相关论文: Increasing thermoelectric efficiency towards the C…

We investigate the efficiency at maximum power (EMP) of irreversible quantum Carnot engines that perform finite-time cycles between two temperature tunable baths. The temperature form we adopt can be experimentally realized in squeezed…

Thermodynamics is traditionally concerned with systems comprised of a large number of particles. Here we present a framework for extending thermodynamics to individual quantum systems, including explicitly a thermal bath and work-storage…

With subrecoil-laser-cooled atoms one may reach nano-Kelvin temperatures while the ergodic properties of these systems do not follow usual statistical laws. Instead, due to an ingenious trapping mechanism in momentum space,…

We consider the nonlinear scattering theory for three-terminal thermoelectric devices, used for power generation or refrigeration. Such systems are quantum phase-coherent versions of a thermocouple, and the theory applies to systems in…

The bottleneck in modern thermoelectric power generation and cooling is the low energy conversion efficiency of thermoelectric materials. The detrimental effects of lattice phonons on performance can be mitigated, but achieving a high…

Carnot's four-part ideal-gas cycle includes both isothermal and adiabatic expansions and compressions. Analyzing this cycle provides the fundamental basis for statistical thermodynamics. We explore the cycle here from a pedagogical view in…

We derive a bound on the efficiency of thermal engines that can be sharper than Carnot's limit. It is a function of statistical correlations between the engine internal state and Hamiltonian, can be saturated even in finite-time cycles, and…

We explore some beginning steps in stochastic thermodynamics of billiard-like mechanical systems by introducing extremely simple and explicit random mechanical processes capable of exhibiting steady-state irreversible thermodynamical…

The resonant tunneling model is the simplest model for describing electronic transport through nanoscale objects like individual molecules. A complete understanding includes not only charge transport but also thermal transport and their…

Machines are only Carnot efficient if they are reversible, but then their power output is vanishingly small. Here we ask, what is the maximum efficiency of an irreversible device with finite power output? We use a nonlinear scattering…

We present a mechanism for thermalizing a moving particle by microscopic deterministic scattering. As an example, we consider the periodic Lorentz gas. We modify the collision rules by including energy transfer between particle and…

In response to the growing demand for more efficient and compact refrigeration and energy conversion devices, electrocaloric poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorofluoroethylene) is among the most promising active substances.…

Thermoelectric transport of two-dimensional quantum spin Hall systems are theoretically studied in narrow ribbon geometry. We find that at high temperature electrons in the bulk states dominate. By lowering temperature, the "perfectly…

The quest to identify the best heat engine has been at the center of science and technology. Thermoelectric nanoscale heat engines convert heat flows into useful work in the form of electrical power and promise the realization of on-chip…

The efficiency of microscopic heat engines in a thermally heterogenous environment is considered. We show that, as a consequence of the recently discovered entropic anomaly, quasi-static engines, whose efficiency is maximal in a fluid at…

The wave-like nature of electrons leads to the existence of upper bounds on the thermoelectric response of nanostructured devices [R. S. Whitney, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 130601 (2014); Phys. Rev. B 91, 115425 (2015)]. This fundamental result,…

The equations of state for an ideal generalized gas, like an ideal quantum gas, are expressed in terms of power laws of the temperature. The reduction of an ideal generalized gas to an ideal classical case occurs when the characteristic…

With the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick (LMG) model as an illustration, we construct a thermodynamic cycle composed of two isothermal processes and two isomagnetic field processes and study the thermodynamic performance of this cycle accompanied by…

The energy efficiency and power of a three-terminal thermoelectric nanodevice are studied by considering elastic tunneling through a single quantum dot. Facilitated by the three-terminal geometry, the nanodevice is able to generate…

The thermoelectric efficiency of semiconductors is usually considered in the ohmic electronic transport regime, which is achieved through high doping. Here we consider the opposite regime of low doping where the current-voltage…