Spin-mechanical thermal machines
Quantum Physics
2026-01-13 v1
Abstract
We introduce a method to construct a quantum battery and a quantum Otto heat engine using a Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) center spin coupled to a mechanical oscillator in a highly detuned regime. By precisely controlling the NV spin, we enable efficient energy exchange despite significant detuning, challenging conventional assumptions. This leads to a robust mechanical quantum battery and a cooling scheme driving the oscillator toward its ground state. Leveraging this, we implement a quantum Otto engine that produces mechanical work at maximum efficiency without decoupling from the hot bath, paving the way for practical quantum thermal machines.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2410.00439,
title = {Spin-mechanical thermal machines},
author = {Mohamed Hatifi and Anshuman Nayak and Jason Twamley},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2410.00439},
year = {2026}
}