Related papers: Reversible work extraction in a hybrid opto-mechan…
The resource-theoretic approach to quantum thermodynamics assumes complete knowledge of the thermal equilibrium against which thermodynamic resources are defined. In practice, however, this state is determined by the system Hamiltonian and…
Extracting useful work from quantum systems is a fundamental problem in quantum thermodynamics. In scenarios where rapid protocols are desired -- whether due to practical constraints or deliberate design choices -- a fundamental trade-off…
How much work can be extracted from a heat bath using a thermal machine? The study of this question has a very long tradition in statistical physics in the weak-coupling limit, applied to macroscopic systems. However, the assumption that…
We investigate the quantum thermodynamic cycle of a quantum heat engine carrying out an Otto thermodynamic cycle. We use the thermal properties of a moving heat bath with relativistic velocity with respect to the cold bath. As a working…
Evaluating the maximum amount of work extractable from a nanoscale quantum system is one of the central problems in quantum thermodynamics. Previous works identified the free energy of the input state as the optimal rate of extractable work…
We investigate a quantum battery made of N two-level systems, which is charged by an optical mode via an energy-conserving interaction. We quantify the fraction E(N) of energy stored in the B battery that can be extracted in order to…
We study two different models of optomechanical systems where a temperature gradient between two radiation baths is exploited for inducing self-sustained coherent oscillations of a mechanical resonator. Viewed from a thermodynamic…
The reversible nature of thermodynamical cycles is an idealisation based on the assumption of perfect quasi-static dynamics. As a consequence of this assumption, ideal engines operate at the maximum efficiency but have zero power. Realistic…
A system in thermal equilibrium with a bath will generally be in an athermal state, if the system-bath coupling is strong. In some cases, it will be possible to extract work from that athermal state, after disconnecting the system from the…
We investigate work extraction protocols designed to transfer the maximum possible energy to a battery using sequential access to $N$ copies of an unknown pure qubit state. The core challenge is designing interactions to optimally balance…
The aim of this paper is to determine lost works in a molecular engine and compare results with macro (classical) heat engines. Firstly, irreversible thermodynamics are reviewed for macro and molecular cycles. Secondly, irreversible…
We show that a cyclic unitary process can extract work from the thermodynamic equilibrium state of an engineered quantum dissipative process. Systems in the equilibrium states of these processes serve as batteries, storing energy. The…
Energy extraction is a central task in thermodynamics. In quantum physics, ergotropy measures the amount of work extractable under cyclic Hamiltonian control. As its full extraction requires perfect knowledge of the initial state, however,…
Thermodynamics of nanoscale devices is an active area of research. Despite their noisy surround- ing they often produce mechanical work (e.g. micro-heat engines) or display rectified Brownian motion (e.g. molecular motors). This invokes the…
We consider the task of extracting work from quantum systems in the resource theory perspective of thermodynamics, where free states are arbitrary thermal states, and allowed operations are energy conserving unitary transformations. Taking…
Modern technologies could soon make it possible to investigate the operation cycles of quantum heat engines by counting the photons that are emitted and absorbed by their working systems. Using the quantum jump approach to open-system…
We introduce heat engines working in the nano-regime that allow to extract a finite amount of deterministic work. We show that the efficiency of these cycles is strictly smaller than Carnot's, and we associate this difference with a…
Traditional quantum thermodynamic frameworks associate work to energy exchanges induced by unitary transformations generated by external controls, and heat to energy exchanges induced by bath interaction. Recently, a framework was…
We revisit the problem of work extraction from a system in contact with a heat bath to a work storage system, and the reverse problem of state formation from a thermal system state in single-shot quantum thermodynamics. A physically…
We analyze work extraction protocols using the long-lived quantum coherence of a three-level quantum system, which is coupled to a thermal bath through dipole-monopole interactions. We identify situations where persistent quantum coherence…