An Atom-optical Maxwell Demon

G. J. Milburn
1998 Australian journal of physics (Print)  
The separation, by an optical standing wave, of a beam of two-level atoms prepared in a thermal mixture of ground and excited states, is considered as an example of a Maxwell demon. By including the momentum exchanged with the cavity, it is shown how no violation of the second law is possible. A classical and quantum analysis is given which illustrates this principle in some detail.
doi:10.1071/p97021 fatcat:yq2lqzhykzam3infpdx3sft6jm