Related papers: Quantum heat engines with multiferroic working sub…
Quantum heat engines form an active field of research due to their potential applications. There are several phenomena that are unique to the quantum regime, some of which are known to give these engines an edge over their classical…
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…
A central building block of a heat engine is the working fluid, which mediates the conversion of heat into work. In nanoscale heat engines, the working fluid can be a quantum system whose behavior and dynamics are non-classical. A…
In this paper, we summarize the historical development of finite-time thermodynamics and review the current state of research over the past two decades in this field, focusing on fundamental constraints of finite-time thermodynamic cycles,…
Quantum heat engines (QHEs) have attracted long-standing scientific interest, especially inspired by considerations of the interplay between heat and work with the quantization of energy levels, quantum superposition, and entanglement.…
We apply advanced methods of control theory to open quantum systems and we determine finite-time processes which are optimal with respect to thermodynamic performances. General properties and necessary conditions characterizing optimal…
The fundamentals of a quantum heat engine are derived from first principles. The study is based on the equation of motion of a minimum set of operators which is then used to define the state of the system. The relation between the quantum…
We present a quantum Otto engine model consisting of two isochoric and two adiabatic strokes, where the adiabatic expansion or compression is realized by adiabatically changing the shape of the potential. Here we show that such an adiabatic…
Some of the oldest and most important applications of thermodynamics are operations of refrigeration as well as production of useful energy. Part of the efforts to understand and develop thermodynamics in the quantum regime have been…
We propose a quantum heat engine based on a quadratically coupled optomechanical system. The optical component of the system is driven periodically with an incoherent thermal drive, which induces periodic oscillations in the mechanical…
Under a general framework, shortcuts to adiabatic processes are shown to be possible in classical systems. We then study the distribution function of the work done on a small system initially prepared at thermal equilibrium. It is found…
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 scheme for a single-atom quantum heat engine based on ultra-cold atom technologies. Building on the high degree of control typical of cold atom systems, we demonstrate that three paradigmatic heat engines -- Carnot, Otto and…
In recent years, much attention has been paid to the development of techniques which transfer trapped particles to very low temperatures. Here we focus our attention on a heating mechanism which contributes to the finite temperature limit…
In this study, we explore a relativistic quantum Otto heat engine with a qutrit as the working substance interacting with a quantum scalar field in curved spacetime. Unlike qubits, which extract work by simply expanding or shrinking a…
We consider a finite-time quantum Otto cycle with single and two-spin-$1/2$ systems as its working medium. In order to mimic adiabatic dynamics at a finite-time, we employ a shortcut-to-adiabaticity technique and evaluate the performance of…
We propose a quantum-enhanced heat engine with entanglement. The key feature of our scheme is superabsorption, which facilitates enhanced energy absorption by entangled qubits. Whereas a conventional engine with $N$ separable qubits…
By using a laser and maser in tandem, it is possible to obtain laser action in the hot exhaust gases involved in heat engine operation. Such a "quantum afterburner" involves the internal quantum states of working gas atoms or molecules as…
We present a general unified approach for the study of quantum thermal machines, including both heat engines and refrigerators, operating under periodic adiabatic driving and in contact with thermal reservoirs kept at different…
We identify that quantum coherence is a valuable resource in the quantum heat engine, which is designed in a quantum thermodynamic cycle assisted by a quantum Maxwell's demon. This demon is in a superposed state. The quantum work and heat…