Related papers: Two-level masers as heat-to-work converters
We propose quantum engines powered entirely by the quantum measurement process. Our theoretical construction of the engine requires no work from the system Hamiltonian, and takes energy only from the process of observation to move a…
Extended from its electromagnetic counterpart, transformation thermodynamics applied to thermal conduction equations can map a virtual geometry into a physical thermal medium, realizing the manipulation of heat flux with almost arbitrarily…
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…
We discuss a quantum thermal machine that generates power from a thermally driven double quantum dot coupled to normal and superconducting reservoirs. Energy exchange between the dots is mediated by electron-electron interactions. We can…
Autonomous quantum thermal machines do not require an external coherent drive or work input to perform the desired tasks, which makes them a promising candidate for thermal management in quantum systems. Here, we propose an autonomous…
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 design a class of spatially inhomogeneous heat spreaders in the context of steady-state thermal conduction leading to spatially uniform thermal fields across a large convective surface. Each spreader has a funnel-shaped design, either in…
The introduction of the quantum analogue of a Carnot engine based on a bath comprising of particles with a small amount of coherence initiated an active line of research on the harnessing of different quantum resources for the enhancement…
We present a simple approach allowing to obtain analytical expressions for laser pulses that can drive a two-level system in an arbitrarily chosen way. The proposed scheme relates every desired population-evolution path to a single resonant…
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…
We investigate heat engines whose working substance is made of two coupled qubits performing a generalised Otto cycle by varying their applied magnetic field or their interaction strength during the compression and expansion strokes. During…
The performance enhancements observed in various models of continuous quantum thermal machines have been linked to the buildup of coherences in a preferred basis. But, is this connection always an evidence of `quantum-thermodynamic…
We present a study of the performance of endoreversible thermal machines optimized with respect to the thermodynamic force associated with the cold bath in the regime of small thermodynamic forces. These thermal machines can work either as…
In a quantum Stirling heat engine, the heat exchanged with two thermal baths is partly utilized for performing work by redistributing the energy levels of the working substance. We analyze the thermodynamics of a quantum Stirling engine…
We propose and analyze a simple mesoscopic quantum heat engine that exhibits both high-power and high-efficiency. The system consists of a biased Josephson junction coupled to two microwave cavities, with each cavity coupled to a thermal…
We discuss the efficiency of a heat engine operating in a nonequilibrium steady state maintained by two heat reservoirs. Within the general framework of linear irreversible thermodynamics we derive a universal upper bound on the efficiency…
We study the thermodynamic performance of the finite-time non-regenerative Stirling cycle used as a quantum heat engine. We consider specifically the case in which the working substance (WS) is a two-level system. The Stirling cycle is made…
In this paper we aim to push the analogy between thermodynamics and quantum resource theories one step further. Previous inspirations were based predominantly on thermodynamic considerations concerning scenarios with a single heat bath,…
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…
The efficiency of macroscopic heat engines is restricted by the second law of thermodynamics. They can reach at most the efficiency of a Carnot engine. In contrast, heat currents in mesoscopic heat engines show fluctuations. Thus, there is…