High-precision test of Landauer’s principle in a feedback trap
Open accessAbstract
We confirm Landauer's 1961 hypothesis that reducing the number of possible macroscopic states in a system by a factor of 2 requires work of at least kTln2. Our experiment uses a colloidal particle in a time-dependent, virtual potential created by a feedback trap to implement Landauer's erasure operation. In a control experiment, similar manipulations that do not reduce the number of system states can be done reversibly. Erasing information thus requires work. In individual cycles, the work to erase can be below the Landauer limit, consistent with the Jarzynski equality.
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Several other experiments have tested and verified Landauer's bound in classical and quantum settings.
“Since then several other experiments have tested and verified equation (150) in a variety of settings both classical and quantum [273][274][275][276].”
From Quantum speed limits: from Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle to optimal quantum control (2017) · cites this paper as [273]
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- Authors
- Jun, Y., Gavrilov, M., & Bechhoefer, J.
- Affiliations
- Simon Fraser University (CA)
- Venue
- Physical Review Letters
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Published
- 2014-11-04
- Volume
- 113
- Issue
- 19
- Pages
- 190601-190601
- ISSN
- 0031-9007 (ISSN-L)
- 1079-7114
- OpenAlex
- W1813753580
- Cited by
- 428
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 50 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 62 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 39 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 20.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- arxiv.org
- Locations
- Physical Review Letters (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Advanced Thermodynamic Systems and Engines
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › stochastic dynamics and bifurcation
- Keywords
- Landauer's principle, information erasure, Jarzynski equality, work fluctuations, information thermodynamics, information-to-work conversion, stochastic thermodynamics
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