Shortcut-to-adiabaticity (STA) protocols have been introduced as fast alternatives to time-consuming transformations, where the parameters controlling a system are slowly (adiabatically) changed. These methods have been of interest in quantum systems for many years. They allow for manipulation on timescales shorter than the decoherence time, with applications in metrology and interferometry. They have recently been found to be helpful when applied to classical devices, providing, for instance, a better control of micromechanical oscillators, with applications in faster atomic force imaging techniques.
In this talk, I will give an introduction to Shortcut-to-adiabaticity and one of its practical protocols called Engineered Swift Equilibration (ESE). Then, I present our recent research regarding an ESE protocol using diffusiophoretic forces for fast manipulating optically trapped colloidal particles. By a proper combination of optical and phoretic forcing, we have proposed a family of decompression protocols for manipulating colloidal states. Our operational procedure overcomes the drawbacks of using solely optical forces in STA and paves the way toward possible applications in designing or improving the performance of small-scale heat engines and thermodynamic cycles in Brownian and active systems.