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A suitable way of quantifying work for microscopic quantum systems has been constantly debated in the field of quantum thermodynamics. One natural approach is to measure the average increase in energy of an ancillary system, called the…
We study how much the efficiency of a solar cell as a quantum heat engine could be enhanced by quantum coherence. In contrast to the conventional approach that a quantum heat engine is in thermal equilibrium with both hot and cold…
Established heat engines in quantum regime can be modeled with various quantum systems as working substances. For example, in the non-relativistic case, we can model the heat engine using infinite potential well as a working substance to…
We study the optimal performance of a three-level quantum refrigerator using two different objective functions: cooling power and $\chi$-function. For both cases, we obtain general expressions for the coefficient of performance (COP) and…
Properties of the coupled particles with spin 3/2 (quartits) in a constant magnetic field, as a working substance in the quantum Otto cycle of the heat engine, are considered. It is shown that this system as a converter of heat energy in…
We construct a quantum critical Otto engine that is powered by finite temperature baths. We show that the work output of the engine shows universal power law behavior that depends on the critical exponents of the working medium, as well as…
We establish a finite-time external field-driven quantum tricycle model. Within the framework of slow driving perturbation, the perturbation expansion of heat in powers of time can be derived during the heat exchange processes. Employing…
Quantum heat engines employ as working agents multi-level systems instead of gas-filled cylinders. We consider particularly two-level agents such as electrons immersed in a magnetic field. Work is produced in that case when the electrons…
If the work per cycle of a quantum heat engine is averaged over an appropriate prior distribution for an external parameter $a$, the work becomes optimal at Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency. More general priors of the form $\Pi(a) \propto…
The quantum-mechanical and thermodynamic properties of a 3-level molecular cooling cycle are derived. An inadequacy of earlier models is rectified in accounting for the spontaneous emission and absorption associated with the coupling to the…
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…
Landauer's erasure principle is a cornerstone of thermodynamics and information theory. According to this principle, erasing information incurs a minimum energy cost. Recently, Vaccaro and Barnett [Proc. R. Soc {\bf 467}, 1770 (2011)]…
When a reciprocating heat engine is started it eventually settles to a stable mode of operation. The approach of a first principle quantum heat engine toward this stable limit cycle is studied. The engine is based on a working medium…
In this work, we study the efficiency of charging a quantum battery through optical pumping. The battery consists of a qutrit and it is connected to a natural thermal reservoir and an external coherent drive in the limit where its upper…
It is well known that heat pumps, while being all limited by the same basic thermodynamic laws, may find realization on systems as "small" and "quantum" as a three-level maser. In order to quantitatively assess how the performance of these…
We show that coupled autonomous thermal machines, in the presence of three heat reservoirs and following a global linear-irreversible description, provide a unified framework to accommodate the variety of expressions for the efficiency at…
The efficiency of a quantum heat engine is maximum when the unitary strokes are adiabatic. On the other hand, this may not be always possible due to small energy gaps in the system, especially at the critical point where the gap vanishes.…
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 quantify the prior information to infer the optimal characteristics for a constrained thermodynamic process of maximum work extraction for a pair of non-identical finite systems. The total entropy of the whole system remains conserved.…
The maximum power of Feynman's ratchet as a heat engine and the corresponding efficiency ($\eta_\ast$) are investigated by optimizing both the internal parameter and the external load. When a perfect ratchet device (no heat exchange between…