Related papers: Spin-mechanical thermal machines
We discuss whether, and under which conditions, it is possible to realize a heat engine simply by dynamically modulating the couplings between the quantum working medium and thermal reservoirs. For that purpose, we consider the paradigmatic…
Quantum heat engines provide attractive means in quantum thermodynamics for studying the fundamentals of the flow of heat and work. Previous experimental implementations of heat engines operating at the level of a few excitation quanta have…
In this paper we study a quantum Otto thermal machine where the working substance is composed of N identical qubits coupled to a single mode of a bosonic field, where the atoms and the field interact with a reservoir, as described by the…
Relativistic quantum systems exhibit unique features not present at lower energies, such as the existence of both particles and antiparticles, and restrictions placed on the system dynamics due to the light cone. In order to understand what…
We consider a mechanical resonator made of diamond, which contains a nitrogen-vacancy center (NV center) locating at the end of the oscillator. A second order magnetic gradient is applied and inducing coupling between mechanical modes and…
We propose and theoretically analyse a superconducting electric circuit which can be used to experimentally realize an autonomous quantum heat engine. Using a quasiclassical, non-Markovian theoretical model, we demonstrate that coherent…
We investigate a heat- to charge-current converter consisting of a single-level quantum dot coupled to two ferromagnetic metals and one ferromagnetic insulator held at different temperatures. We demonstrate that this nano engine can act as…
The Dicke-Hubbard model, describing an ensemble of interacting atoms in a cavity, provides a rich platform for exploring collective quantum phenomena. However, its potential for quantum thermodynamic applications remains largely uncharted.…
Heat is a physical manifestation of entropy, where the removal of entropy from a thermal energy reservoir permits the conversion of heat into work. This entropy transfer is facilitated by the cold thermal energy reservoir in typical heat…
We study a four-stroke Otto engine whose working fluid is a quantum Ising chain. The thermodynamic cycle consists in sweeps of the transverse magnetic field occurring in thermal isolation, alternated by thermalisation strokes with…
In this paper, we analyze the operation of an Otto cycle heat machine driven by a non-interacting two-dimensional electron gas on a twisted geometry. We show that due to both the energy quantization on this structure and the adiabatic…
It is investigated whether non-Markovianity, i.e., the memory effects resulting from the coupling of the system to its environment, can be beneficial for the performance of quantum heat engines. Specifically, two physical models are…
The operation of a quantum heat engine in finite time generally faces a trade-off between efficiency and power. Using shortcuts to adiabaticity (STA), this trade off can be avoided to engineer thermal machines that operate at maximum…
We study the performance of a quantum Otto cycle using a harmonic work medium and undergoing collisional dynamics with finite-size reservoirs. We span the dynamical regimes of the work strokes from strongly non-adiabatic to quasi-static…
The concept of inner friction, by which a quantum heat engine is unable to follow adiabatically its strokes and thus dissipates useful energy, is illustrated in an exact physical model where the working substance consists of an ensemble of…
We propose a system made of three quantum harmonic oscillators as a compact quantum engine for producing mechanical work. The three oscillators play respectively the role of the hot bath, the working medium and the cold bath. The working…
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…
Recent theory and experiments have showcased how to harness quantum mechanics to assemble heat/information engines with efficiencies that surpass the classical Carnot limit. So far, this has required atomic engines that are driven by…
The charging of a quantum battery by a four-stroke quantum machine that works either as an engine or a refrigerator is investigated. The presented analysis provides the energetic behavior of the combined system in terms of the heat and…
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…