Adiabatic computing for optimal thermodynamic efficiency of information processing.

Landauer's principle makes a strong connection between information theory and thermodynamics by stating that erasing a one-bit memory at temperature [Formula: see text] requires an average energy larger than [Formula: see text], with [Formula: see text] Boltzmann's constant. This tiny limit has been saturated in model experiments using quasistatic processes. For faster operations, an overhead proportional to the processing speed and to the memory damping appears.

Logical and thermodynamical reversibility: Optimized experimental implementation of the not operation.

The not operation is a reversible transformation acting on a 1-bit logical state and should be achievable in a physically reversible manner at no energetic cost. We experimentally demonstrate a bit-flip protocol based on the momentum of an underdamped oscillator confined in a double-well potential. The protocol is designed to be reversible in the ideal dissipationless case, and the thermodynamic work required is inversely proportional to the quality factor of the system.

Dynamics of Information Erasure and Extension of Landauer's Bound to Fast Processes.

Using a double-well potential as a physical memory, we study with experiments and numerical simulations the energy exchanges during erasure processes, and model quantitatively the cost of fast operation. Within the stochastic thermodynamics framework we find the origins of the overhead to Landauer's bound required for fast operations: in the overdamped regime this term mainly comes from the dissipation, while in the underdamped regime it stems from the heating of the memory. Indeed, the system is thermalized with its environment at all times during quasistatic protocols, but for fast ones, the inefficient heat transfer to the thermostat is delayed with respect to the work influx, resulting in a transient temperature rise.

Information and Thermodynamics: Fast and Precise Approach to Landauer's Bound in an Underdamped Micromechanical Oscillator.

The Landauer principle states that at least k_{B}Tln2 of energy is required to erase a 1-bit memory, with k_{B}T the thermal energy of the system. We study the effects of inertia on this bound using as one-bit memory an underdamped micromechanical oscillator confined in a double-well potential created by a feedback loop. The potential barrier is precisely tunable in the few k_{B}T range.