Optimal memory performance: a control-based thermodynamic approach

Every irreversible information process (for example a memory erasure) costs some energy.
In this project we identify and put operative bounds to the energetic costs of operating a memory using a nanoparticle trapped in a double well optical potential. We will use a novel thermodynamic quantifier for the memory operation efficiency that encompasses its switching time, entropy production and state fidelity. We will then optimize it using a control theory approach, to obtain energy efficient protocols. This approach, enabled by the ESQ Discovery grant, opens up a new line of research linking experimental stochastic thermodynamic to information theory, potentially extending these questions to information encoded and processed in the quantum regime.