Experimental Test of Quantum Jarzynski Equality with a Trapped Ion System

Understand

The past two decades witnessed important developments in the field of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.

• Among these developments, the Jarzynski equality, being a milestone following the landmark work of Clausius and Kelvin, stands out.
• The Jarzynski equality relates the free energy difference between two equilibrium states and the work done on the system through far from equilibrium processes.
• While experimental tests of the equality have been performed in classical regime, the verification of the quantum Jarzynski equality has not yet been fully demonstrated due to experimental challenges.