Related papers: Friction-free quantum machines
Quantum heat machines, encompassing heat engines, refrigerators, heaters, and accelerators, represent the forefront of quantum thermodynamics, offering a novel paradigm for converting heat energy into useful mechanical work. Leveraging…
Cyclic classical and quantum thermal machines show higher efficiency when the strokes are carried out quasi-statically. Recent theoretical and experimental work on figures of merit for thermal machines show that they have an advantage when…
Heat engines near the adiabatic limit typically assume a working medium at thermal equilibrium. However, quantum many-body systems often showcase conservation laws that hinder thermalization, leading to prethermalization in exotic…
The performance of quantum heat engines is generally based on the analysis of a single cycle. We challenge this approach by showing that the total work performed by a quantum engine need not be proportional to the number of cycles.…
Although implementing shortcuts to adiabaticity (STA) in open quantum systems remains challenging due to the complex control schemes required for such systems, their powerful ability to rapidly steer the system toward target states and…
We consider fast high-fidelity quantum control by using a shortcut to adiabaticity (STA) technique and optimal control theory (OCT). Three specific examples, including expansion of cold atoms from the harmonic trap, atomic transport by…
Shortcuts to adiabaticity (STA) are techniques allowing rapid variation of the system Hamiltonian without inducing excess heating. Fast optical transfer of atoms between different locations is a prime example of an STA application. We show…
We study a minimal quantum Otto heat engine, where the working medium consists of an interacting few-body system in a harmonic trap. This allows us to consider the interaction strength as an additional tunable parameter during the work…
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…
We study a quantum harmonic Otto engine under a hot squeezed thermal reservoir with asymmetry between the two adiabatic branches introduced by considering different speeds of the driving protocols. In the first configuration, the driving…
What are the resources that can be leveraged for a thermodynamic device to exhibit genuine quantum advantage? Typically, the answer to this question is sought in quantum correlations. In the present work, we show that quantum Otto engines…
A quantum thermal machine is an open quantum system that enables the conversion between heat and work at the micro or nano-scale. Optimally controlling such out-of-equilibrium systems is a crucial yet challenging task with applications to…
The work provides an overview on some recent advances in the area of quantum thermodynamics and quantum heat engines. A particular emphasis is put on the possibility of constructing finite time quantum cycles and adiabatic shortcuts. We…
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…
Quantization of energy is a quintessential characteristic of quantum systems. Here we analyze its effects on the operation of Otto cycle heat machines and show that energy quantization alone may alter and increase machine performance in…
Heat engines constitute the major building blocks of modern technologies. However, conventional heat engines with higher power yield lesser efficiency and vice versa and respect various power-efficiency trade-off relations. This is also…
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…
We propose a four-stroke quantum thermal machine based on the 1D anyon Hubbard model, which is capable of extracting the excess energy arising from anyon exclusion statistics at low temperature into finite work. Defining a hybrid anyon-Otto…
We demonstrate that under specific conditions, a finite-time quantum Otto engine, employing a spin-1/2 particle as the working substance, despite undergoing incomplete Otto cycles, can achieve higher efficiency than an ideal quantum Otto…
After a brief historical perspective, we introduce the key notions of work and heat for quantum systems, to then apply them to quantum engines operating on quantum Otto and Carnot cycles. The irreversible and dissipative character of the…