Berlin 2012 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 15: Statistical Physics far from equilibrium

DY 15.8: Talk

Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 11:45–12:00, MA 004

Counting statistics of an electronic Maxwell’s demon — •Gernot Schaller, Clive Emary, Gerold Kiesslich, and Tobias Brandes — Institut für Theoretische Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin

A single-electron transistor (SET) that is continuously monitored by a quantum point contact may function as Maxwell’s demon when closed-loop feedback operations are applied as time-dependent modifications of the tunneling rates across its junctions. The device may induce a current across the SET even when no bias voltage or thermal gradient is applied. For sufficiently strong feedback, it is also possible to transport electrons against an existing voltage (or thermal) gradient. We compare the generated power for different feedback schemes with the heat arising from Landauers principle and find no violation of the second law.

G. Schaller et al., Phys. Rev. B 84, 085418 (2011).