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Erasure of a nonequilibrium memory beyond Landauer's bound using levitated optomechanics with spatio-temporal optical control

Mario A. Ciampini1,*, Tobias Wenzl1, Michael Konopik2, Gregor Thalhammer-Thurner3, Markus Aspelmeyer1,4, Eric Lutz2, and Nikolai Kiesel1

  • 1Faculty of Physics, Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, University of Vienna, A-1090 Vienna, Austria
  • 2Institute for Theoretical Physics I, University of Stuttgart, D-70550 Stuttgart, Germany
  • 3Institute of Biomedical Physics, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
  • 4Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) Vienna, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Boltzmanngasse 3, 1090 Vienna, Austria

  • *Contact author: marioarnolfo.ciampini@univie.ac.at
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Phys. Rev. Research 7, 043321 – Published 22 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/r81x-zblx

Abstract

Landauer’s principle provides a deep connection between information processing and thermodynamics by setting a lower limit on the energy consumption and heat production of logically irreversible transformations. However, Landauer’s original formulation assumes that information is initially stored in an equilibrium state, whereas real devices often operate with out-of-equilibrium states. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that nonequilibrium memory states can provide a useful resource for fast information erasure below the equilibrium bounds by using an underdamped levitated optomechanical system. To that end, we introduce a versatile optical levitation scheme that enables fast and precise dynamical shaping of general potential landscapes. By harnessing the energy and entropy of an initial nonequilibrium two-state memory, we demonstrate reduced power consumption as well as negative heat production during erasure. Our findings significantly broaden the range of tools available in levitodynamics and suggest that the engineering of appropriate far-from-equilibrium memory states could pave the way for an approach to heat management.

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Phys. Rev. Research 7, 043321– Published 22 December, 2025
  • Received 23 July 2025
  • Accepted 17 November 2025
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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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