Information flow and optimal protocol for Maxwell's demon single electron pump

Abstract

We study the entropy and information flow in a Maxwell demon device based on a single-electron transistor with controlled gate potentials. We construct the protocols for measuring the charge states and manipulating the gate voltages which minimizes irreversibility for (i) constant input power from the environment or (ii) given energy gain. Charge measurement is modeled by a series of detector readouts for time-dependent gate potentials, and the amount of information obtained is determined. The protocols optimize irreversibility that arises due to (i) enlargement of the configuration space on opening the barriers, and (ii) finite rate of operation. These optimal protocols are general and apply to all systems where barriers between different regions can be manipulated.