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Quantum optics

Maxwell's demon opens new doors

Nature Photonics volume 2, pages 463–464 (2008)Cite this article

Maxwell's demon has now been realized using laser light. The ability to let atoms pass one way but not the other through a light 'gate' could provide new means to cool atomic and molecular vapours.

Maxwell's demon is back — and he works for food. In an almost literal realization of Maxwell's thought experiment, a group of physicists at the University of Oregon have demonstrated a one-way gate that lets through atoms incident from one side but sends them back when they come from the other side. As a result, the atoms crowd only one side of the gate. To carry on with his gate-keeping job, the demon picks up foodstuff — in the form of information about the internal state of the impinging atoms. As Jeremy Thorn and his co-workers1 have shown, providing a menu with a choice between just two internal states of the atoms is enough for the demon to subsist. With the gate used to partition an atom trap, the demon increases the atoms' density on one side of the partition at the expense of the density on the other side.

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Figure 1: Atomic energy levels and optical transitions required for Maxwell's demon to operate.
Figure 2: Optical realization of Maxwell's demon.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Adela Marian and Bretislav Friedrich are in the Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany.,

    Adela Marian & Bretislav Friedrich

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  1. Adela Marian
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  2. Bretislav Friedrich
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Correspondence to Bretislav Friedrich.

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Marian, A., Friedrich, B. Maxwell's demon opens new doors. Nature Photon 2, 463–464 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2008.145

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2008.145

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