  Algorithmic cooling is a novel technique to generate ensembles of highly
polarized spins, which could significantly improve the signal strength in
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. It combines reversible
(entropy-preserving) manipulations and irreversible controlled interactions
with the environment, using simple quantum computing techniques to increase
spin polarization far beyond the Shannon entropy-conservation bound. Notably,
thermalization is beneficially employed as an integral part of the cooling
scheme, contrary to its ordinary destructive implications. We report the first
cooling experiments bypassing Shannon's entropy-conservation bound, performed
on a standard liquid-state NMR spectrometer. We believe that this experimental
success could pave the way for the first near-future application of quantum
computing devices.
