Related papers: The smallest refrigerators can reach maximal effic…
Despite its idealizations, thermodynamics has proven its power as a predictive theory for practical applications. In particular, the Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency provides a benchmark for any real engine operating at maximal power. Here we…
We consider a class of quantum heat engines consisting of two subsystems interacting via a unitary transformation and coupled to two separate baths at different temperatures $T_h > T_c$. The purpose of the engine is to extract work due to…
We revisit the self-contained quantum refrigerator in the strong-internal-coupling regime by employing the quantum optical master equation. It is shown that strong internal coupling reduces the cooling ability of the refrigerator. In…
We consider the performance of periodically driven stochastic heat engines in the linear response regime. Reaching the theoretical bounds for efficiency and efficiency at maximum power typically requires full control over the design and the…
Artificial micro heat engines are prototypical models to explore and elucidate the mechanisms of energy transduction in a regime that is dominated by fluctuations [1-2]. Micro heat engines realized hitherto mimicked their macroscopic…
We investigate the efficiency at maximum power of an irreversible Carnot engine performing finite-time cycles between two reservoirs at temperatures $T_h$ and $T_c$ $(T_c<T_h)$, taking into account of internally dissipative friction in two…
Cooling quantum systems is arguably one of the most important thermodynamic tasks connected to modern quantum technologies and an interesting question from a foundational perspective. It is thus of no surprise that many different…
We discuss the possibility of reaching the Carnot efficiency by heat engines (HEs) out of quasi-static conditions at nonzero power output. We focus on several models widely used to describe the performance of actual HEs. These models…
We study the efficiency at maximum power, $\eta^*$, of engines performing finite-time Carnot cycles between a hot and a cold reservoir at temperatures $T_h$ and $T_c$, respectively. For engines reaching Carnot efficiency $\eta_C=1-T_c/T_h$…
Efficiency and power are two central measures of the performance of thermal machines. We here study the power-efficiency-stability trade-off in a finite-time quantum Carnot information engine, in which an information reservoir replaces the…
A reciprocating quantum refrigerator is analyzed with the intention to study the limitations imposed by external noise. In particular we focus on the behavior of the refrigerator when it approaches the absolute zero. The cooling cycle is…
We study the functioning of a three-level thermal machine when acting on a many-qubit system, the entire system being placed in an electromagnetic field in a stationary out-of-thermal-equilibrium configuration. This realistic setup stands…
The laws of thermodynamics strongly restrict the performance of thermal machines. Standard thermodynamics, initially developed for uncorrelated macroscopic systems, does not hold for microscopic systems correlated with their environments.…
Refrigeration is an important enabler for quantum technology. The very low energy of the fundamental excitations typically utilized in quantum technology devices and systems requires temperature well below 1 K. Expensive cryostats are…
We study the optimal performance of Carnot-like heat engines working in low dissipation regime using the product of the efficiency and the power output, also known as the efficient power, as our objective function. Efficient power function…
We study a class of cyclic Brownian heat engines in the framework of finite-time thermodynamics. For infinitely long cycle times, the engine works at the Carnot efficiency limit producing, however, zero power. For the efficiency at maximum…
A quantum-mechanical analog of the Carnot engine reversibly working at vanishing temperature, shortly termed the quantum-mechanical Carnot engine, is discussed. A general formula for the efficiency of such an engine with an arbitrary…
Quantum coherence has been shown to impact the operational capabilities of quantum systems performing thermodynamic tasks in a significant way, and yet the possibility and conditions for genuine coherence-enhanced thermodynamic operation…
Fluctuations of thermodynamic quantities become non-negligible and play an important role when the system size is small. We develop finite-time thermodynamics of fluctuations in microscopic heat engines whose environmental temperature and…
Quantum coherence has been demonstrated in various systems including organic solar cells and solid state devices. In this letter, we report the lower and upper bounds for the performance of quantum heat engines determined by the efficiency…