Related papers: Quantum coherent three-terminal thermoelectrics: m…
The efficiency at maximum power (EMP) of irreversible Carnot-like heat engines is investigated based on the weak endoreversible assumption and the phenomenologically irreversible thermodynamics. It is found that the weak endoreversible…
Differences between the thermodynamic behavior of the three-level amplifier (a quantum heat engine based on a thermally pumped laser) and the classical Carnot cycle are usually attributed to the essentially quantum or discrete nature of the…
Recent research on the thermodynamic arrow of time, at the microscopic scale, has questioned the universality of its direction. Theoretical studies showed that quantum correlations can be used to revert the natural heat flow (from the hot…
The unitary generation of coherence from an incoherent thermal state is investigated. We consider a completely controllable Hamiltonian allowing to generate all possible unitary transformations. Optimizing the unitary control to achieve…
Navigating the intricacies of thermal management at the quantum scale is a challenge in the pursuit of advanced nanoscale technologies. To this extent, theoretical frameworks introducing minimal models mirroring the functionality of…
A three-terminal thermoelectric device based on a $p$-$i$-$n$ semiconductor junction is proposed, where the intrinsic region is mounted onto a, typically bosonic, thermal terminal. Remarkably, the figure of merit of the device is governed…
The Carnot statement of the second law of thermodynamics poses an upper limit on the efficiency of all heat engines. Recently, it has been studied whether generic quantum features such as coherence and quantum entanglement could allow for…
Quantum dots are model systems for quantum thermoelectric behavior because of the ability to control and measure the effects of electron-energy filtering and quantum confinement on thermoelectric properties. Interestingly, nonlinear…
We derive a universal bound on the large-deviation functions of particle currents in coherent conductors. This bound depends only on the mean value of the relevant current and the total rate of entropy production required to maintain a…
The minimal-coupling quantum heat engine is a thermal machine consisting of an explicit energy storage system, heat baths, and a working body, which alternatively couples to subsystems through discrete strokes -- energy-conserving two-body…
Two-terminal electronic transport systems with a rectangular transmission can violate standard thermodynamic uncertainty relations. This is possible beyond the linear response regime and for parameters that are not accessible with rate…
Coherent control of self-contained quantum systems offers the possibility to fabricate smallest thermal transistors. The steady coherence created by the delocalization of electronic excited states arouses nonlinear heat transports in…
We show the validity of some results of finite-time thermodynamics, also within the quasi-static framework of classical thermodynamics. First, we consider the efficiency at maximum work (EMW) from finite source and sink modelled as…
We consider a finite one-dimensional chain of quantum rotors interacting with a set of thermal baths at different temperatures. When the interaction between the rotors is made chiral, such a system behaves as an autonomous thermal motor,…
Nearly all thermal radiation phenomena involving materials with linear response can be accurately described via semi-classical theories of light. Here, we go beyond these traditional paradigms to study a nonlinear system which, as we show,…
We present a measurement-based quantum thermal machine that extracts work from the back-action of generalized quantum measurements whose working medium is a coupled two-level quantum system. Specifically, we derive universal optimization…
We study the stochastic energetic exchanges in quantum heat engines. Due to microreversibility, these obey a fluctuation relation, called the heat engine fluctuation relation, which implies the Carnot bound: no machine can have an…
Multi-terminal topological devices are a new generation of electronic devices with quantized properties robust against imperfections. In magnetic topological insulators, dissipationless edge states give functional devices in zero magnetic…
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…
We study how to achieve the ultimate power in the simplest, yet non trivial, model of a thermal machine, namely a two-level quantum system coupled to two thermal baths. Without making any prior assumption on the protocol, via optimal…