npj Quantum Information (Sep 2023)

Experimental signature of initial quantum coherence on entropy production

  • Santiago Hernández-Gómez,
  • Stefano Gherardini,
  • Alessio Belenchia,
  • Andrea Trombettoni,
  • Mauro Paternostro,
  • Nicole Fabbri

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41534-023-00738-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 7

Abstract

Read online

Abstract We report on the experimental quantification of the contribution to non-equilibrium entropy production stemming from the quantum coherence content in the initial state of a qubit exposed to both coherent driving and dissipation. Our experimental demonstration builds on the exquisite experimental control of the spin state of a nitrogen-vacancy defect in diamond and is underpinned, theoretically, by the formulation of a generalized fluctuation theorem designed to track the effects of quantum coherence. Our results provide significant evidence of the possibility to pinpoint the genuinely quantum mechanical contributions to the thermodynamics of non-equilibrium quantum processes in an open quantum systems scenario.