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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Quantum simulation of indefinite causal order induced quantum refrigeration

Huan Cao*, Ning-Ning Wang*, Zhian Jia, Chao Zhang†, Yu Guo, Bi-Heng Liu, Yun-Feng Huang‡, Chuan-Feng Li§, and Guang-Can Guo

  • CAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China and CAS Center For Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, Hefei 230026, China

  • *These two authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †drzhang.chao@ustc.edu.cn
  • ‡hyf@ustc.edu.cn
  • §cfli@ustc.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Research 4, L032029 – Published 16 August, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.L032029

Abstract

In the classical world, physical events always happen in a fixed causal order. However, it was recently revealed that quantum mechanics allows events to occur with indefinite causal order (ICO). In this study, we use an optical quantum switch to experimentally investigate the application of ICO in thermodynamic tasks. Specifically, we simulate the working system interacting with two identical thermal reservoirs in an ICO, observing the quantum heat extraction even though they are in thermal equilibrium where heat extraction is inaccessible by traditional thermal contact. Using such a process, we simulate an ICO refrigeration cycle and investigate its properties. We also show that by passing through the ICO channel multiple times, one can extract more heat per cycle and thus obtain a higher refrigeration performance. Our results suggest that the causal nonseparability can be a powerful resource for quantum thermodynamic tasks.

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Phys. Rev. Research 4, L032029– Published 16 August, 2022
  • Received 26 January 2021
  • Revised 9 August 2021
  • Accepted 10 June 2022
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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