Related papers: Quantum thermal absorption machines: refrigerators…
Quantum technology promises revolutionizing applications in information processing, communications, sensing, and modelling. However, efficient on-demand cooling of the functional quantum degrees of freedom remains a major challenge in many…
We study the unitary time evolution of a simple quantum Hamiltonian describing a heat engine coupled to two heat baths. The engine is modeled as a three-level system. Each heat bath consists of a single harmonic oscillator. The engine is…
The direction of the steady-state heat currents across a generic quantum system connected to multiple baths may be engineered so as to realize virtually any thermodynamic cycle. In spite of their versatility such continuous…
Quantum thermodynamics is an emerging research field aiming to extend standard thermodynamics and non-equilibrium statistical physics to ensembles of sizes well below the thermodynamic limit, in non-equilibrium situations, and with the full…
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…
Quantum thermodynamics is a powerful theoretical tool for assessing the suitability of quantum materials as platforms for novel technologies. In particular, the modeling of quantum cycles allows us to investigate the heat changes and work…
Thermal machines perform useful tasks--such as producing work, cooling, or heating--by exchanging energy, and possibly additional conserved quantities such as particles, with reservoirs. Here we consider thermal machines that perform more…
The absorption refrigerator can be considered a thermal transformer, i.e. a device that is analogous to the electric transformer. The analogy is based on a correspondence between the extensive quantities entropy and electric charge and that…
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…
Small quantum absorption refrigerators have recently attracted renewed attention. Here we present a missing design of a two-qubit fridge, the main feature of which is that one of the two machine qubits is itself maintained at a temperature…
A quantum dot driven by two ac gate potentials oscillating with a phase lag may be regarded as a quantum engine, where energy is transported and dissipated in the form of heat. In this chapter we introduce a microscopic model for a quantum…
We study the quantum and classical evolution of a system of three harmonic modes interacting via a trilinear Hamiltonian. With the modes prepared in thermal states of different temperatures, this model describes the working principle of an…
While quantum measurements have been shown to constitute a resource for operating quantum thermal machines, the nature of the energy exchanges involved in the interaction between system and measurement apparatus is still under debate. In…
We develop a physics-based model for classical computation based on autonomous quantum thermal machines. These machines consist of few interacting quantum bits (qubits) connected to several environments at different temperatures. Heat flows…
We study two models of quantum absorption refrigerators with the main focus on discerning the role of noise-induced coherence on their thermodynamic performance. Analogously to the previous studies on quantum heat engines, we find the…
The optimal control of open quantum systems is a challenging task but has a key role in improving existing quantum information processing technologies. We introduce a general framework based on Reinforcement Learning to discover optimal…
A quantum engine fueled by quantum measurement is proposed. Under the finite-time adiabatic driving regime, the conversion of heat to work is realized without the compression and expansion of the resonance frequency. The work output,…
We demonstrate that a quantum absorption refrigerator can be realized from the smallest quantum system, a qubit, by coupling it in a non-additive (strong) manner to three heat baths. This function is un-attainable for the qubit model under…
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…
This Colloquium is a fast journey through the build-up of key thermodynamical concepts, i.e. work, heat and irreversibility -- and how they relate to information. Born at the time of industrial revolution to optimize the exploitation of…