06.02.24 - Patrick Potts "The Thermodynamics of Information"

The Thermodynamics of Information

 In the macroscopic regime, thermodynamics was a driving force in the industrial revolution, influencing the development of steam engines and refrigerators which changed our daily life. Nowadays, much smaller nano- and quantum-devices are at the forefront of technological progress. Of particular interest are feedback-controlled systems, which, e.g., enable the preparation of a quantum device in a desired state or to correct for errors in a quantum processor. Just like on the macroscale, thermodynamics provides fundamental insights, as well as practical guiding principles, for nanoscale devices and may thus act as a driving force in the development of nano and quantum technologies.

In this talk, I will present how thermodynamics can be applied to the nanoscale, where fluctuations matter and quantum coherence may become relevant. I will discuss how information on the microscopic degrees of freedom can be included in a thermodynamic description, which allows for applying the laws of thermodynamics to feedback-controlled systems. Through the lens of recent experimental results on an implementation of Szilard's engine, I will illustrate the thermodynamics of information.