Related papers: Single-atom heat machines enabled by energy quanti…
We revisit the mathematics of exactly solvable Unruh-DeWitt detector models, interacting with massless scalar fields under instantaneous interactions, to construct a relativistic quantum Otto heat engine. By deriving the conditions under…
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…
A key focus of designing quantum thermal devices is the potential advantage that can be gleaned from genuine quantum effects when compared to classical devices. The recent experimental realization of the Pauli engine, where energy is…
We propose a relativistic quantum Otto cycle between an entangled state of two qubits and their composite excited (or ground) state whose efficiency can be greater than the usual single qubit quantum Otto engine. The hot and cold reservoirs…
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…
Recent predictions for quantum-mechanical enhancements in the operation of small heat engines have raised renewed interest in their study from both a fundamental perspective and in view of applications. One essential question is whether…
We study a four-stroke Otto engine whose working fluid is a quantum Ising chain. The thermodynamic cycle consists in sweeps of the transverse magnetic field occurring in thermal isolation, alternated by thermalisation strokes with…
It was reported that, if and only if the specific heat, correlation length, and dynamical exponents $\alpha, \nu$ and $z$, fulfill the condition $\alpha-z\nu>0$, the phase transitions can enable a quantum heat engine to approach Carnot…
The concept of majorisation is explored as a tool to characterize the performance of a quantum Otto engine in the quasi-static regime. For a working substance in the form of a spin of arbitrary magnitude, majorisation yields a necessary and…
Measurement-based quantum thermal machines are fascinating models of thermodynamic cycles where measurement protocols play an important role in the performance and functioning of the cycle. Despite theoretical advances, interesting…
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,…
The efficiency of cyclic heat engines is limited by the Carnot bound. This bound follows from the second law of thermodynamics and is attained by engines that operate between two thermal baths under the reversibility condition whereby the…
We study the thermodynamic performance of a periodic quantum Otto cycle operating on the single-impurity Anderson model. Using a decomposition of the time-evolution generator based on the principle of minimal dissipation, combined with the…
We study the performance of a quantum Otto cycle using a harmonic work medium and undergoing collisional dynamics with finite-size reservoirs. We span the dynamical regimes of the work strokes from strongly non-adiabatic to quasi-static…
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.…
Quantum friction, a quantum analog of classical friction, reduces the performance of quantum machines, such as heat engines, and makes them less energy efficient. We here report the experimental realization of an energy efficient quantum…
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…
Coherent interconversion between optical and mechanical excitations in an optomechanical cavity can be used to engineer a quantum heat engine. This heat engine is based on an Otto cycle between a cold photonic reservoir and a hot phononic…
Heat engines usually operate by exchanging heat with thermal baths at different (positive) temperatures. Nonthermal baths may, however, lead to a significant performance boost. We here experimentally analyze the power output of a…
Heat engines extract work by running cyclically between two heat reservoirs. When the two reservoirs are thermal and at different temperatures, the maximum efficiency of the engine is given by the Carnot limit. Here we consider a quantum…