Related papers: Thermal noise engines
We analyze the performance of slowly driven meso- and micro-scale refrigerators and heat engines that operate between two thermal baths with small temperature difference. Using a general scaling argument, we show that such devices can work…
Periodic driving is used to operate machines that go from standard macroscopic engines to small non-equilibrium micro-sized systems. Two classes of such systems are small heat engines driven by periodic temperature variations and molecular…
The purpose of this work is to present the concept of an autonomous Stirling-like engine powered by anisotropy of thermodynamic fluctuations. Specifically, simultaneous contact of a thermodynamic system with two heat baths along coupled…
A single-piston quantum engine based on a harmonic oscillator acting as the working fluid is proposed. Using the fact that the interaction between the piston and the oscillator depends on the extent of the oscillator wavefunction, one can…
The linear conductance of a tunnel junction in series with an ohmic resistor is determined in the high temperature limit. The tunneling current is treated nonperturbatively by means of path integral techniques. Due to quantum effects the…
Do quantum correlations lead to better performance with respect to several different systems working independently? For quantum thermal machines, the question is whether a working medium (WM) made of $N$ constituents exhibits better…
We consider optimizations of Lenoir heat engine within a quantum dynamical field consisting of $N$ noninteracting fermions trapped in multilevel infinite potential square-well. Fermions play role as working substance of the engine with each…
The power spectrum of finite-temperature quantum electromagnetic fluctuations produced by elementary charge carriers under the influence of external electric field is investigated. It is found that under the combined action of the photon…
We propose a two-stage cycle for an optimized linear-irreversible heat engine that operates, in a finite time, between a hot (cold) reservoir and a finite auxiliary system acting as a sink (source) in the first (second) stage. Under the…
We explore the possibility of enhancing the performance of small thermal machines by the presence of common noise sources. In particular, we study a prototypical model for an autonomous quantum refrigerator comprised by three qubits coupled…
We experimentally demonstrate the validity of non-equilibrium fluctuation relations by using a quantum coherent conductor. In equilibrium the fluctuation-dissipation relation leads to the correlation between current and current noise at the…
We analyze the efficiency of thermal engines (either quantum or classical) working with a single heat reservoir like atmosphere. The engine first gets an energy intake, which can be done in arbitrary non-equilibrium way e.g. combustion of…
We develop a geometric framework to describe the thermodynamics of microscopic heat engines driven by slow periodic temperature variations and modulations of a mechanical control parameter. Covering both the classical and the quantum…
Heat engines should ideally have large power output, operate close to Carnot efficiency and show constancy, i.e., exhibit only small fluctuations in this output. For steady-state heat engines, driven by a constant temperature difference…
We show that quantum coherence can enhance the performance of a continuous quantum heat engine in the Lindblad description. We investigate the steady-state solutions of the particle-exchanging quantum heat engine, composed of degenerate…
We study the statistical properties of charge and energy transport in electron conducting junctions with electron-phonon interactions, specifically, the thermoelectric efficiency and its fluctuations. The system comprises donor and acceptor…
Collective behavior where a set of elements interact and generate effects that are beyond the reach of the individual non interacting elements, are always of great interest in physics. Quantum collective effects that have no classical…
Three different definitions of effective temperature -- $\mathcal{T}_{\rm k}$, $\mathcal{T}_{\rm i}$ and $\mathcal{T}_{\rm r}$ related to kinetic theory, system entropy and response theory, respectively -- are applied in the description of…
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…
We analyze the power output of a quantum dot machine coupled to two electronic reservoirs via thermoelectric contacts, and to two thermal reservoirs - one hot and one cold. This machine is a nanoscale analogue of a conventional thermocouple…