Entropic Costs of Extracting Classical Ticks from a Quantum Clock.

We experimentally realize a quantum clock by using a charge sensor to count charges tunneling through a double quantum dot (DQD). Individual tunneling events are used as the clock's ticks. We quantify the clock's precision while measuring the power dissipated by the DQD and, separately, the charge sensor in both direct-current and radio-frequency readout modes. This allows us to probe the thermodynamic cost of creating ticks microscopically and recording them macroscopically. Our experiment is the first to explore the interplay between the entropy produced by a microscopic clockwork and its macroscopic measurement apparatus. We show that the latter contribution not only dwarfs the former but also unlocks greatly increased precision, because the measurement record can be exploited to optimally estimate time even when the DQD is at equilibrium. Our results suggest that the entropy produced by the amplification and measurement of a clock's ticks, which has often been ignored in the literature, is the most important and fundamental thermodynamic cost of timekeeping at the quantum scale.

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Publication Details

Journal
PubMed
Published
2025-11-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/5rtj-djfk
Citations
5
Primary Topic
Quantum and electron transport phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
6.23
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article

Entropic Costs of Extracting Classical Ticks from a Quantum Clock.

Jaime Saez-Mollejo, Nuriya Nurgalieva, Mark T. Mitchison, Natalia Ares et al.
5 citations
PubMed
Quantum and electron transport phenomena
6.23
article

Entropic Costs of Extracting Classical Ticks from a Quantum Clock.

Jaime Saez-Mollejo, Nuriya Nurgalieva, Mark T. Mitchison, Natalia Ares, Marcus Huber, Daniel Chrastina, Andrea Ballabio, Daniel Jirovec, Florian Meier, Federico Fedele, Ralph Silva, Paul Erker, Giovanni Isella, Vivek Wadhia, David Craig
article en
5 citations

Abstract

We experimentally realize a quantum clock by using a charge sensor to count charges tunneling through a double quantum dot (DQD). Individual tunneling events are used as the clock's ticks. We quantify the clock's precision while measuring the power dissipated by the DQD and, separately, the charge sensor in both direct-current and radio-frequency readout modes. This allows us to probe the thermodynamic cost of creating ticks microscopically and recording them macroscopically. Our experiment is the first to explore the interplay between the entropy produced by a microscopic clockwork and its macroscopic measurement apparatus. We show that the latter contribution not only dwarfs the former but also unlocks greatly increased precision, because the measurement record can be exploited to optimally estimate time even when the DQD is at equilibrium. Our results suggest that the entropy produced by the amplification and measurement of a clock's ticks, which has often been ignored in the literature, is the most important and fundamental thermodynamic cost of timekeeping at the quantum scale.

PubMedVol. 135(20)
Austrian Academy of Sciences (AT), TU Wien (AT), Institute of Science and Technology Austria (AT), King's College London (GB), University of Zurich (CH), Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information Innsbruck (AT), ETH Zurich (CH), University of Oxford (GB), Science Oxford (GB)
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Quantum and electron transport phenomena
6.23
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