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Experimental test of the Crooks fluctuation theorem in a single nuclear spin

Wei Cheng1,2, Wenquan Liu3, Zhibo Niu1,2, Chang-Kui Duan1,2,4, Xing Rong1,2,4,*, and Jiangfeng Du1,2,4,5,†

  • 1CAS Key Laboratory of Microscale Magnetic Resonance and School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
  • 2CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
  • 3School of Science, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China
  • 4Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230088, China
  • 5School of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China

  • *xrong@ustc.edu.cn
  • †djf@ustc.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. A 109, L020401 – Published 20 February, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.109.L020401

Abstract

We experimentally test the Crooks fluctuation theorem in a quantum spin system. Our results show that the Crooks fluctuation theorem is valid for different speeds of the nonequilibrium processes and under various effective temperatures. Work is not an observable in quantum systems, which makes tests of quantum thermodynamic theorems challenging. In this work, we develop high-fidelity single-shot readouts of a single nuclear spin in diamond and implement the two-point work measurement protocol, enabling a direct experimental test of the Crooks fluctuation theorem. Our results provide quantum insight into fluctuations and the methods we develop can be utilized to study other quantum thermodynamic theorems.

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Phys. Rev. A 109, L020401– Published 20 February, 2024
  • Received 25 November 2022
  • Accepted 16 January 2024
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