Splitting qubits inside a quantum computer into high and low-energy groups can charge a battery
Shutterstock / Pavel Chukhov
A 19th-century thought experiment, considered for decades to break the laws of thermodynamics, has been brought to life inside a quantum computer and used to charge a quantum battery.
Physicist James Clerk Maxwell imagined his demon in 1867 while thinking about how to cheat the laws of thermodynamics. He considered two boxes of gas separated by a weightless door and a tiny demon that controls which particles can go through it. The demon uses this control to make one box hotter…
