium processes, the fluctuation-dissipation theorem is valid and connects the average dissipated energy W diss ≡ W − F and the fluctuation of the system σ 2 /2k B T . Here σ is the standard deviation of the work distribution, T is the initial temperature of the system in thermal equilibrium and k B is the Boltzmann constant. Beyond the nearequilibrium regime, no exact results were known until Jarzynski found a remarkable equality 1 that relates the free-energy difference to the exponential average of the work done on the system:The Jarzynski equality (1) is satisfied irrespective of the protocols of varying parameters of the system even when the driving is arbitrarily far from equilibrium. The relation enables us to experimentally determine F of a system by repeatedly performing work at any speed. Experimental tests of the classical Jarzynski equality and its relation to the Crooks fluctuation theorem 2 have been successfully performed in various systems 3-12 .In classical systems, work can be obtained by measuring the force and the displacement, and then integrating the force over the displacement during the driving process. In the quantum regime, however, as a result of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, we cannot determine the position and the momentum simultaneously-thus invalidating the concepts of force and displacement. Instead of measuring these classical observables, it is necessary to carry out projective measurements over the energy eigenstates to determine the work d...

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A Lower Bound on Work Extraction Probability Prescribed by Nonequilibrium Work Relation

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Electromagnetically-induced-transparency ground-state cooling of long ion strings

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