We propose and theoretically investigate a nanomechanical heat engine. We show how a levitated nanoparticle in a harmonic optical trap inside an optical cavity can be used to realize a Stirling cycle in the underdamped regime. The all-optical approach enables fast and exible control of all the thermodynamical parameters and the effcient optimization of the performance of the engine. We develop a systematic optimization procedure to determine optimal driving protocols. We further perform numerical simulations with realistic parameters and evaluate the maximum power and the corresponding effciency.
@article{arxiv.1408.4617,
title = {An all-optical nanomechanical heat engine},
author = {Andreas Dechant and Nikolai Kiesel and Eric Lutz},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1408.4617},
year = {2015}
}