Related papers: The efficiency of simple Quantum Engine Stirling a…
We want to understand whether and to which extent the maximal (Carnot) efficiency for heat engines can be reached at a finite power. To this end we generalize the Carnot cycle so that it is not restricted to slow processes. We show that for…
We evaluate the role of quantum coherence as a thermodynamic resource in a noisy, Markovian, one-qubit heat engine. By consuming the coherence of noisy quantum states, we demonstrate that the engine can surpass the classical efficiency…
It is possible to extract work from a quantum-mechanical system whose dynamics is governed by a time-dependent cyclic Hamiltonian. An energy bath is required to operate such a quantum engine in place of the heat bath used to run a…
Real quantum heat engines lack the separation of time and length scales that is characteristic for classical engines. They must be understood as open quantum systems in non-equilibrium with time-controlled coupling to thermal reservoirs as…
We explore the potential of a spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate for thermodynamic cycles. For this purpose we propose a quantum heat engine based on a condensate with spin-orbit and Zeeman coupling as a working medium. The cooling…
The triumph of heat engines is their ability to convert the disordered energy of thermal sources into useful mechanical motion. In recent years, much effort has been devoted to generalizing thermodynamic notions to the quantum regime,…
A quantum heat engine (QHE) based on the interaction driving of a many-particle working medium is introduced. The cycle alternates isochoric heating and cooling strokes with both interaction-driven processes that are simultaneously…
Performance of nano- and micro-scale heat engines can be improved with a help from quantum mechanical phenomena. Recently, heat reservoirs with quantum coherence have been proposed to enhance engine performance beyond the Carnot limit even…
For an understanding of a heat engine working in the microscopic scale, it is often necessary to estimate the amount of reversible work extracted by isothermal expansion of the quantum gas used as its working substance. We consider an…
Standard heat machines (engine, heat pump, refrigerator) are composed of a system ("working fluid") coupled to at least two equilibrium baths at different temperatures and periodically driven by an external device (piston or rotor) called…
We consider a class of quantum heat engines consisting of two subsystems interacting via a unitary transformation and coupled to two separate baths at different temperatures $T_h > T_c$. The purpose of the engine is to extract work due to…
Quantum thermodynamics studies quantum effects in thermal machines. But when is a heat engine, which cyclically interacts with external reservoirs that unavoidably destroy its quantum coherence, really quantum? We here use the Leggett-Garg…
Thermodynamic constraints impose a trade-off between power and efficiency in heat engines, preventing the simultaneous achievement of high power and high efficiency. For classical microscopic engines, explicit inequalities have been…
Steady-state quantum thermal machines are typically characterized by a continuous flow of heat between different reservoirs. However, at the level of discrete stochastic realizations, heat flow is unraveled as a series of abrupt quantum…
We investigate a model of a stochastic engine operating cyclically at constant bath temperature, which consists of an overdamped Brownian harmonic oscillator that plays the role of working substance and is elastically coupled to an active…
In this review the debated rapport between thermodynamics and quantum mechanics is addressed in the framework of the theory of periodically-driven/controlled quantum-thermodynamic machines. The basic model studied here is that of a…
Quantum thermodynamics supplies a consistent description of quantum heat engines and refrigerators up to the level of a single few level system coupled to the environment. Once the environment is split into three;a hot, cold and work…
We propose an experimental scheme to realize a nano heat engine with a single ion. An Otto cycle may be implemented by confining the ion in a linear Paul trap with tapered geometry and coupling it to engineered laser reservoirs. The quantum…
In order to describe quantum heat engines, here we systematically study isothermal and isochoric processes for quantum thermodynamic cycles. Based on these results the quantum versions of both the Carnot heat engine and the Otto heat engine…
We present a geometric formalism for the non-equilibrium thermodynamics of a small system coupled to external isothermal reservoirs as an application of Thouless pumping, where the electrochemical potentials of the reservoirs and parameters…