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arXiv:1812.06333 · Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics

Thermodynamics in Single-Electron Circuits and Superconducting Qubits

J.P. Pekola, Ivan M. Khaymovich

Published Dec 11, 2018• 49 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Classical and quantum electronic circuits provide ideal platforms to investigate stochastic thermodynamics, and they have served as a stepping stone to realize Maxwell's Demons with highly controllable protocols. In this article, we first review the central thermal phenomena in quantum nanostructures. Thermometry and basic refrigeration methods are described as enabling tools for thermodynamics experiments. Next, we discuss the role of information in thermodynamics that leads to the concept of Maxwell's Demon. Various Maxwell's Demons realized in single-electron circuits over the past couple of years are described. Currently, true quantum thermodynamics in superconducting circuits is a focus of attention, and we end the review by discussing the ideas and first experiments in this exciting area of research.

DOI
10.1146/annurev-conmatphys-033117-054120

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Classical and quantum electronic circuits provide ideal platforms to investigate stochastic thermodynamics, and they have served as a stepping stone to realize Maxwell's Demons with highly controllable protocols. In this article, we first review the central thermal phenomena in quantum nanostructures. Thermometry and basic refrigeration methods are described as enabling tools for thermodynamics experiments. Next, we discuss the role of information in thermodynamics that leads to the concept of Maxwell's Demon. Various Maxwell's Demons realized in single-electron circuits over the past couple of years are described. Currently, true quantum thermodynamics in superconducting circuits is a focus of attention, and we end the review by discussing the ideas and first experiments in this exciting area of research.
Classical and quantum electronic circuits provide ideal platforms to investigate stochastic thermodynamics, and they have served as a stepping stone to realize Maxwell's Demons with highly controllable protocols. In this article, we first review the central thermal phenomena in quantum nanostructures. Thermometry and basic refrigeration methods are described as enabling tools for thermodynamics experiments. Next, we discuss the role of information in thermodynamics that leads to the concept of Maxwell's Demon. Various Maxwell's Demons realized in single-electron circuits over the past couple of years are described. Currently, true quantum thermodynamics in superconducting circuits is a focus of attention, and we end the review by discussing the ideas and first experiments in this exciting area of research.
While quantum measurement theories are built around density matrices and observables, the laws of thermodynamics are based on processes such as the ones used in heat engines and refrigerators. The study of quantum thermodynamics fuses these two distinct paradigms. In this article, we highlight the usage of quantum process matrices as a unified language for describing thermodynamic processes in the quantum regime. We experimentally demonstrate this in the context of a quantum Maxwell demon, where two major quantities are commonly investigated: the average work extraction $\ensuremath{\langle}W\ensuremath{\rangle}$ and the efficacy $\ensuremath{\gamma}$, which measures how efficiently the feedback operation uses the obtained information. Using the tool of quantum process matrices, we develop optimal feedback protocols for these two quantities and experimentally investigate them in a superconducting circuit QED setup.
In apparent contradiction to the laws of thermodynamics, Maxwell's demon is able to cyclically extract work from a system in contact with a thermal bath, exploiting the information about its microstate. The resolution of this paradox required the insight that an intimate relationship exists between information and thermodynamics. Here, we realize a Maxwell demon experiment that tracks the state of each constituent in both the classical and quantum regimes. The demon is a microwave cavity that encodes quantum information about a superconducting qubit and converts information into work by powering up a propagating microwave pulse by stimulated emission. Thanks to the high level of control of superconducting circuits, we directly measure the extracted work and quantify the entropy remaining in the demon's memory. This experiment provides an enlightening illustration of the interplay of thermodynamics with quantum information.
Information thermodynamics bridges information theory and statistical physics by connecting information content and entropy production through measurement and feedback control. Maxwell's demon is a hypothetical character that uses information about a system to reduce its entropy. Here we realize a Maxwell's demon acting on a superconducting quantum circuit. We implement quantum non-demolition projective measurement and feedback operation of a qubit and verify the generalized integral fluctuation theorem. We also evaluate the conversion efficiency from information gain to work in the feedback protocol. Our experiment constitutes a step toward experimental studies of quantum information thermodynamics in artificially made quantum machines.
Superconducting circuits provide a controllable and versatile platform for studying quantum phenomena and advancing quantum technologies. Josephson junctions and resonators are the central circuit elements, as they enable the realization of macroscopic quantum systems—such as qubits—that can be conveniently controlled, probed, and integrated with non-superconducting components. The implementation of a thermal reservoir through the integration of a dissipative element, such as a normal-metal resistor, offers an experimental platform for investigating quantum thermodynamics, heat management in circuits, on-chip thermal detectors, and the realization of quantum thermal machines. In this thesis, we integrate a mesoscopic normal metal and its associated thermometers as an on-chip bolometer within circuit quantum electrodynamics devices for thermal detection and quantum thermodynamics experiments. The on-chip bolometer is utilized as a sensitive and broadband thermal spectrometer to characterize the properties of a superconducting resonator and to investigate its dominant loss channels. We demonstrate the capability of our thermal detector to resolve the resonator modes over a wide frequency range extending above 20 GHz. When two thermal baths are connected through a qubit–resonator system, a quantum heat valve can be realized. This device has been demonstrated using both transmon and flux qubits. Photonic heat transport between the two baths is controlled by tuning the qubit energy via an applied static magnetic field. To model these experiments, we propose an approach based on electromagnetic simulation and microwave circuit theory, restricted to the linear-response regime. Despite this limitation, the method successfully captures the experimental observations and provides a practical tool for analysing and designing circuits for future experiments. A periodically driven qubit coupled to two unequal resonators, each terminated by a heat reservoir, enables the realization of a quantum Otto refrigerator. The use of a transmon qubit for this purpose is limited by its weak anharmonicity. We therefore explore alternative platforms for the experimental implementation of a quantum refrigerator based on charge and flux qubits, which exhibit strong anharmonicity. As an important step, we perform experiments on a driven flux qubit galvanically coupled to a resonator that is, in turn, weakly capacitively coupled to a heat reservoir. We observe interference patterns in the heat current arising from driving-induced coherence. In particular, resonance peaks in the heat transferred to the bath appear at driving frequencies that are integer fractions of the resonator frequency. These quantum features are governed by the relative phase accumulated by the qubit states under driving.