Related papers: Heat engine driven by photon tunneling in many-bod…

Near-field electromagnetic heat transfer holds great potential for the advancement of nanotechnology. Whereas far-field electromagnetic heat transfer is constrained by Planck's blackbody limit, the increased density of states in the…

A system consisting of two slabs with different temperatures can exhibit a non-equilibrium lateral Casimir force on either one of the slabs when Lorentz reciprocity is broken in at least one of the slabs. This system constitutes a photonic…

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 explore two- and three-state Markov models driven out of thermal equilibrium by non-potential forces to demonstrate basic properties of the steady heat capacity based on the concept of quasistatic excess heat. It is shown that large…

Understanding the fundamental limits of various energy conversion approaches is essential for assessing their efficiency and power output. In this work, we derive general performance bounds for thermoradiative heat engines that exchange…

We present a detailed thermodynamic analysis of a three-level quantum heat engine coupled continuously to hot and cold reservoirs. The system is driven by an oscillating external field and is described by the Markovian quantum master…

Advantages of quantum effects in several technologies, such as computation and communication, have already been well appreciated, and some devices, such as quantum computers and communication links, exhibiting superiority to their classical…

Thermal machines perform useful tasks--such as producing work, cooling, or heating--by exchanging energy, and possibly additional conserved quantities such as particles, with reservoirs. Here we consider thermal machines that perform more…

Diverse models of engines energised by quantum-coherent, hence non-thermal, baths allow the engine efficiency to transgress the standard thermodynamic Carnot bound. These transgressions call for an elucidation of the underlying mechanisms.…

We consider the consequence of nonreciprocity in near-field heat transfer by studying systems consisting of magneto-optical nanoparticles.We demonstrate that, in thermal equilibrium, a nonreciprocal many-body system in heat transfer can…

A quantum dot driven by two ac gate potentials oscillating with a phase lag may be regarded as a quantum engine, where energy is transported and dissipated in the form of heat. In this chapter we introduce a microscopic model for a quantum…

We review recent theoretical work on thermoelectric energy harvesting in multi-terminal quantum-dot setups. We first discuss several examples of nanoscale heat engines based on Coulomb-coupled conductors. In particular, we focus on quantum…

We propose a three terminal heat engine based on semiconductor superlattices for energy harvesting. The periodicity of the superlattice structure creates an energy miniband, giving an energy window for allowed electron transport. We find…

We introduce a local radiative heat-pumping effect between two bodies in a many-body system, obtained by periodically modulating both the temperature and the position of an intermediate object using an external source of energy. We show…

We consider a relativistic quantum heat engine that goes through a thermodynamical cycle consisting of stages involving laser-assisted cooling of electrons and the generation of Xray radiation. Quantum treatment of the processes makes it…

Engines are systems and devices that convert one form of energy into another, typically into a more useful form that can perform work. In the classical setup, physical, chemical, and biological engines largely involve the conversion of heat…

We study the energestics of a thermal motor driven by temperature differences, which consists of Brownian particles moving in a sawtooth potential with an external load where the viscous medium is alternately in contact with hot and cold…

Near-field radiative heat transfer allows heat to propagate across a small vacuum gap in quantities that are several orders of magnitude greater then the heat transfer by far-field, blackbody radiation. Although heat transfer via near-field…

Heat radiation and near-field radiative heat transfer can be strongly manipulated by adjusting geometrical shapes, optical properties, or the relative positions of the objects involved. Typically these objects are considered as embedded in…

The triumph of heat engines is their ability to convert the disordered energy of thermal sources into useful mechanical motion. In recent years, much effort has been devoted to generalizing thermodynamic notions to the quantum regime,…