Related papers: Molecular Heat Engines: Quantum Coherence Effects
It was recently suggested that molecular junctions would be excellent elements for efficient and high-power thermoelectric energy conversion devices. However, experimental measurements of thermoelectric conversion in molecular junctions…
Collective behavior where a set of elements interact and generate effects that are beyond the reach of the individual non interacting elements, are always of great interest in physics. Quantum collective effects that have no classical…
We consider a quantum engine driven by repeated weak interactions with a heat bath of identical three-level atoms. This model was first introduced by Scully et al. [Science, 2003], who showed that coherence between the energy-degenerate…
Modern technologies could soon make it possible to investigate the operation cycles of quantum heat engines by counting the photons that are emitted and absorbed by their working systems. Using the quantum jump approach to open-system…
Recent evidence suggests that quantum effects may have functional importance in biological light-harvesting systems. Along with delocalized electronic excitations, it is now suspected that quantum coherent interactions with certain…
We present the general theory of a quantum heat machine based on an $N$-level system (working medium) whose $N-1$ excited levels are degenerate, a prerequisite for steady-state interlevel coherence. Our goal is to find out: To what extent…
Conventional continuous quantum heat engines with incoherent heat transfer perform poorly as they exploit two-body interactions between the system and hot or cold baths, thus having limited capability to outperform their classical…
Quantum interference effects and decoherence mechanisms in single-molecule junctions are analyzed employing a nonequilibrium Green's function approach. Electrons tunneling through quasi-degenerate states of a nanoscale molecular junction…
Photosynthesis has been a long-standing research interest due to its fundamental importance. Recently, studies on photosynthesis processes also have inspired attention from a thermodynamical aspect when considering photosynthetic…
Quantum decoherence is seen as an undesired source of irreversibility that destroys quantum resources. Quantum coherences seem to be a property that vanishes at thermodynamic equilibrium. Away from equilibrium, quantum coherences challenge…
Quantum coherence has been demonstrated in various systems including organic solar cells and solid state devices. In this letter, we report the lower and upper bounds for the performance of quantum heat engines determined by the efficiency…
We present a realistic implementation of a quantum engine powered by a phaseonium gas of coherently prepared three-level atoms -- where quantum coherence acts as a thermodynamic resource. Using a collision model framework for…
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…
Answering the titular question has become a central motivation in the field of quantum biology, ever since the idea was raised following a series of experiments demonstrating wave-like behavior in photosynthetic complexes. Here, we report a…
Quantum heat engines (QHE) are thermal machines where the working substance is quantum. In the extreme case the working medium can be a single particle or a few level quantum system. The study of QHE has shown a remarkable similarity with…
The recent advances in the study of thermodynamics of microscopic processes have driven the search for new developments in energy converters utilizing quantum effects. We here propose a universal framework to describe the thermodynamics of…
How quantum coherence influences thermodynamic behavior remains an open question in quantum thermodynamics. Here we investigate this relation within the pure dephasing framework, where a central qubit interacts with a finite Ising-like spin…
The laws of thermodynamics apply equally well to quantum systems as to classical systems, and because of this quantum effects do not change the fundamental thermodynamic efficiency of isothermal refrigerators or engines. We show that,…
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 show that quantum coherence can enhance the performance of a continuous quantum heat engine in the Lindblad description. We investigate the steady-state solutions of the particle-exchanging quantum heat engine, composed of degenerate…